what do i do when microsoft office can't find the licenes for my microsoft excel

If Microsoft Excel is unable to find the license, you can try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Repair Office: You can repair the Office program through the Control Panel. This can help resolve issues related to licensing.
2. Check Compatibility Mode: Ensure that the Office application is not running in compatibility mode for a different operating system. Right-click on the Excel application, go to Properties, and check the Compatibility tab.
3. Registry Check: Verify the software protection platform registry entry. You may need to navigate to the registry and check for the appropriate entries related to the SoftwareProtectionPlatform.
4. Reinstall Office: If the above steps do not work, consider uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft Office. You can use the Microsoft 365 Uninstall troubleshooter to assist with this process.
5. Contact Administrator: If you are using a work or school account, contact your Microsoft 365 administrator to ensure that you have the correct license assigned.

Following these steps should help resolve the issue with the license for Microsoft Excel.

Dear @YUNG CJ,

Good day. Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum!

Based on your description, I understand that you're seeing a "cannot verify license" error in Excel when you sign in with your Office 365 account. This issue typically happens when the Office apps get confused about which license to use. I'd like to confirm if I've understood your problem correctly. 

To help you troubleshoot this, could you please provide a few more details? 

• Are you using a personal account (with a personal/home subscription) or a business account (with a business subscription)? 
• Which exact subscription name are you using? (e.g., Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, or Family)? Please note: Microsoft 365 Basic does not include the desktop Office apps, it only provides 100 GB of OneDrive storage.
• In Excel, go to File > Account. What does the "Product Information" section say about your current license? Is there an option to switch accounts? 
• Could you please take a full screenshot of the error message and send it to me? 
• Do you get the license error in all Office apps (Word, Excel, etc.)? If so, please check the profile icon at the upper-right corner of the app and confirm it shows the same Microsoft account as your subscription. Try Sign out and Sign in again.
• Does this issue happen on the desktop application, the web version, or both? 

First, please go to File > Account > Update license and sign in with the correct Microsoft account.

In the meantime, please kindly try these steps below:

Scenario 1: If you are using a business subscription

• The course of action is to immediately reach out to your company's IT Admin. Only they have the necessary permissions in the Admin Center to check and reassign your license. 
• Your IT Admin can go to Admin Center > Users > Active users > your account > Licenses and apps tab to make sure the relevant Office 365 license is checked. 
• You can also try signing in to https://portal.office.com/account/?ref=Harmony, navigating to Subscriptions, and taking a screenshot for your IT Admin to review. 

Scenario 2: If you are using a personal subscription

The problem is likely that the Office apps are getting confused about which license to use. To fix this, you should completely uninstall all Office apps and then do a clean reinstall. 

• I recommend using the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant, as it ensures all residual files are removed. A simple uninstall from the Control Panel might leave some files behind that could cause the issue to reoccur. 
• You can find more information and download the tool here: Video: Uninstall Office - Microsoft Support  
• After a complete uninstallation, you can reinstall Office 365 from account.microsoft.com/services using your Microsoft account. 

After attempting these steps, please let me know the outcome. If there's anything else at all I can assist with, or if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm always here to listen and support you. 

Looking forward to your reply! 

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.