Microsoft Pauses KB5002907 After Office License Problems

Microsoft has paused the rollout of KB5002907 while it investigates reports that the optional update affected perpetual Office 2016 and Office 2019 installations.

KB5002907 was released for Microsoft 365 Apps installations more than 90 days out of date that use the Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel. Microsoft says the update is offered through Windows Update and does not install automatically.

Christian Van Hautte, who runs a managed service provider in Belgium, told BleepingComputer that five unrelated customers contacted his company within about ten minutes on September 24. Dozens of PCs across the organizations were affected. He said the installations were Office 2016 or Office 2019 Home & Business with perpetual licenses. Re-entering the original product key restored activation on some systems.

Van Hautte also reported cases in which Office was removed and not successfully reinstalled. He said those cases involved installations with Office components of different architectures, such as 32-bit Office alongside 64-bit Microsoft Access Runtime. Microsoft has not confirmed that this caused the reported removals.

Microsoft says some affected installations may appear unlicensed, while in rare cases Office may be removed entirely. It recommends reactivating purchased products in the first case, and downloading and reinstalling the purchased Office 2016 or Office 2019 copy in the second. The company says it paused the rollout to prevent more devices from being affected.