Microsoft Halts Update After Office 2016 and 2019 Lose Activation

Microsoft has paused its KB5002907 update after some Office 2016 and Office 2019 installations lost activation or were removed from PCs. The update's repair process left some devices without working Office applications.

The affected products include perpetual licences, a one-time purchase of a particular version rather than the recurring subscription used for Microsoft 365. For someone opening Word to finish a document, the result can be an activation prompt where a working application used to be.

KB5002907 was intended to help Microsoft 365 Apps installations more than 90 days out of date resume updating. However, some users reported that their Office applications disappeared after installing the update.