Office 365 "Your School account is no longer active"

[supportman]

Has anyone seen this before using office 365 local apps? Its started popping up on all our downloaded office 365 installs.

 

Installing 2024 LTC fixes the issue but I would like to know why?

 

The Microsoft license center says all users have "Office 365 A1 for faculty/students". But the plus license version seems to have disappeared which I think may have caused the issue.

 

Edited December 5, 2025 by supportman

[ThomL]

A3 licenses needed for the local install of the Office suite isn't it? Even in shared activation mode I think...

[simpsonj]

Yes, essentially Microsoft have removed the Office A1 plus licence, which is causing a lot of schools issues.

 

You'll need Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty (or similar) licences to be able to activate O365.

[JazzFlute]

1 minute ago, ThomL said:

A3 licenses needed for the local install of the Office suite isn't it? Even in shared activation mode I think...

 

Or Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty license which I use along with Office 365 A1 for Faculty for every staff user.

[Koldov]

Yes, it's because the plus licenses have been removed. Hate to be that guy, but there's been a fair amount of chatter about it...

 

https://www.edugeek.net/forums/topic/224425-microsoft-we’re-deprecating-office-a1-plus-edu-licenses/#comment-2009157

 

According to that thread it was apparently announced in 2023, with a deadline for the end of 2024, but I guess there's quite a few tenants to get through so it's run over that and just kicking in for some now.

 

As others have said the suggested workaround is to get 'A1' and 'Apps' licenses... I haven't tried it yet as 1 of mine still has plus licenses and the other only has 1 license! Some kind of mistake from our reseller... trying to get them to add more but heard nothing back from them... when I try to buy these supposedly free licenses, this is what I see (we have 1 license, so that's the 'you own this' part, but if I want more it's £2.20 a month upgrade...?).

 

 

 

[supportman]

Yep you are all correct, confirmed with our supplier.

 

Surprised this has not caused more news!!

 

Microsoft have essentially removed the free component of local Office 365 installs for students at home 😕

[Sheridan]

Its one of the reasons we upped to A3 so cover shared device activation, and home use right etc - basically all the stuff that used to be free and no longer is. Seems to be the way a lot of cloud services will be heading in the coming years