Transfer Office license key to new laptop

T Westecott 0 Reputation points
2026-11-08T14:40:52.75+00:00

My old PC has a Microsoft office home license that I need to move to my new PC.

I need to be able to use office Word and Excel when travelling and the licence numnber I have purchased is not working/activating on my new laptop. Please ask for me info if reqd. Appreciate help. Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows
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  1. Adeel Khan 330 Reputation points
    2026-11-08T14:50:11.7566667+00:00

    I would start by checking whether the licence is linked to a Microsoft account, because that decides how I move it. A one-time purchase of Office Home can be used on one PC at a time, so I would uninstall Office from the old PC before I activate it on the new laptop.

    On the new laptop, I would sign in to my Microsoft account and open the Services and subscriptions page. If Office Home is listed there, I would install it from that page and sign in with the same account when an Office app asks me to activate it.

    If it is not listed under that account, I would redeem the product key on the Office setup page while signed in with the account I want to keep it under, then install from there. I would check the account first, because a key redeemed under a different account will not show up under this one.

    If activation still fails, I would note the exact error message. I would also check whether the licence came preinstalled with the old PC, because an OEM licence is tied to that PC and cannot be moved. In that case I would need a new licence for the new laptop.

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  2. Stefan Blom 357.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-11-08T15:08:28.59+00:00

    Is this Office Home 2024? If possible, uninstall the product from the older PC. Install on the new PC using your associated account at https://account.microsoft.com/services . If run into activation issues, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/activation/activate-microsoft-perpetual-products-using-the-product-activation-portal .

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