MS 365 perpetual license no longer valid suddenly???

Nipdawg · Saturday at 7:42 PM

I have had Microsoft Office 365 installed for some time using a perpetual license. The license never got sync'd with the Microsoft Account. This license has been valid for years and never had any problems.

My Microsoft Account originally got created back in 1998 as an e-mail account @hotmail.com and this same account is my Microsoft Account using @outlook.com. This @outlook.com account has been using in Microsoft 365 for years without a problem. I do not use OneDrive though.

Suddenly today (February 1, 2025) Microsoft 365 got completely removed from Windows 11 Pro 24H2. I had Word and Excel documents opened in Windows 11 and when I came back to the computer, Word and Excel were no longer found in Windows 11. This has left me very puzzled on how Microsoft 365 got removed.

Microsoft Support told me due to the "new" security deployed on Microsoft Accounts if you do not have a valid Microsoft 365 or Microsoft 365 Copilot active license on your Microsoft Account, the new security measures will automatically remove Microsoft 365 from your system. No data is removed, just all apps.

I do not need to "subscribe" to Microsoft 365 as I do not really need it that much and this perpetual license that I purchased directly from Microsoft apparently is no longer valid.

I find this very confusing and not sure why after all these years the license has been valid that it is now suddenly not valid because there is no license showing in my Microsoft Account. Microsoft verified that I did purchase this license years ago, but it is no longer valid for an unexplainable reason. The only answer is, "your license is no longer valid."

Anyone else experience this behavior with Microsoft 365 installed with a valid perpetual license?

Tester · Saturday at 9:22 PM

Can you look in eventvwr under application and see what events happend for office?

Nipdawg · Saturday at 9:35 PM

Tester said:
Can you look in eventvwr under application and see what events happend for office?

Event Viewer just showed the common useless errors, nothing specific to Microsoft 365 removing. While Microsoft Support was on the system checking a few things, they cleared out all Event Viewer logs. I find that a little strange. Wonder what they found and hiding, if anything.

Tester · Sunday at 10:25 AM

Just looked in eventvwr. They Source is from MsiInstaller, and should say something like:
Product: Office 16 Click-to-Run Extensibility Component -- Removal completed successfully.

Yeah it is strange why support would clear out eventvwiewer logs.

Nipdawg · Sunday at 1:05 PM

Tester said:
Just looked in eventvwr. They Source is from MsiInstaller, and should say something like:
Product: Office 16 Click-to-Run Extensibility Component -- Removal completed successfully.

Yeah it is strange why support would clear out eventvwiewer logs.

I went back to the backed up disk image and pulled the Event Viewer logs:

Code:

Description:
Windows Installer removed the product. Product Name: Office 16 Click-to-Run Licensing Component. Product Version: 16.0.18429.20132. Product Language: 0. Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation. Removal success or error status: 0.

Description:
Product: Office 16 Click-to-Run Licensing Component -- Removal completed successfully.

This still does not indicate who or what uninstalled Microsoft 365 from the system.

I restored my system back last night and again Microsoft 365 got removed on my system.

I may restore it again, but remove the logins in Microsoft 365 apps to see if that avoids it from uninstalling. Whatever Microsoft is doing to uninstall it I don't like. I just use Microsoft 365 apps for something I am doing for a client now. Normally I just use LibreOffice for everything.

BruceR · Sunday at 1:48 PM

Nipdawg said:
Anyone else experience this behavior with Microsoft 365 installed with a valid perpetual license?

There is no such thing as a perpetual license for Microsoft 365:

Office 365 perpetual license: Why it does not exist

Nipdawg · Sunday at 1:58 PM

BruceR said:
There is no such thing as a perpetual license for Microsoft 365:

Office 365 perpetual license: Why it does not exist

Originally this was an Office 2013 license and kept using the license in Office 365. I use an ISO image of Office 365 Home and Business and used the Office 2013 Product Key in it. Microsoft stated in the email that the Product Key is also for Office 365. Microsoft pushed Office 365 over to Office 2013 users, long time ago, and from that time to now Office shows "Office 365" when Word, Excel, and PowerPoint runs. The product key gets accepted in Office 365, but it does not activate any longer.

Tester · Sunday at 2:02 PM

Nipdawg said:
This still does not indicate who or what uninstalled Microsoft 365 from the system.

Ok, can you check %temp% or temp, (if in both, only from %temp%) and look for a .log file. That start with your PCName ends with -date-time.log example PCNAME-20250202-1739.log There you should be able to see more details. Zip and Upload them: MediaFire if you have trouble reading them..

BruceR said:
There is no such thing as a perpetual license for Microsoft 365

He must have confused the 365 with 2021/2024 versions, that you can actually buy a lifetime license for.

Nipdawg · Sunday at 2:06 PM

Tester said:
Ok, can you check %temp% or temp, (if in both, only from %temp%) and look for a .log file. That start with your PCName ends with -date-time.log example PCNAME-20250202-1739.log There you should be able to see more details. Zip and Upload them: MediaFire if you have trouble reading them..

I remember seeing those files, but they no longer exist. Bleachbit regularly runs on the system, probably got removed.

Tester said:
He must have confused the 365 with 2021/2024 versions, that you can actually buy a lifetime license for.

No confusion.

Tester · Sunday at 2:15 PM

Ohw they upgraded the license for a while so you could use/test out office 365. Could always just install Office 2013, as for that version you had your lifetime license?
If you install office 365 again: and then block the license heartbeat check in your firewall? I wonder if that would stop it being deleted.

Run code as admin:

Powershell:

# Define the path to the executable
$exePath = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\programfilescommonx64\Microsoft Shared\Office16\olicenseheartbeat.exe"

# Check if the executable exists
if (Test-Path $exePath) {
    # Create a new rule to block 'olicenseheartbeat.exe'
    New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Block olicenseheartbeat.exe" `
                         -Direction Outbound `
                         -Action Block `
                         -Program $exePath `
                         -Enabled True

    Write-Host "Successfully added firewall rule to block olicenseheartbeat.exe"
} else {
    Write-Host "The executable does not exist at the specified path: $exePath"
}

Marcus Vinicus · Sunday at 2:19 PM

BruceR said:
There is no such thing as a perpetual license for Microsoft 365:

Office 365 perpetual license: Why it does not exist

There is this which has a perpetual license for one device. it doesn't have as many feature as the Microsoft 365 versions. Frankly these reseller's offering cheap versions of MS software should be treated with much caution.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-business-2024/CFQ7TTC0PBM7?form=MG0AV3

Nipdawg · Sunday at 2:22 PM

Tester said:
Ohw they upgraded the license for a while so you could use/test out office 365. Could always just install Office 2013, as for that version you had your lifetime license?
If you install office 365 again: and then block the license heartbeat check in your firewall? I wonder if that would stop it being deleted.

I have re-installed Office 365 with this license numerous times and never had a problem.

I'm waiting for Microsoft to get back with me as this license issue has been escalated. I wonder how long that will take. LOL.

I'm concerned about how Office 365 got removed from my system and secondly, what to do with the license. Microsoft will probably never get back to me on this as they do not care.

This is why I use LibreOffice for all these years. No license issues. I know there are pro's and con's to everything.

BruceR · Sunday at 2:33 PM

Nipdawg said:
I'm waiting for Microsoft to get back with me as this license issue has been escalated.

How much did you pay for Office 2013 twelve years ago? Are you aware that Microsoft 365 costs $99.99 per year?

Nipdawg · Sunday at 2:42 PM

BruceR said:
How much did you pay for Office 2013 twelve years ago? Are you aware that Microsoft 365 costs $99.99 per year?

Oh, I know all about the price and all. I find it strange that the license will not activate any longer.

The Office 2013 license back then may have been $129. Microsoft converted the license to Office 365 and was supposed to be a forever perpetual license. Thus, over the past 12 years, $10.75 per year per computer.

Microsoft 365 Business Standard license is currently $12.50 per user, not sure of the cost in the past. For one user, $12.50 x 12 months = 150.00 x 12 years = $1800. Cost of one user over the same time span is considerably higher.

Tester · Sunday at 2:54 PM

Microsoft 365 business 2024 is $249.99 one time buy: Don't have to get subscription for that. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-business-2024/cfq7ttc0pbm7 I guess you where upgrade to that, and not to the office 365 subscription variant. Did you btw get the 1tb of diskspace with your upgrade license to 365? If not, it was the Microsoft 365 2024 version.

Marcus Vinicus · Sunday at 2:57 PM

@Nipdawg

Is there a specific reason you need MS 365 Business Standard? As mentioned by @Tester and myself Microsoft Office 2024 for Home and Business may be worth considering.

Nipdawg · Sunday at 2:57 PM

Tester said:
Microsoft 365 business 2024 is $249.99 one time buy: Don't have to get subscription for that. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-business-2024/cfq7ttc0pbm7 I guess you where upgrade to that, and not to the office 365 subscription variant. Did you btw get the 1tb of diskspace with your upgrade license to 365? If not, it was the Microsoft 365 2024 version.

I would prefer for this client to upgrade, but this is how they want it. Anyway, I know the next step would be to upgrade, but they will resist.

Microsoft services are not included in the license. Don't need the cloud services.

Nipdawg · Sunday at 3:07 PM

Marcus Vinicus said:
@Nipdawg

Is there a specific reason you need MS 365 Business Standard? As mentioned by @Tester and myself Microsoft Office 2024 for Home and Business may be worth considering.

This is a small business that I am helping. I understand their license agreements and it feels like Microsoft forgot about their licensing agreements from long time ago. The client cannot afford perpetual licenses now and possibly put them under the MS 365 Family subscription. But they do not want to "subscribe" to any "cloud based" software. Old fashion is hard to work with now. I may have to convert them over to LibreOffice.

Microsoft has pushed a few small businesses that were "misusing" Microsoft 365 Family (to keep costs down) and forced them over to Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Some businesses went that route. The workaround is to create a non-business account, subscribe to MS 365 Family, and there you go.

I tell some of my clients that software is not forever and the "subscription" with "Cloud based software" is a normal now. It is not like the DOS days of software. Install it, copy it everywhere for use, etc.

Yes, I personally avoid subscriptions and cloud based solutions as much as possible. I use LibreOffice for decades now (used to be OpenOffice.org back the days) and grown used to this for myself.

XxXxX · Sunday at 5:37 PM

Nipdawg said:
This is a small business that I am helping. I understand their license agreements and it feels like Microsoft forgot about their licensing agreements from long time ago. The client cannot afford perpetual licenses now and possibly put them under the MS 365 Family subscription. But they do not want to "subscribe" to any "cloud based" software. Old fashion is hard to work with now. I may have to convert them over to LibreOffice.

Microsoft has pushed a few small businesses that were "misusing" Microsoft 365 Family (to keep costs down) and forced them over to Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Some businesses went that route. The workaround is to create a non-business account, subscribe to MS 365 Family, and there you go.

I tell some of my clients that software is not forever and the "subscription" with "Cloud based software" is a normal now. It is not like the DOS days of software. Install it, copy it everywhere for use, etc.

Yes, I personally avoid subscriptions and cloud based solutions as much as possible. I use LibreOffice for decades now (used to be OpenOffice.org back the days) and grown used to this for myself.

have a look at SoftMaker Office Pro 2024.
its based on Libre Office but they have done some very good custom work on the interface.
it cost me £24.99 one off payment for the Pro version.

SoftMaker Office | The GDPR-compliant alternative to Microsoft Office

SoftMaker Office, the GDPR-compliant alternative from Germany to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android

www.softmaker.com

best of luck, Steve ..

Dannydet · Sunday at 5:58 PM

I also use SoftMaker, but the free version.
Just like using Word and Excel with a slightly different UI. Compatible with all MS documents

MS 365 perpetual license no longer valid suddenly???

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