Request for activation reset for Office Home & Business (Proof of purchase available)

Hi, this used to be a very common problem. I have not seen it on this forum before. Office Home & Business uses a Microsoft Personal Account. You cannot use a 'Work' (business account), although somehow people are able to do so by chance and Microsoft not realising it is a Work account. You do need to contact Microsoft Support using a Personal Microsoft Account. What you are actually asking Microsoft Support to do is change 'Ownership' of the licence. The licence does allow this one time only. You can refer to your licence by opening an App>E.g. Word>File>Account>About Word. You will need the Product Key and if possible copy of a receipt. As you can see it is not straight forward. But I can confirm users in the past did not have any trouble changing ownership in your position, but that is when it was happening quite often. If you have a problem ask the Agent to escalate your case. On the other hand the Agent may be very helpful

Copy of extract of licence

3. Transfer to a Third Party. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software in the European Economic Area (EEA) and only transfer it to another person or entity within the EEA, in which case any transfer of the software and the right to use it must comply with applicable law.

a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device, you may transfer the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Office label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.

b. Stand-alone software acquired from a retailer. If you acquired the software from a retailer as stand-alone software, you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you, but no more than once every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner). If you transfer the software to another device, that other device becomes the “licensed device.” You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.

When an Office licence is activated, that becomes associated to the Microsoft account at the time as a permanent digital licence, and there is no method available to move that licence to another Microsoft account.

This forum is just a user to user forum, no-one here has any account access, you will need to contact Microsoft Support directly to ask them if it is possible to move the licence, try using this method to contact their support.

Go to this link: https://support.microsoft.com/contactus

Select Microsoft 365

Click 'Get Home Support'.

In the box provided, type billing.

Press Enter, then on the next page, scroll down and click 'Sign in to Contact Support'.

Navigate to Microsoft 365 and Office - Manage my Subscription.

Select the 'Chat with support agent in web browser' option

For business (perpetual) Office products such as Office Home & Business, activation and license association are controlled by the Microsoft account that was used when the product key was redeemed. Once a product key has been redeemed to a Microsoft account, it cannot be moved to a different Microsoft account by end users.

From the available information, the following options exist:

1. Verify whether the licenses are visible under any accessible account
   • Go to the Microsoft account Services & subscriptions page: Subscriptions.
   • Sign in with any corporate or shared Microsoft account that might have been used to redeem those two product keys.
   • If the Office Home & Business licenses appear there, Office can be reinstalled from that page on the new devices, and activation will follow that account.
2. Use proof of purchase and product keys to work with Microsoft Support
   • Because the original product keys were redeemed under accounts that are no longer accessible, and the company has valid proof of purchase and the physical product key boxes, the next step is to contact Microsoft Support directly.
   • Use the official support channel: Microsoft support.
   • Provide:
     • Proof of purchase (receipts/invoices).
     • Photos or details of the physical product key boxes.
     • Explanation that the keys were redeemed to accounts of former employees that are now deprovisioned.
   • Support can review the product keys and proof of purchase and may offer options such as replacement keys or other remediation, as described under “I lost or damaged my product key” and “Contact support about my product key.”
3. If product keys no longer work or are blocked
   • If, when attempting to use the product keys again (for example via Office.com/setup), errors indicate that the keys no longer work or have stopped working, the guidance is to work with the seller or Microsoft Support:
     • For non‑working keys, contact the seller for a refund if the keys were purchased from a third party and are found to be invalid or blocked.
     • If the purchase was from Microsoft or an authorized reseller and proof of purchase is available, Microsoft Support may be able to replace the product key or provide other options.
4. Ongoing activation issues on devices
   • If Office is installed but shows “Unlicensed Product” or similar activation errors, follow the standard activation troubleshooting:
     • Confirm that the correct account (the one associated with the license) is used to sign in to Office.
     • Check for multiple copies of Office installed and remove duplicates, as multiple installations can cause activation conflicts.
     • Verify that the subscription or license is still valid if using Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
     • If activation still fails, use the additional troubleshooting steps under “Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office.”

Because the accounts used by former employees are no longer active and the keys are already associated with those accounts, resetting or transferring those licenses to a central company account cannot be done self‑service. Resolution requires direct engagement with Microsoft Support using the company’s proof of purchase and product key information.

References:

• Using product keys with Microsoft 365
• Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office
• Troubleshoot installing Office