Note: if you have purchased a Business License, the installation process is slightly different than what most people are used to. These licenses are not activated in a Microsoft account, but directly inside the application (e.g. Word). They are made for businesses and not every employee has a Microsoft account, that’s the reason they are activated this way. Simply follow the steps below and it will be easy.
First make sure you have completely uninstall any previous versions of Microsoft Office from your PC, including free trial versions of Office 365 that come preinstalled on most new PCs. You can find and uninstall these in the settings under Apps.
If necessary, download the Microsoft Easy Fix Tool to make sure that all old Office versions are completely uninstalled. Here Microsoft gives a detailed guide on how to uninstall all old Office versions. This is especially important if you’ve used a Microsoft 365 before.
Restart your PC after uninstalling any office version
Note: If you have a Windows 11 system in S-Mode, you must switch out of S-mode before you can proceed with the installation. See this guide here.
Installation from USB flash drive or DVD
Skip down to Installation from Download
- Insert the USB flash drive or the DVD into your PC.
- Look at the drive in Windows Explorer and double-click Start to start the installation process. Skip the Download Link paragraph below.
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Installation from Download Link
Download Office from the Link you were sent in the email or message or use the link from this table.
Product | Architecture | Language | Link |
---|---|---|---|
Office 2021 Standard | 64-bit | English | EN_OfficeStandard2021_x64BIT.iso |
Which version should I choose, 32-bit or 64-bit?
Click the download link and save the file to your downloads folder:
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Open the download folder in Windows explorer and double click the file to extract it. You can also burn it to a DVD if you like (right click > burn image)
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Click Open in the next security question
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The image will be mounted as a virtual DVD drive in Windows. Search for a new drive letter and open it (e.g. D: or E:)
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If this does not work (you cannot extract the .iso file, you may have an older version of Windows), you can download and install a free virtual disk management and creation program. Virtual Clone Drive is recommended here. You can download this here
Next, double click start to initiate the actual installation with all the settings you need.
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Say Yes on the next pop-up:
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This will launch the Microsoft Installer
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Patiently wait while the installation proceeds
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Click Close on the next screen
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Close the command prompt window (click X)
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Now you can eject the virtual disc. Right click on the virtual DVD drive letter and select Eject
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Activate your Office Professional Plus
Open one of the Office applications, e.g. Word
- Click on the magnifying glass / search in Windows
- Type Word
- Click Word to start
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Note: If Word closes on you after a few seconds or does not open at all then select Run as administrator
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4. If your account has Office 365, close this popup. Sign out of office 365 to activate your version of Office. You can sign in again, after everything has been activated.
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5. Click Accept on the license agreement popup.
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6. Go to Account (or Files > Account)
7. Click on Change Product Key
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8. Paste your product key in here
9. Click Activate Office
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If the orange box disappears, your key was loaded correctly
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The next time you open an Office app, you will see the activation wizard.
- Select activate the software over the Internet
- Click Next
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3. It should say “Your copy of Microsoft Office … is activated”
4. Click Close
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After the software is activated, pls. restart your PC and open one of the Microsoft apps (e.g. Word) within 30 days to ensure the license is synced with the Microsoft server.
That’s all. Congratulations!
Finding your Office 2021 Apps
The Microsoft Office apps can be found in the start menu. Click on the Windows icon > and see under Pinned apps or use the search bar and type e.g. PowerPoint
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Adding Shortcut icons to your workspace
To add a shortcut to the Windows task bar, open the app, right click and select > pin to taskbar
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To add a shortcut to your Desktop:
- Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop > select New > Microsoft Word Document
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2. A new shortcut to a new empty Word document will be created
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