Microsoft will not activate a valid reinstall of Office 16

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I have a valid Product Key for a retail version of Microsoft Office Processional Plus 2016.

I’m trying to get it to install and register on a new laptop.

After many hours of failed attempts I at registering, repairing, etc. I ran the Microsoft Uninstall Tool on the new laptop to try with a clean install.

I cannot get any of the many different Microsoft webpages to validate my 25 character Product Key to allow any downloads.  The key is valid and is always entered correctly. Copy and paste from saved DOS cmd used to get the full 25 character key.

Microsoft appears to have ‘logic’ in place that somehow ‘ties’ the product key to a Microsoft account.  I do not recall ever creating a MS Account back when I originally installed the retail version that I bought.  If I did created such a account it is likely MS deleted that account due to none use.  I have not been able to recall whatever old email address I may have had long ago for that original install.

I have the:
Product ID
Session ID
Product Key – 25 characters ( five group of five letter and numbers)

The error message shown when trying register the Product Key is:
“pin-inapp-unknown-9”

Currently the new laptop has no version of Office installed include none of the ‘free’ versions, web versions, etc.

How do I install and activate Office 2016 on my new laptop?

Thanks
TomK

 

 

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My first Search result (link below via MS Independent Advisor) starts with an Uh-Oh (ie)
The Office 2016 Professional Plus license is a volume license not sold at retail. If you purchased this through your employer’s Home Use Program you need to connect to your email from that distribution. If you purchased it online it was sold in violation of the license agreement. Chances are that Microsoft will not recognize the license (even if it worked fine previously). The product key would do you no good. It should be a part of your Microsoft Account. You won’t need a product key again. The “perpetual license,” one-time purchase Office Home & Business, Office Home & Student, and Office Professional can only be installed on a single computer at a time. If you either want to move it to a different computer or reinstall after a repair to your current computer you need to first deactivate the initial install.

Doesn’t mean the AW experts can’t steer you to a solution …..

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/move-microsoft-office-2016-professional-plus-to-a/55d2535c-8dda-4c58-ada5-142ab68d39fb

W10 Pro 22H2 / Hm-Stdnt Ofce '16 C2R / Macrium Pd vX / GP=2 + FtrU=Semi-Annual + Feature Defer = 1 + QU = 0

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Hi TomK:

How you install and activate / re-activate Microsoft Office can vary depending on the product you own – see the MS support articles Activate Office and Where to Enter Your Office Product Key.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how you can finish the activation of a retail version of MS Office without a Microsoft Account (see steeviebop’s 21-Mar-2021 post # 2433142 in opti1’s MS account necessary to install, activate, use MS Office 2021?) so if the information at I Can’t Sign in to my Microsoft Account doesn’t help you might need to phone Microsoft customer support or start a chat session – see <here> for Microsoft contact information.

Just a thought, but if you are absolutely certain you don’t already have a Microsoft Account then you might be able to browse to https://setup.office.com/ and click the Create a New Account button for Step # 1 of the activation process. That likely won’t work, however, if your product key is already registered with an old Microsoft Account and you’ve simply forgotten the email address and password to sign in to the old account.
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Just FYI, I purchased my MS Office Home and Business 2019 Click-to-Run license from an authorized retailer called BestBuy and if I need to reinstall my MS Office software then I can do so from the Services & Subscriptions tab of my Microsoft Account at https://account.microsoft.com/services/.

My product key used to be shown there on the Services & Subscriptions tab, but in theory all I would need to do now is click the Install button on that tab and then activate the fresh installation by opening an office app like Excel or Word and signing in to my Microsoft Account.

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Where did you buy it? Professional Plus 2016 is a volume licensed version and should not be available to the general public. Microsoft would only offer downloads on the VLSC portal for enterprises, or on the Visual Studio (MSDN) portal for software developers and testers.

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