Remove “You may be a victim of software counterfeiting” notification

Recently, I received more emails from users who are using my servers to activate your Microsoft products asking to solve a problem that has become increasingly common in recent days. It is related to the emergence of a yellowish notification bar with the words “GET GENUINE OFFICE You may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Avoid security risks and get genuine Office now” or “Your license isn’t genuine, and you may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Avoid interruption and keep your files safe with genuine Office today” on their apps.

I have tried my best to reply to all your emails but I could not because the number of emails I receive each day is a large amount. Sometimes you might not get any answers,  I also feel sorry about that. That is why that I decided to write this article.

The reason

One thing for sure that the question “what is the cause of the problem?” would be raised. Actually, this problem is not serious. I think it is just a notification used to warn clients who purchased digital activation scripts of Office from eBay, Alibaba or any online shopping sites on the internet that you activated your Office with a trial license instead of a genuine product key. Many placed dependence upon sellers’ words and thought that they bought at a bargain. In fact, they have been ripped off because what they got exactly is the KMS script and it is shared on my blog for free. But sadly, most people are still unfamiliar with it.

The solution

A detailed solution was introduced in a recent article on the Microsoft website. Besides, if you usually follow the MSG community you may already know that there was a heated discussion on this issue. Active members have suggested various solutions for several days and finally we find the best one. I would like to extend my grateful thanks to DrVlaming, Vanchester90 and other ones for your kind support.

We had the answer though there are still a lot of people asking me to confirm the authenticity of the solution. That is why today I decide to put the solution on the MSG homepage instead of the MSG forum.

Method 1. Change KMS server

Step 1.1: Open the command prompt app on your Windows with admin rights.

open command prompt app with admin rights
open command prompt app with admin rights

Step 1.2: Change your KMS server address then reactivate your Office app.

Run the command below to go to the Office folder.

cd /d "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16"

If you see the error “The system cannot find the path specified”, please try this one.

cd /d "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office16"

Run the following command to extend your Office KMS license.

cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ckms >nul&cscript //nologo slmgr.vbs /ckms >nul&cscript //nologo ospp.vbs /setprt:1688 >nul&cscript //nologo ospp.vbs /sethst:107.175.77.7 >nul&cscript //nologo ospp.vbs /act

Finally, please open your Office app then check that the notification was removed.

Method 2. Disable optional connected experiences

How to disable the annoying notification bar on Microsoft Office apps.

Step 2.1: Open your Office app.
Just start the Office program which has annoying notification.

Step 2.1: Open Privacy Settings.
Goto File > Options > General > Privacy Settings or Home > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings. At this dialog box, uncheck the “Enable optional connected experiences” option.

Remove "GET GENUINE OFFICE You may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Avoid security risks and get genuine Office" notification
Disable optional connected experiences

Step 2.3: Restart your Office app.
Close your app and reopen it to apply changes to the settings.

After completing the above steps, the notification should be gone.

If you would have any questions or concerns, please leave your comments. I would be glad to explain in more details. Thank you so much for all your feedback and support!

5/5 - (160 votes)

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458 Comments

  1. Hi

    i’m afraid none of the proposed solutions worked for me. I don’t have the keymanagement register and all boxes are unchecked in the privacy options but I keep getting that error.

  2. All connection options must be disabled. I unchecked all the options in privacy setting and it worked for me! finally i get rid of the alert!

  3. I too was having the same issue and noticed that on one computer office was ok, but on the other I was getting the annoying genuine popup.

    I checked the registry and noticed that the working computer was using an ip address for KeyManagementServiceName, while the non working computer was using the dns

    I changed “KeyManagementServiceName” kms8.msguides.com to 10.3.0.1 and it seemed to work

  4. auser’s fix worked like a charm to me! So far, the annoying notification bar has been disappeared from all Office 2016 programs!

    1. it means we’re stuck at this particular version without security updates or other fixes (not like they don’t constantly break s**t in new versions anyway) but i think it’s only a matter of time until the new dialog is reverse engineered and bypassed by someone with the skills to do so

  5. so far with the new more annoying modal window that comes up the only fix i have found is

    disable office automatic updates:
    c:\windows\syswow64\reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\officeupdate” /v EnableAutomaticUpdates /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

    roll back to the last version i found that doesn’t have this check:
    “C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe” /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13530.20440

      1. Also completed as @auser but my version went back to 16.0.13530.2048 being a 32-bit version. Seems to be fine.

          1. Another error, the Click to Run went to version – 13530.20440 which is what is what is suggested.

  6. I just removed the activation with.
    “cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus”
    “cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:{last five characters of product key}”

    I then re activated it with the normal script and for now it works

  7. As of the 19th of May 2021, this fix is no longer working. Hopefully, we’ll get a better fix in the next few days.

  8. Neither of the solutions worked. Can confirm JK’s message of non-existent registry entries.
    Changing KMS server had no effect.

  9. I received this message from CMD

    C:\WINDOWS\system32>reg delete “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform” /f /v KeyManagementServiceName
    ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.

    C:\WINDOWS\system32>reg delete “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform” /f /v KeyManagementServiceName
    ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.

  10. On May 17th I applied the first fix and it seemed to solve the issue with the exception of OUTLOOK.
    I deleted the two registry keys and that did not help.

    Today, May 18, 2021, the issue re-appeared as a larger pop up box with the warning then the yellow ribbon warning appeared at the top when closing that pop up. I checked all apps and found the “Enable optional connected experiences” option” still UNCHECKED. So now that solution does not work on my system.

    I also noted that the last UPDATE for OFFICE 19 PRO was applied on May 13, 2021.

    Thank you for your continued service on this site.

  11. Not of this article worked for me.
    Tried to do Alic’s steps but’s the message still appears.

    Any fix?

  12. None of that worked for me. I’m now getting a “There’s a problem with your office license” window on launch, along with the notification. Any way to rectify this?

  13. The steps are the following:
    Search the registry for the name kms8.msguides.com and replace it with kms.myserver.com for example.
    There may be more than one key where such replacement is to be performed.
    then add the following line to the hosts and lmhosts file:
    193.29.63.133 kms.myserver.com
    To verify that the change has been made correctly, execute from the system symbol
    Ping kms.myserver.com should respond with the address 193.29.63.133

    This is only what needs to be done.

  14. Hi tomuse & alic, i found the kms8.msguides.com server name on the registry and changed the name (same name alic use in the example). with the hosts and imhosts i did add ” 193.29.63.133 kms.myserver.com “line but it didnt work. i have the 2019 professional plus. where could i have been wrong?

  15. Hi Alic, thanks a lot, the tip with renaming the server kms8.msguides.com worked fine for me. The Office version was a 2019 Professional Plus.

  16. There is a third method that is much less intrusive and you do not have to modify practically anything.
    The problem:
    Since the last office update, it is searched if the kms server is msguides.com and it indicates that we do not have the original software.

    Solution:
    Change in the registry the server kms8.msguides.com for any other for example kms.myserver.com
    And in the hosts and lmhosts point the ip address of the kms8.msguides.vom server to kms.myserver.com

    In the hosts and lmhost we would have to add the line
    193.29.63.133 kms.myserver.com

  17. Using Office 2019. Different setting but even unchecking ALL privacy settings does not help.
    Any other suggestion would be greatful!

  18. Oh thank G*d I’m not the only one that was getting that r******d message. I thought it was because I downloaded a language pack (directly from Microsoft’s site no less) that s*****d up everything, because that is the only time I started seeing the message. I back tracked all the steps I did to before the time I noticed the message and it didn’t fix it. I was starting to think Microsoft was scamming people on their own website and forcing all licensing that isn’t a 365 subscription license into invalidating itself so they could force users into subscription service. Turns out, they’re pushing unsolicited “messages” regardless of one’s validated license.

    Leave it to Microsoft into scaring people into a subscription service for their profit margins.

  19. All connection options must be disabled, because if not, the message continues to appear.
    These options only come out if you have a session started, if the session is not started, just uncheck what the article says is enough.

  20. after doing……
    Open your Office app
    Just start the Office program which has annoying notification.
    Open Privacy Settings
    Goto File > Options > General > Privacy Settings or Home > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > Privacy Settings.
    At this dialog box, uncheck the “Enable optional connected experiences” option.

    The help doesn’t work.

  21. sorry but i spoke too soon – -this did not work for me.
    My office does not show the same options in privacy settings and license check is still active and yelllow bar still there.

  22. But disabling ‘Enable Optional Connect Experience’ disables Help/F1 function. Any fix to that?