Microsoft Investigates “Product Deactivated”Error in Office Applications
Microsoft is currently addressing an issue affecting its Office applications, including Word, Excel, and Outlook. Users have reported encountering a “Product Deactivated”error while using Microsoft 365 apps.
In Word, for instance, a prominent notification appears that states, “Your Microsoft 365 license will be deactivated soon,”followed by a message indicating that many functionalities of Word will be unavailable unless the license is reactivated by the administrator.
Understanding the Cause of the Issue
The company has identified several administrative actions that could trigger this error. Here are some common scenarios that may lead to the device deactivation message:
- Licensing Group Change: Moving a user from one licensing group to another, affecting both Azure Active Directory groups and on-premises Active Directory synced security groups.
- License Adjustment: Modifying the license assignment for a user, such as transitioning from an Office 365 E3 subscription to a Microsoft 365 E3 subscription.
- User Reassignment: Removing a user and subsequently re-adding them to either the same or a different license group.
- Toggling License Plans: Changing the service plan or license assigned to users.
- Service Plan Disabling: Turning off the “Latest version of Desktop Apps”service plan within the Microsoft 365 subscription for specific users.
Proposed Workarounds for Affected Users
To temporarily resolve this issue, Microsoft recommends the following steps:
WORKAROUND
Select the Reactivate button on the warning banner, which will prompt you to sign in to restore functionality.
Alternatively, you can:
- Sign out of all Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook.
- Restart the relevant Microsoft 365 app and log back in.
If issues persist, it is advisable to contact your administrator to verify whether your subscription has expired. Further details can be found at the following link: Find out when your Microsoft 365 subscription expires.
Next Steps for Users with Support Cases
For users who have already opened support tickets, Microsoft encourages the following actions to aid in the troubleshooting process:
For those that have support cases open, please collect the Office Logs and the file information below and share them with your support engineer.
- Download the Office Licensing Diagnostic Tool from the Official Microsoft Download Center.
- Close all Office applications and zip the logs found in this directory for your support case:
Logs: %temp%/diagnostics.
Accessing Microsoft Support Resources
For more detailed information regarding this issue, users can refer to the support article available on Microsoft’s website: Microsoft Support Article.
For additional updates and information, refer to this source.
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