• Re: Multiple MS Office 2019 got deactivated today

    From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Friday, September 25, 2026 04:27:32
    On Fri, 9/25/2026 1:29 AM, Nomen Nescio wrote:
    "As in title. After inserting the key again thankfully it started
    working. Glad we had listed keys that were activated on each machine, because OSPP.VBS wasn't showing anything.

    Anyone else experienced this?

    EDIT:

    not only 2019... and sometimes pasting the key doesn't work, it requires login and selecting the key from the account"

    https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftoffice/comments/1woutac/multiple_ms_of fice_2019_got_deactivated_today/

    * * *

    I know of at least 8 helpdesks that got hammered because of this today.
    Got nailed myself. When opening any office app, it redirected to
    office365 to pay / sign up, or enter a key.

    Seems to be this It ran automatically around 00:09 on a Windows 11
    system I have.

    Click-to-Run Update Support
    Successfully installed on 9/24/2026
    Learn more
    <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/os/microsoft- 365/kb5002907-optional-update-for-out-of-date-microsoft-365-apps- installations>
    KB5002907: Optional update for out-of-date Microsoft 365 Apps
    installations

    Putting the original key back restored operation immediately.

    Microsoft India at work again.


    I did a quick check on this one, and based on the symptoms
    people are seeing, this is really a mess. The MSFT employee who
    did this, deserves a Bowling Trophy.

    https://www.elevenforum.com/data/attachments/183/2x/183924-56b6f463b175dc541fb2f630ce030d89.jpg?hash=IuYRvDpSBZ

    Paul

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Alan K.@3:633/10 to All on Friday, September 25, 2026 18:28:29
    On 9/25/26 10:40 AM, Maria Sophia wrote:
    Paul wrote:
    I did a quick check on this one, and based on the symptoms
    people are seeing, this is really a mess. The MSFT employee who
    did this, deserves a Bowling Trophy.

    https://www.elevenforum.com/data/attachments/183/2x/183924-56b6f463b175dc541fb2f630ce030d89.jpg?hash=IuYRvDpSBZ

    Since I use "permanent" versions of Microsoft Office from the 'olden days', where 2010 is my most recent from a college kid who had a $10 school offer,
    I looked a bit into this to see if it was real, and, apparently it is real.

    Apparently IT forums, Reddit, and Microsoft's own Q&A boards were flooded with reports from system administrators and individual users whose permanently activated, non-subscription versions of Microsoft Office (such
    as Office 2016 and Office 2019) suddenly lost their activation status.

    Opening Word or Excel abruptly shoved a paywall or a sign-in prompt in
    front of users, telling them to buy Microsoft 365 or enter a product key.

    While we often joke that Microsoft purposely tries to force people off perpetual licenses and onto recurring Microsoft 365 subscriptions, this specific incident seems, to me, and others, that it was a botched update.

    The culprit tracked by users was apparently tied to automated Click-to-Run update behaviors/packages (such as components related to KB5002907).

    As far as I can tell, the patch mistakenly "nuked" or failed to read valid local lifetime product keys, dropping Office into an unlicensed state.

    Evidence that it was a bug rather than an intentional feature is that re-entering the original product key or logging back into the associated account successfully forced the software to recognize the license again.

    Apparently, the bowling trophy Paul awarded the Microsoft employee who handled this is well deserved as their update code broke validation logic.
    I have a permanent copy of 2021 but I still took a few minutes to make sure I had the
    license. CYA.

    --
    Mint 22.3, Thunderbird 153.3.1esr, Firefox 156.0.1
    Alan K.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Stan Brown@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, September 27, 2026 22:04:59
    On Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:09:38 -0700, T wrote:

    On 9/24/26 10:29 PM, Nomen Nescio wrote:
    "As in title. After inserting the key again thankfully it started
    working. Glad we had listed keys that were activated on each machine, because OSPP.VBS wasn't showing anything.

    Anyone else experienced this?

    EDIT:

    not only 2019... and sometimes pasting the key doesn't work, it requires login and selecting the key from the account"

    https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftoffice/comments/1woutac/multiple_ms_of fice_2019_got_deactivated_today/

    * * *

    I know of at least 8 helpdesks that got hammered because of this today.
    Got nailed myself. When opening any office app, it redirected to
    office365 to pay / sign up, or enter a key.

    Seems to be this It ran automatically around 00:09 on a Windows 11
    system I have.

    Click-to-Run Update Support
    Successfully installed on 9/24/2026
    Learn more
    <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/os/microsoft- 365/kb5002907-optional-update-for-out-of-date-microsoft-365-apps- installations>
    KB5002907: Optional update for out-of-date Microsoft 365 Apps
    installations

    Putting the original key back restored operation immediately.

    Microsoft India at work again.


    Whilst you are sorting this all out, recommend LibreOffice
    to get them going again. They probably won't like it, muscle
    memory and all, but at least it will get them going again.

    If they don't have any VBA in their workbooks. Unless things have
    changed since I last checked, Libre Office doesn't support VBA.

    --
    "The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by
    those who don't have it." --George Bernard Shaw

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)