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I have had a Microsoft 365 Family subscription for many years. It will renew on Dec-04-2024. So its active.

I just purchased a new laptop and successfully logged into the MS 365 subscription on that laptop. I downloaded the installer for a local copy of Excel. I ran that and it installed.

When I open Excel its asking for a key. Where do I find this key? I have searched the entirety of the subscription's website pages for keys. Nothing.

I just assumed the fact that I was able to download Excel from a logged in account on their subscription I'd be able to run a product that they offer. I cant. If I skip then access to Excel will expire a week from now even though my subscription is paid for and active through early Dec-2024.

I also want to install other Office products (Access, Word, etc) but I am stuck here.

I dont know what else to do but to ask for help. Thanks.

For those wondering, this is how I installed the Office apps (the "installer" which I mentioned above). I 4G .img file was downloaded to my laptop, I installed everything from there.

enter image description here

Taptronic
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    There should be an option to login - this is what you need to do - login to you MSFT account. – Brian Jul 16 '23 at 20:08
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    Make sure you’re logging into the Microsoft Account with the active subscription. Office 365 shouldn’t be asking for key, in fact, I am not aware any version of Office 365 having a key since even an enterprise environment would be based the tenants subscription not the individual user. – Ramhound Jul 16 '23 at 20:16
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    What is "the installer for a local copy of Excel"? Haven't you installed Office 365? – harrymc Jul 16 '23 at 20:51
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    @harrymc I am coming from a Windows 7 world. 16 year old desktop which is still running Excel 2010. Its time for me to move on so I purchased a laptop with Win-11 Pro on it. I simply logged into my existing, active, 365 Family account and clicked on the Install button where it says "Microsoft 365 apps for your devices - Use on up to 5 devices at the same time". Once it installed the apps I chose to go into Excel and it immediately wants a key. I have no keys. I see no keys. Last time I extended the subscription was probably 2022. The only key was the one I purchased from Newegg way back then – Taptronic Jul 16 '23 at 21:04
  • @Brian and Ramhound -- I did log into my existing, active 365 sub. That is how I was able to get to the download office apps section and downloaded the installer for those apps. – Taptronic Jul 16 '23 at 21:07
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    @StarCat that is exactly what I did. I just want to run Excel and so I clicked on it in the app after it installed. I have not tried any of the other apps yet (Word, Powerpoint, etc). – Taptronic Jul 16 '23 at 21:08
  • I just read you're using Windows 7, which is no longer supported by Microsoft. Unfortunately Office 365 Apps are [no longer supported on Windows 7](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/endofsupport/windows-7-support). – StarCat Jul 16 '23 at 21:10
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    @starcat then you would have read that I purchased a new laptop with Win-11 which is where I am having the issue. Its the next sentence after "I am coming from a Windows 7 world" which was merely added to give context that its been quite some time since I've had to do this type of install.... ;-) – Taptronic Jul 16 '23 at 21:16
  • There is an Account sub option within Files. You have to log into your MA to pick up your subscription the download wasn’t automatically linked to your account. It doesn’t appear you have a subscription that provides you Access by the way. – Ramhound Jul 16 '23 at 21:21
  • Normally M365 is activated by signing in to your MS Account, but there's another peculiarity: How did you install Excel but not the entire Office suite? If you download some `OfficeSetup.exe` or `O365HomePrem_Retail.img`, there's no option to select individual apps and you install everything at once. – iBug Jul 17 '23 at 13:30
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    @iBug I was only concentrating on Excel and didnt want to execute any of the other installed Office products at the time. However, they all do work now. – Taptronic Jul 17 '23 at 18:08

1 Answers1

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I eventually found the 2022 email from newegg.com where I purchased the most recent extension to the 365 subscription. That email included a key which I used that to extend the sub.

I also just used to to activate Excel. It worked. I cant believe it. 2+ hours on this.

Had no idea I had to save that and good thing I did.

Ramhound
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Taptronic
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  • Ah ha, so you did have a key. – harrymc Jul 16 '23 at 21:40
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    @harrymc I guess I am damn lucky that I didnt delete that 2022 email and took a wild guess I should use the SAME KEY that I extended the subscription to activate the office product. Hopefully this helps others out there if they run into the same issue. – Taptronic Jul 16 '23 at 21:48
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    Truly said, your experience doesn't sound like Office 365, it suits better the installation of Office 2019. – harrymc Jul 17 '23 at 08:38
  • @harrymc I agree. It irks me that my experience wasnt as smooth as I had read here and elsewhere but I am glad it worked out. Last I installed Office was on the Win7 box using an MSDN subscription and keys. Once again, I am very happy that I didnt delete that email or I dont know if newegg would be able to provide the that info. – Taptronic Jul 17 '23 at 10:34
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    Like @harrymc said... That doesn't appear like a regular Office365 subscription directly purchased from Microsoft. It appears Newegg sold you a Office2021 license in which case you do need a license key. Office365 and 2021 are virtually identical at first glance, but 365 is a rolling release with regular feature updates while 2021 is feature-frozen and only gets security updates. – Tonny Jul 17 '23 at 14:02
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    @tonny Thanks for that insight. I didnt realize there was a difference. I wonder if there is an "upgrade" path to Office365 from what appears to be Office 2021... I will have to look into that. Ugh. Thanks for the info. – Taptronic Jul 17 '23 at 17:12
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    @tonny FWIW the version # for Excel is Version 2307 (Build 16626.20068 Click-to-Run) Current Channel. When I am in MS 365 Family the version is: 18.2204.1141.0 I found this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-s-the-difference-between-microsoft-365-and-office-2021-ed447ebf-6060-46f9-9e90-a239bd27eb96 It shows the Office 21 as not supporting online storage like 1TB One Drive but when I am in Excel I am able to save to my One Drive. I've also got Excel on 2 (of 5) computers now. Both activated, no complaints and sync like MS 365 claims they will. So I dunno... – Taptronic Jul 17 '23 at 17:35