Troubleshoot sharing a Microsoft 365 subscription
Here are the solutions to some common problems faced when sharing a Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Premium subscription.
Important:Â Only the subscription account holder can share their subscription.
Microsoft 365 sharing invitation not received
If the person you invited to share your subscription didn't receive the invitation:
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Check that you used their preferred email address.
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Ask them to check their junk mail folder for a message with "Microsoft 365" in the subject.
Microsoft 365 sharing not available
You can only share your subscription if:
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You are the subscription holder of an active Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Premium subscription. If you don't see
Share subscription on the Subscriptions page of your Microsoft account dashboard, you don't have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription. Learn how to switch to a different Microsoft 365 subscription. -
You have some subscription Shares remaining. Your subscription can be shared with up to five others.
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The person you have shared with has accepted the invitation to join your Microsoft family group. Only once they have selected "Join now" and joined your family group, will your Microsoft 365 Family subscription dashboard update to show "Start sharing".
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The person you have shared with is already part of another shared subscription. You cannot share with them because they already have the full benefits you are trying to share.
Microsoft 365 subscription no longer available
If you leave the family group, everyone you've shared the subscription with will lose access.
If your Microsoft 365 Family or Microsoft 365 Premium subscription expires, you may need to remove then re-share to the Family group.Microsoft 365 product key already used
Product keys aren't meant to be used for subscription sharing. Instead, please use the steps in Share your Microsoft 365 subscription to send an email or link to each person you want to share with.
OneDrive storage not updating
Sometimes, even after accepting the invitation, users may find that their OneDrive storage remains limited to 5 GB instead of the expected 1 TB. In such cases:
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Verify that the user has accepted the invitation link.
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Once accepted, they may need to wait 2 hours before changes to your storage show. Go to Manage storage, Refresh the page, and check if the additional storage is visible.
Each account has its own storage quota. If you want to share files and folders, read Share OneDrive files and folders
See also
Share your Microsoft 365 subscription