‎Account Issue. Sorry there was a problem while trying to connect to your account‎.

Question

‎Account Issue. Sorry there was a problem while trying to connect to your account‎.

Brandon Nothwang 0

We are experiencing Microsoft 365 Apps activation failures on a subset of Windows devices after users were deleted from Microsoft Entra ID and recreated via on-premises Active Directory synchronization.

Environment

Hybrid Active Directory / Microsoft Entra ID
Users synchronized from on-prem AD via Microsoft Entra Connect
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (Click-to-Run) * User-based licensing (Shared Computer Activation and Device-Based Licensing are not enabled)
Entra sign-in logs show successful authentication for both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Authentication Broker.
Word signs in with the correct licensed account but shows “View Only (Unlicensed)” and “Account Issue”. * Clicking Activate or Sign In does not resolve the issue, gets stuck in an endless loop.
New Windows installations or devices that were never associated with the deleted users activate Office successfully.

Troubleshooting

Removed and rejoined affected computers to the on-prem AD domain.
Verified Hybrid Microsoft Entra Join. dsregcmd /status shows: AzureAdJoined = YES AzureAdPrt = YES DeviceAuthStatus = SUCCESS WamDefaultSet = YES KeySignTest = PASSED
Cleared Office identity caches, OneAuth caches, WAM/AAD Broker caches, and Office registry identity keys.
Verified Office Click-to-Run and Windows License Manager service is running.
Web Account Manager (TokenBroker) is running.
Confirmed users have valid Microsoft 365 Apps licenses assigned. Tried unassigning and reassigning licenses and deleted/resynced users from on-prem AD.

Earlier Event Viewer logs contained AADSTS65002 errors from the AAD Broker Plugin, although current Entra sign-in logs report successful authentication.
The Office user profile never appears to create a local licensing cache, and Office remains in an unlicensed state despite successful authentication.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this before? We want to avoid from having to do a full OS install on several hundred devices.

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Answer 2

Hin-V 16,830 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Brandon Nothwang

Thank you for reaching out.

Based on your description, since the newly provisioned devices activate successfully while previous devices do not, this appears to be related to stale Office activation or WAM identity data remaining on affected devices after the user account was deleted and recreated through Microsoft Entra Connect synchronization.

Although authentication succeeds and the correct licensed account is shown in Word, Office may still be referencing cached identity or activation information associated with the previous account state. This can result in Office remaining in a View Only (Unlicensed) state and repeatedly prompting for activation, while unaffected or newly built devices activate normally.

You could try using Microsoft's official Office activation reset and cleanup tools on a few affected devices to see if this helps:

OLicenseCleanup.vbs to remove existing Office activation and licensing data.
signoutofwamaccounts.ps1 to clear Office-related WAM account information.

Please ensure that all Office applications are closed, then run the scripts with administrative privileges. After the scripts have completed, restart the device before signing in again to see if the issue still persists.

You can refer via:

Reset activation state for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft 365 Apps activation Unlicensed product error | Microsoft Learn

Please understand that our initial reply may not always immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

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Brandon Nothwang 0 Reputation points

2026-07-09T23:50:38.1366667+00:00

Hey Hin-V

Unfortunately this did not work. I ran each script individually with admin privileges, did a reboot, and the devices are still coming up with the "Account Error" message. In some cases, they are now coming up with "Privacy settings have changed, please restart Office"

Multiple reboots, and closing re opening Microsoft 365 has not helped.
Hin-V 16,830 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-10T23:17:57.2666667+00:00

Hi @Brandon Nothwang

Thank you for your update.

This issue appears less likely to be related to your Microsoft 365 licensing itself, since authentication to Microsoft Entra ID is successful, the affected users have valid Microsoft 365 Apps licenses assigned, Office activates successfully on newly provisioned devices or devices that were never associated with the previously deleted user accounts, and running the Office activation cleanup and WAM cleanup scripts did not resolve the issue.

The behavior may be related to existing Windows profile data or device identity information remaining on the affected machines after the synchronized user accounts were deleted and recreated.

Could you try testing on one affected device by creating a new Windows profile and signing in with the affected user account?

After signing in, open a Microsoft 365 application such as Word, sign in with the affected account, and verify whether Office activates successfully or if the same Account Error/View Only (Unlicensed) behavior occurs.

This test may help determine whether the issue is isolated to the existing Windows profile or if it is related to device-level identity components, such as Hybrid Microsoft Entra Join registration, Web Account Manager (WAM), or other Windows identity data.

Any update would be appreciated.
Hin-V 16,830 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-11T23:31:52.8333333+00:00

Hi @Brandon Nothwang

I hope you’re doing well.

Are you still experiencing this issue, or do you need any further assistance with it?

Please feel free to reach out anytime. I’m here to help.