Microsoft office word/excel etc wont accept my login in desktop

Kasperi Hagelberg 20 Reputation points
2025-09-01T06:43:24.7466667+00:00

After installing Microsoft office I am stuck in endless login loop that asks me to give my email address for my microsoft account. Bybassing this screen and going to excel->account->sign in results the same but this time it doesnt loop, Just doesnt let me login. Update License tab results in login screen which fails also, but this time with: Couldnt update License, Error code 29

I have office license from my university and it should be linked to my microsoft account. I have had office pack installed before and used same microsoft account to login. And I suspect this might cause some conflicts.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For education | Windows
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Anonymous
2025-09-01T08:11:31.4433333+00:00

Hi @Kasperi Hagelberg,

Good day and thank you for posting in Microsoft Q&A Forum.

First, to activate Office, please ensure your account has the license called The latest desktop version of Office as shown below. You can check the license information by going to Microsoft 365 Subscriptions page and signing in with the account that is supposed to have the Office 365 license.

User's image If you do not see the license, please contact your Microsoft 365 Administrator (typically someone who manages accounts at your school) to assign the appropriate license, such as Office 365 A1 for Students or Office 365 E5. Only administrators have permission to manage user licenses.

If your account does have the license, could you please share a screenshot of the behavior you're experiencing? This will help us better understand the issue.Also, has this issue occurred before, or is this the first time you're encountering it? Have you tried any troubleshooting steps already, or faced any difficulties with them?

And in the meantime, for the error Couldn't update License, Error code 29 you can try some troubleshooting steps below:1- Check if there any updates available for your version of Office and install them. To do this, open Office app such as Word > File > Account > Update Options > Update Now

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2- If you previously installed Office and used the same Microsoft account, it's possible that cached credentials or conflicting account data are causing the login issue. This can happen especially if multiple accounts (e.g., personal and university accounts) were used on the same device.

Therefore, please try disconnecting any unused or conflicting accounts via Windows Settings > Accounts > Access work or school, and then reconnect only the account associated with your university license.

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3- You can clear Identity and Authentication Cache

  • Close all Office apps.
  • Open File Explorer and enable Hidden Items.
  • Navigate to: C:\Users<your username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\
  • Delete the following folders: IdentityCache, OneAuth (delete contents like accounts and blobs).
  • Restart your PC and try signing in again.

Thank you for your time and I'm looking forward to your response.

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  1. Kasperi Hagelberg 20 Reputation points
    2025-09-05T15:59:11.9633333+00:00

    Greetings @Anonymous I am glad you have not given up on this case. Here are the steps I followed and what came up:

    1. I haven't been able to sign in, in the the first place on office apps so signing out is already done. I closed all office processes from task manager.
      1. I do not have work/school accounts on windows settingsworkandschoolaccounts
      2. I didn't find/manage to identify any office related credentials. User's image 4.1 Enterprise version part was highly confusing and didn't give enough guidance for me to be able to use it.Enterprise 4.2 Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter wasn't much help since it wouldn't let me sign in either as it requested. 4.3 Running OLicenseCleanup.vbs script as administrator with signoutofwamaccounts.ps1 in same folder worked the same as last time quickly opening and closing cmds with no feedback. Running WPJCleanUp.cmd as administrator did the same but left output.txt file with no text in it. 4.4 Method: Clear prior activation information manually Section A: Remove Office licenses & cached account Part 1: Remove previous Office activations
      3. I didnt have files: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\Licenses and %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing
      4. Check for and remove legacy licensing by using the ospp.vbs script. I managed to delete 1 key I found this way. User's image User's image I deleted HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Licensing. Part 2: Remove cached Office account identities in HKCU registry I deleted HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity Part 3: Remove Office credentials stored in Windows Credential Manager I looked into Windows Crecentials in step 3. Also I did not find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System file in registry editor. Section B: Clear cached Office credentials for managed devices I ran signoutofwamaccounts.ps1 script in administrator powershell. Results: User's image I didnt know what guide wanted me to do with information about AzureAdJoined, EnterpriseJoined and DomainJoined but here are the parameters: is my device managed Section C: Clear Workplace-Joined accounts WorkplaceJoined parameter was No as shown in picture above. Accounts > Access Work or School Didnt have anything connected as I have shown in the first image on step 1.

    After all this I restarted my desktop and Im still not able to sign in on Desktop version of Office 365 Excel

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  2. Kasperi Hagelberg 20 Reputation points
    2025-09-01T17:01:38.74+00:00

    I have been able to use office services in web page including outlook and excel (havent used others yet...) using my university login.

    Firstly I Ran Olicensecleanup.vbs as administrator, lot of command prompts opened during a millisecond. No idea of results.

    Second I didnt know how to run signoutofwamaccouns.ps1 alone so I followed the instructions and ran Olicensecleanup.vbs as administrator with signoutofwamaccounts.ps1 in same folder as told. Again millisecond command prompts but I have no idea of results.cleanup.png

    Lastly I ran WPJCleanup.CMD as administrator wpjcneanup.png. Lightspeed Cmd flickered fastly out of existance leaving output txt file with nothing in it.

    After these three I tried to test if login in excel would be more cooperative with no signs of progress.

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  3. Kasperi Hagelberg 20 Reputation points
    2025-09-01T09:15:32.82+00:00

    License.png I can find the desktop version there.

    new.png After restarting computer I managed to escape login loop but this came up then.

    Officefiles.png I dont seem to have those files in C:\Users<your username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft. Note I am using windows 10 if that is the case.

    Accountsemaillogin.png Windows Settings > Accounts and email wont accept my University account as login crecential. I use this email to login to outlook etc where it works.

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