I can't activate Office 13

Question

I can't activate Office 13

Elizabeth J. Haynes 0

I installed Office 13 on my Windows 10 machine but even though I have a product code it will not activate. Please help

Abdul Ghaffar 0 Reputation points

2026-05-05T08:35:41.9633333+00:00

hey, this happen sometimes with old Office versions… Office 2013 activation can fail on Win10 if system date/time not correct or activation servers not responding properly. try this: first check your date/time + region correct run Office as admin and try activate again also try phone activation (slui 4) it works better in some cases make sure your product key is for same Office edition (home/pro etc) if still not working then maybe key already used or blocked, then only MS support can fix from backend.

2 answers

Your answer

Abdul Ghaffar 0 Reputation points

2026-05-05T08:35:41.9633333+00:00

hey, this happen sometimes with old Office versions… Office 2013 activation can fail on Win10 if system date/time not correct or activation servers not responding properly. try this: first check your date/time + region correct run Office as admin and try activate again also try phone activation (slui 4) it works better in some cases make sure your product key is for same Office edition (home/pro etc) if still not working then maybe key already used or blocked, then only MS support can fix from backend.

Answer 1

Stefan Blom 339.3K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Try phone activation and use the phone number for your region from the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/-telephone-activation-is-no-longer-supported-for-your-product-error-when-activating-office-9b016cd2-0811-4cb3-b896-5a6a13177713 .

0 comments

Answer 2

Hello Elizabeth J. Haynes!

Based on what you described, Office 2013 is installed on Windows 10 but won’t activate even with a product key.

Please note that Office 2013 is out of support (support ended April 11, 2023). It may still run, but Microsoft no longer provides security updates or fixes, so activation/troubleshooting options can be limited.

First, please try the following suggestions:

Close all Office apps, restart your PC, and make sure your date/time are correct. Then open Word using Run as administrator, go to File > Account > Change Product Key, and re‑enter the 25‑character key (it must match the edition installed).
If you had another Office version before, remove any extra Office installs from Control Panel > Programs and Features, then try activating again.
In some cases, background conflicts or leftover processes can block activation, so a clean restart helps.
If available, try using Activate by telephone to see if that helps.

If you’re still seeing the issue after the steps above, please provide a bit more information so I can suggest the next best steps.

What is the exact error message and error code shown during activation?

Note: In case you see “product key not valid” or error 0xC004C060, the key may be blocked. In this case, please contact the seller for a replacement or refund.

Which exact Office 2013 edition is installed (Home & Student / Home & Business / Professional / ProPlus), and does it match the key you’re using?
Where did the product key come from, and has it been used/redeemed before?

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.

Norah-L 5,860 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-06T06:19:12.64+00:00

Hello Elizabeth J. Haynes!

Have you had the chance to check my answer yet?

Please do keep me updated.

Share via

I can't activate Office 13

2 answers

Your answer