Run an Online Repair of Microsoft 365 or Office, then restart Windows and open Word again.
Repair Office
Windows 11
- Close Word and all other Office applications.
- Right-click Start and select Installed apps.
- Find Microsoft 365 or your Microsoft Office edition.
- Select the three dots (…) beside it, then Modify.
- For a Click-to-Run installation, select Online Repair → Repair.
For an MSI-based installation, select Repair → Continue.
- Complete the prompts, restart the computer, and test Word.
Windows 10
- Right-click Start and select Apps and Features.
- Select Microsoft 365 or Office, then select Modify.
- Choose Online Repair → Repair, complete the process, and restart.
Online Repair repairs the whole Office suite, even when only Word has the problem. It is more comprehensive than Quick Repair.^1^
If Word still cannot verify the license
Work through these checks in order:
- Verify the account and license
- Open the Microsoft Services & subscriptions page:
https://account.microsoft.com/services
- Sign in with the Microsoft account used to purchase or activate Office.
- Confirm that the Office product or Microsoft 365 subscription appears and, for a subscription, that it has not expired.
- Open Word and sign in with that same account.^2^
- Remove conflicting Office installations
- Open Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features.
- Search for Office.
- If multiple Office versions are installed, uninstall versions you no longer use.
- Restart Windows and open Word again. Multiple Office installations can cause activation conflicts.^2^
- Run the activation troubleshooter
- This applies to Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 or later.
- Open Microsoft’s activation-error page and start the Microsoft 365 activation troubleshooter.
- Allow it to open the Get Help application and complete the prompts on the affected computer.^2^
- Check Windows date and time
- Close Office.
- Open Settings → Time & language → Date & time.
- Enable Set time automatically and, if available, Set time zone automatically.
- Reopen Word. Incorrect date, time, or time-zone settings can prevent activation.^2^
If this is Office 2010
Office 2010 reached end of support on October 13, 2020. You can still attempt Installed apps → Office 2010 → Modify → Repair, but if license verification continues, replace it with a currently supported Office edition.^3^
References
- Repair an Office application
- Unlicensed Product and activation errors in Office
- How to fix "Microsoft Home and Business 2010 cannot verify the license. Repair Office program by using Control Panel." - Microsoft Q&A