Some Office 2019 users experience a new yellow-colored warning stating “Get Genuine Office you may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Avoid security risks and get genuine office now“
The message may also appear in Office 2016 and Office 365. Even if you have paid for the Office license, and you believe your license is Genuine, you may see this text bar appear. Apparently, in Microsoft’s opinion, your license is not 100% valid. Reasons are:
- you have installed and validated Office on more than 1 computer with the same license. Office licenses may only be used on 1 pc
- you have bought the license from a questionable reseller. Some websites sell Office licenses for approx. 10 dollar. That is almost certainly not a normal price for an official license.
- your license key may have been leaked and is being used by others. In this case, please contact Microsoft.
Table of Contents
How to remove Get Genuine Office warning
Genuine or not, luckily it’s easy to get rid of the warning. Follow these steps to turn off the Get Genuine Office notification:
Total Time: 5 minutes
-
Open any Microsoft 365 application (e.g. Word, Excel, or Outlook)
In this example, I’ve opened Microsoft Word
-
Click File
At the left top corner, click the File tab
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Click Account
In the left bar, click Account
-
Click Manage Settings
In the main screen at Account Privacy, click Manage Settings
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Scroll down and disable Connected Experiences
In the Privacy Settings window, scroll down and deselect the checkbox “Enable connected experiences”
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Click OK
Click OK to save the changes
Supply:
- Valid license or product key
Tools:
- Microsoft Office 365 / 2016 / 2019
That’s it. The yellow Get Genuine Office bar on top of your document will not display anymore.
Drawbacks of disabling Connected Experiences in Office
Connected Experiences enables collaboration and editing of a document that is stored in the cloud, e.g. Onedrive or Sharepoint. It also enhances Word to be able to translate the contents of a document into another language.
By disabling Connected Experiences you also turn off these features that may disrupt your way of work. A specific example is the use of Onenote notebooks in onedrive. This is no longer possible while having the Connected Experiences turned off. However, you can always temporarily turn the feature on to make use of the enhancements. Once you’re finished you can turn Connected Experiences off again.
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Worked last time but today (24/05/21) message has come back and this now no longer solves the problem unfortunately.
USE IT….
Open cmd as administrator
1st======Command
cd “\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun”
2nd======Command
OfficeC2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13801.20266
open Office = go to accounts = office updates = disable updates
First time I try this (24/05/21). Did not work (same as result as A. Smith).
This solution worked before but 26.05.2021 the yellow banner come back….
Ooph! That would be a pity!
I haven’t got the error yet. Fix seems to still be working on my machine.
Would second this, getting this issue on a fully updated install of office. MSGuides suggested a registry key removal but the registry key doesn’t exist. Frustrating because it’s activated using my KMS Server as part of my Open License Agreement, so there’s no reason for it.
I tried removing and reassigning the license and that didn’t seem to change anything, and a reinstall solved it for about 6 hours, then it was right back
Me too… I am computer illiterate. I have MS Office activated with ActO19 (KMS) sold to me as 100% genuine KMS key on AliExpress. Worked last time but today (26/05/21) the message has come back (large and status bar), and this now no longer solves the problem.
KMS keys are used in larger organizations only. These are not meant for personal use. I recommend you getting a refund at Aliexpress, and buy a genuine office version from Microsoft or an authorized reseller. Prices should be around $100 and up. Anything lower than $30 is likely not legal.
This fix no longer works (MS Office 2019 Plus). It may initially work but the message will come back within hours.
No longer works 🙁 …it’s that time again.
No longer working, still the message is being displayed
Please pay attention to this feedback because this solution no longer works
not working , it was time killer
need KMS solution this problem,pls help
KMS activates the product but message still pops up. We need another solution.
Uninstall microsoft office and then reinstall problem fixed 100%.
This used to work, but no longer does. Yes, I saw the registry hacks posted by others, but those registry entries are not in my registry.
cd\
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun
officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13628.20274
– wait 4-5 min. to finish
That’s all !
thanks a lot! It works for now. So, now can enable back the office update?
This totally works!! But I think the genuine popup is included in the latest update for Office, so by updating to the current version again, it will probably bring the popup back.. Thanks for this!!
Hi @Gospodar66
catching up on my yesterday’s feedback with query. Well, I enable back the office update and the problem comes back! I guess it works only until we don’t enable the office update? But your expert advise is preferred.
Thanks
you are my hero, this workssssss
the banner was soooo annoying
Thanks 3000
good job bro
thanks ths worked for me
OK, it works now, thanks for your comment. Could I enable the update option again?
It worked brother tnx
Thanks bro you have sorted the problem, I have tried thousands of ways before no one worked
Thanks a ton … it works for me ..
Beautiful, worked like a charm – the Privacy Settings change did not work for me. Highly recommend to disable the office updates. In any app, go to File > Account > go to Update Options and select Disable Updates
Thanks Gospodar66
Exactly what I needed!
Thanks a Lot!!
any trick for the more frequently updated version ?
Worked!
thanks!!!! WOrked for me
04 sep 2021 works, no yellow banner. 1st step – DISABLE OFFICE UPDATE. Is it so hard?
cheers, it worked. big up
it’s working. thank so much
OMG…thanks dude
I get the message access denied
one great solution is buying the software itself
aoa, i explain it further
cd\
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun
officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13628.20274
Yey! Thank you! it removed the annoying warning..
You are awesome dude. It worked perfectly for me. Thank you.
Fixed it , Thank you very much
Wow… worked like a charm… Super super super… Thanks a lot!!!
Yey!!!! The annoying yellow band of crap has disappeared thank you awesome buddy…..
17/09/2021
Work like charm!
Thank you very much!
Help, It just keeps coming back after opening word a few times.
Verified working on with MS Office 2019 (fully updated) on Windows 10 Pro running via Boot Camp. I’m keeping hold of that batch file… thank you.
Actually you can get a retail version for less than +/- $20 which will bind ms office key to your Ms account. If you know the sources.
thank you soooooooooo much……I have OCD with notifications
Thank you very much!
It worked perfectly for me.
It works, the message is disappeared ( when coming back after some updates, i assume to redo this process .
Didn’t work for me.
It worked awesome, Office 2019, Win 10, 64 bit. on Jan 2023
This still works, just remember to go to “word, file, account, disable updates” after you do this.
thankss 2023 this still works!
Wow awesome thank you saqib.
Did NOT work with me, the message returned back after PC restart!
Sadly this has not worked for me. Gonna try one more time. Thank you for helping the others.
It worked! Thank you 🙂
Awesome it work like a charm
bat file
it still works ! Feb 2022
Doesn’t work. the notification bar is not removed.
It’s not worked.
Office 2021 it’s not working
July 21… this is not working for office 2021
still works August 2022. Just run as admin.
that didn’t work for my office 2019. Any recommendations?
Did nothing…banner still appears.
worked for me. Thank you