Office 2024 activation

Question

Office 2024 activation

Peter Fletcher 20

Office 2024 wont activate. says I reached the limit of my activation key

Peter Fletcher 20 Reputation points

2026-05-28T11:41:31.2033333+00:00

I purchased Office from a third party supplier so it did not show up in my account, but I used the telephone activation system which actually now referred me to a different online site, aka-ms/a08. This was quite tedious with the copying of many numbers, but it has now activated my copy of Office. Thanks

Answer accepted by question author

paulr0511 48,885 Independent Advisor

Hello, good day and thanks for your question. I understand that you have encountered an issue with regards to your Office 2024.

As the installation is still tied to the current device being read on Microsoft's end, you will need to unlink the previous installation and you can do that by going through the support team at https://support.microsoft.com/contactus/ and then click on Office and then click Get home support and then type in Transfer license and then click on the blue Sign in to contact support button and login with the account that you used to purchase Office and once done you can follow the below steps.

Log in to this link https://account.microsoft.com/services.
Check if you can see Office 2024 on the Subscriptions page, to confirm that it is linked to your Microsoft account.
As Office 2024 can only be installed on one device at a time, if it is still installed or activated on the other device that you have returned then this will need to be uninstalled before transferring it to the new one.
After that, you can download, install, and activate Office 2024 on your new device.
There is also an instance that the phone activation at the bottom of the installation screen might appear and if it is there then you may proceed from there as instructed.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/download-install-or-reinstall-microsoft-365-or-office-2024-on-a-pc-or-mac-4414eaaf-0478-48be-9c42-23adc4716658#bkmk_signintodownload

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Peter Fletcher 20 Reputation points

2026-05-28T11:41:31.2033333+00:00

I purchased Office from a third party supplier so it did not show up in my account, but I used the telephone activation system which actually now referred me to a different online site, aka-ms/a08. This was quite tedious with the copying of many numbers, but it has now activated my copy of Office. Thanks

Answer 1

The message means the Office 2024 license or key has already been activated on the maximum number of devices allowed for that product.

For home (non‑volume) Office 2024 or Microsoft 365, use these checks:

Confirm the correct account
- Open any Office app (for example Word) on the PC.
- Go to File > Account.
- Under User Information, make sure the signed‑in account is the same one used to buy or redeem Office.
- If not, sign out and sign in with the correct account. If the wrong account is used, activation can fail and show Unlicensed Product or similar errors.
Check if the installation limit has been reached
- If Office shows an Installation limit reached or similar message, it indicates the key or subscription has already been used on the maximum number of computers.
- For one‑time purchases such as Office Home & Business, Home & Student, or Professional, the license is for a single computer. Installing on an additional computer or after major hardware changes can trigger the “maximum number of activations” error.
If this is a one‑time purchase and needs to move to this PC
- One‑time purchase licenses can be moved to a different computer if the Software License Terms allow it, but activation must be done by phone and Office must then be uninstalled from the original computer.
- Steps (summary):
  1. Install Office on the new PC using the normal install method.
  2. Use the Activate by telephone option in the activation wizard.
  3. After successful activation, uninstall Office from the old PC.
- The detailed transfer terms are in the Software License Terms: open an Office app → File > Account > About [app] > View the Microsoft Software License Terms, then review the transfer section.
If the key was bought separately and activation still fails
- If the key was purchased from a third‑party seller and activation fails due to limits or other key errors (for example, the key has been blocked or misused), contact the seller and request a refund and then purchase Office or Microsoft 365 from an authorized source.

If the issue persists after confirming the correct account and that the license is eligible for transfer, contact Microsoft support with purchase details for further help.

References: