how to fix error 29 in office 365

Anonymous
2024-07-03T14:26:11+00:00

Cannot reactivate office 365 and get error code 29 when updating license. I've uninstalled and reinstalled all the programs, and followed all the online steps suggested by Microsoft. I've tried the Office 365 self-repair tool, and re-logged into my Microsoft account. Nothing works.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2024-07-04T21:26:02+00:00

For a simpler fix, you can try these:

Close all Office apps first.

  1. Go to File Explorer > View > Show > Hidden items.
  2. Navigate to C:\Users\*your username*\AppData\Local\Microsoft
  3. Delete IdentityCache folder
  4. On the same page, look for OneAuth folder and open it.
  5. Delete the contents of OneAuth folder such as "accounts" and "blobs"
  6. Launch any Office apps and sign in your account. You might need to relaunch the app multiple times until the error is gone.

Let me know if it works for you!

Kind regards,

Was this answer helpful?

300+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

63 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-07T20:48:37+00:00

    Could kiss you, and I don't even know you.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-09-07T19:36:43+00:00

    Thank you. Worked with one restart. Why could MS people not come up with this?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-09-07T19:30:49+00:00

    Hello PeanutKimKim,

    Thank you very much for the instruction above. I was trying to fix this since several weeks, on and off. I followed your instructions. One thing was different for me, I had deinstalled the office software, because I did not trust all the MS instructions any more I reinstalled office after downloading the software for local installation without internet. However your instruction are clear much better then the MS ones above and within the maze of KBs.
    Thanks again.

    Hi Can this be used INSTEAD of the fix at top of page from MS person?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-07T19:29:43+00:00

    I've got this problem since I signed out from Outlook the other day only intending this to be temporary. That revealed what I now understand to be this bug with error code 29 and MS 365 will not activate. This is really disurptive not being able to use Outlook for email comms is impacting my work.

    I have tried the script mentioned above but from this thread which seems to be basically the same. It was run with admin priveleges.

    But the script fails. Below is a copy of the scripts I ran as I tried to follow. Initially I seemed to have to take the % signed out and that seemed to get me further but then failed again.

    If there is no sign of a fix any time soon then I really need some help to see if I can downgrade to the last stable version.

    I shoudl metnion in case it might affect the runnign of that script that all my files are stored on a different partition to C including the outlook pst files. Would that cause the script to fail? On the face of it, it seems to only be referencing C:

    Scripts run from Windows PowerShell

    Windows PowerShell Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Try the new cross-platform PowerShell https://aka.ms/pscore6 PS C:\Windows\system32> cd %programfiles% \Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun Set-Location : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '\Common'. At line:1 char:1 + cd %programfiles% \Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Set-Location], ParameterBindingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetLocationCommand PS C:\Windows\system32> cd "\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun" PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 Officec2rclient.exe : The term 'Officec2rclient.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At line:1 char:1 + Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Officec2rclient.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException Suggestion [3,General]: The command Officec2rclient.exe was not found, but does exist in the current location. Windows PowerShell does not load commands from the current location by default. If you trust this command, instead type: ".\Officec2rclient.exe". See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" for more details. PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 Officec2rclient.exe : The term 'Officec2rclient.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At line:1 char:1 + Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Officec2rclient.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException Suggestion [3,General]: The command Officec2rclient.exe was not found, but does exist in the current location. Windows PowerShell does not load commands from the current location by default. If you trust this command, instead type: ".\Officec2rclient.exe". See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" for more details. PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> ".\Officec2rclient.exe". See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" At line:1 char:30 + ".\Officec2rclient.exe". See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unexpected token '"get-help about_Command_Precedence"' in expression or statement. + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> ".\Officec2rclient.exe" .\Officec2rclient.exe PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun> Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 Officec2rclient.exe : The term 'Officec2rclient.exe' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again. At line:1 char:1 + Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17531.20120 + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Officec2rclient.exe:String) [], CommandNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException Suggestion [3,General]: The command Officec2rclient.exe was not found, but does exist in the current location. Windows PowerShell does not load commands from the current location by default. If you trust this command, instead type: ".\Officec2rclient.exe". See "get-help about_Command_Precedence" for more details. PS C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun>

    Can just use PeanutKimsKim's fix on its own?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments