Cannot use Office Home & Business on Macmini

Nhat Minh 20 Reputation points
2026-06-30T03:37:59.5133333+00:00

Hello,

I purchased Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac in 2023, and I have been using it on my MacBook ever since.

Recently, I switched to a new Mac mini because I plan to sell my MacBook. I signed out of Office on my MacBook and uninstalled it completely. Then I downloaded Office again from the official Microsoft website and signed in with the same Microsoft account that I used to activate my license.

However, Office on my Mac mini still says that I don't have a valid license and asks me to purchase Microsoft 365.

Could you please help me transfer my Office Home & Business license from my old MacBook to my Mac mini? If there is anything I need to do to reactivate my license, please let me know.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | Other | MacOS
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Answer accepted by question author
paulr0511 48,635 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-07-01T06:45:58.0166667+00:00

As the installation is still tied to the current device being read on Microsoft's end, you will need to unlink the previous installation since you are unable to uninstall it on your previous device as it is not working 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 2021 on the Subscriptions page, to confirm that it is linked to your Microsoft account.
  • After that, you can download, install, and activate Office 2021 on your new or other 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-and-install-or-reinstall-office-2021-office-2019-or-office-2016-7c695b06-6d1a-4917-809c-98ce43f86479

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/transfer-your-office-license-to-another-device-or-another-person-8a967fb6-6c65-433e-800e-b9ae3436c2de

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  1. Wilson Wang 15 Reputation points
    2026-06-30T04:59:22.3466667+00:00

    This looks like a classic hardware entitlement lock combined with macOS keychain token caching. Unlike a Microsoft 365 subscription that fluidly floats between devices, a one-time purchase like Office Home & Business binds tightly to the original device's hardware UUID on Microsoft's backend. Just signing out and uninstalling on the old MacBook doesn't immediately trigger the licensing server to release that hardware lock. Consequently, your new Mac mini queries the server, gets denied, and defaults to a generic M365 upsell prompt.

    For a definitive native workaround to clear the phantom license state, using the official Microsoft License Removal Tool for Mac to scrub the localized keychain entries will completely decouple the activation process from corrupted token states.

    Here is the most straightforward path forward:

    Navigate to your Microsoft Account dashboard online (account.microsoft.com/services). Under "Products you've purchased," locate your Office Home & Business license. If the old MacBook is still listed there as the active device, use the option to remove or sign out of it to sever the old hardware binding.

    On your new Mac mini, download and run the Microsoft License Removal Tool. It’s a lightweight, official utility that surgically wipes out conflicting activation tokens from the macOS Keychain without touching your application files or documents.

    Reboot the Mac mini, launch Word, and sign in. The backend should now negotiate a clean handshake with your new hardware UUID.

    Are you by any chance using a macOS profile brought over via Apple's Migration Assistant? Sometimes that utility blindly copies over the old, invalid keychain tokens from the previous machine, which immediately triggers this exact licensing mismatch.

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  2. paulr0511 48,635 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-06-30T05:58:13.6333333+00:00

    Hello, good day and thanks for your question. I understand that you are looking into transferring your Microsoft Office Home & Business to your other Apple device.

    May I check and confirm if this is Office 2021 or Office 2024?

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  3. Nhat Minh 20 Reputation points
    2026-07-04T02:10:42.43+00:00

    I did it by simply went to https://account.microsoft.com/devices then remove the current device. Then my Office in my new Macmini automatically worked.

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