Microsoft Office Cannot Find Your License For This Application [Solution]

If you get the license not found error when starting any Office suite software, you will find the solution in this article

Microsoft Office is a complete office suite. It comes with several applications that allow users to create documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, send, receive and manage emails, etc. Each Office product has a separate product key or license required to activate it.

Sometimes, Office fails to verify the license and generates various error messages, for example, Microsoft Office cannot find the license for this application. In this post, we are going to see some solutions to fix this problem permanently.

In fact, even if you have regularly purchased a license for Microsoft Office, sometimes the verification system runs into problems and it is impossible to use the entire Office suite because the license you purchased is not recognized and we will tell you how to solve the error “Microsoft Office cannot find the license for this application”.

Why can’t Microsoft Office find the license?

The most common reason Microsoft Office can’t find your license is that the Software Protection Properties service isn’t running. If this service is not running or is set to Delayed Start, Microsoft product licensing errors may occur. To resolve this problem, restart the Software Protection Properties service.

Solution Microsoft Office cannot find your license for this application

Users who have encountered this issue have reported that they have received the error message while opening any Microsoft Office application. The complete error message looks like this:

Microsoft Office cannot find your license for this application. A repair attempt failed or was canceled. Microsoft Office will close.

If you get the same error message when starting Office applications, we recommend that you try the following solutions in no particular order.

1. Restart the Software Protection Properties service
2. Update Microsoft Office
3. Repair Microsoft Office
4. Run an SFC scan

Below, we have explained all these solutions in detail.

1) Restart the Software Protection Properties service

The Software Protection Properties service verifies the activation of Microsoft apps and services. If this service is stopped or not running on your system, you may encounter error messages related to testing Microsoft products and services.

Therefore, the first thing to do is to check if this service is running on your system or not. If you find this service stopped, consider starting it. If you find it already running, consider restarting it. Finally, restart your PC as a precaution.

The following steps will help you:

1. Press the Win + R keys. The Run command box will appear on the screen.
2. Type services.mscand click OK. The Services app will open.
3. Scroll down and locate the Software Protection Properties service.
4. Once found, right-click on it and select the Properties item.
5. Click the Start button.
6. Click Apply and then OK.

Now check if the problem persists. If the problem persists or if the Start button is grayed out, try the registry fix given below. Before proceeding, we recommend that you create a system restore point and create a registry backup.

The following instructions will modify some registry keys. Any mistake while performing these steps can cause serious damage to your system. Therefore, follow these instructions carefully. Launch the Run command box by pressing the Win + R keys. Now, type and click OK. Click Yes on the UAC prompt. regedit

Copy the following path and paste it into the Registry Editor address bar and press Enter.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\sppsvc

Make sure you have selected the sppsvc key on the left side. Now, change the following registry values:

• Automatic start delayed at 0.
• Start at 2
• Type up to 20

To change the above registry values, double-click them and enter a value in their Value data.

2) Update Microsoft Office

We recommend that you update your Office product and see if it helps solve the problem. To update a Microsoft Office application, you have to open it, but according to users, the error message prevents them from opening Office applications. When they try to open the Office application, this error message appears on the screen and closes the Office application when they click the OK button.

We recommend that you restart your computer and then open the Office application you are experiencing the error with. After restarting the system, the error message should not be displayed. Follow the steps below:

1. Restart your computer.
2. Open the Office application you are having the error with.
3. Create a new file.
4. Go to File -> Accounts.
5. In the Product Information section, click Update Options and then click Update Now.

3) Repair Microsoft Office

If updating Office doesn’t fix the problem, or if you can’t update Microsoft Office, try repairing it. You can repair your Microsoft Office installation from Windows 11/10 Settings or Control Panel. On the Office Repair screen, select Online Repair.

4) Perform an SFC scan

A possible cause of the problem is corrupted system files. Therefore, we recommend that you perform an SFC scan. SFC stands for System File Checker. Microsoft developed this tool to repair damaged system files. To run the SFC scan, you need to start Command Prompt as an administrator.

How can I get rid of the non-genuine notification in Microsoft Office?

To fix the non-genuine notification in Microsoft Office, you need to reinstall the product. For this, first, uninstall Microsoft Office using the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant tool, then install it again all the complete Office suite.