Office for Mac 0xD000000C: the keychain cannot store the sign-in

Fix it now

Microsoft’s message for 0xD000000C is “The system requires that you sign on to a valid account”, and it names two causes: credentials that cannot be stored in the keychain, and network accounts such as Open Directory whose keychain is read-only. The remedy is the License Removal Tool, then activating while signed in to a local macOS account.

1. Open a browser and confirm the Mac can reach microsoft.com. Microsoft’s first step for this code is a plain connectivity check.
2. Quit every Office application, including Outlook and Teams.
3. Run Microsoft’s License Removal Tool for Mac. It is a .pkg published by Microsoft and it removes all Microsoft 365 for Mac licences.
4. Open Word and complete the activation prompts. If it fails again and you are signed in to a network or Open Directory account, sign out and sign back in with a local macOS account.
5. If the Mac has no local account, create one from the Apple menu, in System Settings under Users and Groups, unlock with the padlock, add a user, then log into it and activate there.

The License Removal Tool removes activation data only. Your documents, your Outlook profile and your settings stay where they are, but you will need to sign in or re-enter a key afterwards.

If Office activates you can stop here. If not, the next section explains which Mac activation code means what, because the one people most often blame is a different number.

Why it happens

Start with the code, because this family gets mixed up constantly. 0xD000000C is the keychain code. Microsoft’s page for it publishes the message “The system requires that you sign on to a valid account” and gives two causes: the system cannot properly store credentials, and users signed in through a network account such as Open Directory cannot write credentials to the Mac’s keychain, which is read-only for those accounts.

0xD000001C, one character different, is the computer name code. Microsoft states that the Mac’s name contains invalid characters when it is sent to the server, and its remedy is to change the name in Sharing and restart. If you have been renaming Macs to clear 0xD000000C, you have been applying the fix for its neighbour. It sometimes helps because both end in a fresh activation attempt, which is not the same as it being the cause.

0xD0001043 is a third thing again: Microsoft calls it a server issue, and its first remedy is simply to restart the Mac and activate again, then the License Removal Tool, then uninstall and reinstall. And a dialog showing 0x0 or “License not found” was published by Microsoft as a known issue on macOS, now marked resolved, whose fix is to be on macOS 12 or later and update the Office apps through Microsoft AutoUpdate.

What ties the whole group together is where the licence lives. On the Mac, activation writes licence data into the Office container in your Library folder and stores the identity that obtained it in the login keychain. If either side cannot be written – because the keychain is read-only, or because the container belongs to another machine’s restore – the activation restarts, and it is that restart failing that you see.

Full reference

Reading the Mac activation codes apart

If you go looking in Keychain Access, note that Microsoft’s documented route is the License Removal Tool rather than deleting entries by hand, and that it does not publish which entries the tool clears. Deleting keychain items removes saved credentials, so make sure the person knows the password of the account they are about to sign in with.

Narrowing it to one Mac or one user

1. Create a fresh local macOS user account and open Word in it. If activation succeeds there, the fault is confined to the original user’s data rather than the machine.
2. Back in the original account, quit Office and run the License Removal Tool.
3. Confirm the Mac’s name is a plain one with scutil --get ComputerName, and check the local host name with scutil --get LocalHostName.
4. Confirm date, time and time zone are correct and set automatically. A clock far enough out breaks the certificate validation that activation depends on.
5. If it still fails only for that one user, move the Office container folder in that user’s Library aside and let Office rebuild it. Documents are unaffected; toolbars, templates and signatures may need setting up again.

What the License Removal Tool is, and is not

• It is a .pkg published by Microsoft and it costs nothing. Any site charging for a Mac Office licence cleaner is selling something Microsoft gives away.
• Microsoft describes it as completely removing all licences for Microsoft 365 for Mac. It does not publish the individual file paths or keychain entries it clears.
• It removes activation state only. Documents, the Outlook profile and application settings are untouched.
• Microsoft’s guidance is to confirm your credentials work at the Office sign-in page before running it, so you are not left unable to sign back in.
• Delete the installer from your Downloads folder afterwards, which is also in Microsoft’s steps.

Managed Macs

Two things behave differently on a managed Mac and both cause repeat visits. The computer name is often enforced by a configuration profile, so a local rename lasts until the next check-in and then reverts, taking any 0xD000001C fix with it. And directory-bound Macs are exactly the population Microsoft’s documented cause for 0xD000000C describes, because their keychain behaviour is what triggers it.

If a whole fleet of directory-bound Macs shows this, the answer is not fifty local accounts. It is to raise the keychain behaviour with whoever manages the directory integration, and in the meantime to use a local account on the machines that need Office working today. Note also that shared computer activation, which solves a related problem on Windows session hosts, is not available for Office for Mac, so it is not the answer here either.

Every code this article covers

Confirm the fix worked

1. Word’s About panel names the subscription or product you expect on the licence line.
2. scutil --get ComputerName returns a plain name, with no punctuation beyond hyphens.
3. Outlook opens without prompting for activation.
4. Restart the Mac and open an Office application again to confirm the state persists.
5. If you moved to a local macOS account to fix it, confirm whether that is the arrangement you want to keep, or whether the directory integration needs looking at.

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