I bought a Lenovo lap top jan 2026 It had a preinstalled microsoft 365 on it, for a trial period, I bought the subscription for the product in January and I've been unable to make it work on my new computer. I keep getting the error message saying

This usually happens for one of these reasons:

1. The wrong Microsoft account is signed in to Office.
2. The laptop still has the preinstalled trial copy active.
3. More than one Office installation is on the PC, causing an activation conflict.
4. The subscription is not showing as active on the account being used.

Try this in order:

1. Check that the subscription is on the correct account
   • Go to Services & subscriptions.
   • Sign in with the Microsoft account used to buy Microsoft 365.
   • Confirm the subscription appears there as active.
   • If it does not appear, sign in with any other personal Microsoft accounts that may have been used for the purchase.
2. Sign in to Office with that same account
   • Open Word or Excel.
   • If prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account that shows the subscription.
   • If the wrong account is signed in, sign out and then sign back in with the correct one.
3. Remove extra Office copies
   • In Windows, open Control Panel.
   • Select Programs > Programs and Features.
   • Search for office.
   • If more than one version appears, uninstall the versions not being used.
   • Restart the laptop.
4. If the laptop came with the preinstalled trial, reinstall from the purchased account
   • Sign in to Services & subscriptions with the account that owns the subscription.
   • Use the install option for that subscription to reinstall Microsoft 365.
5. Run the activation troubleshooter
   • Use the Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter on the same Windows PC where Microsoft 365 is installed.
   • It requires Windows 10 or later.
6. If the subscription notice says the product is inactive
   • This can happen when the preinstalled version was never activated with the purchased subscription.
   • Sign in to Office, or if needed select the option to use the purchased subscription instead of the trial.

If the specific error is “The products we found in your account can't be used to activate”, that can happen when the preinstalled apps do not match the product owned, or when the preinstalled Office needs updating. In that case:

• Update Office and try activation again.
• If that still fails, reinstall Office using the install steps from the account that owns the purchase.

If the subscription is active in Services & subscriptions but Office still shows Unlicensed Product, the most direct fix is:

• uninstall the extra/trial Office copy,
• restart,
• reinstall from the Microsoft account that shows the active subscription,
• then sign in inside Word or Excel with that same account.

You can also use guided support in the browser for activation issues.

References:

• Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office
• Activate Office for Windows
• Office error "The products we found in your account can't be used to activate"
• Microsoft 365 subscription features aren't available in Office apps
• I just bought a second computer, how do I add Microsoft 365 on new computer - Microsoft Q&A