Here are some common problems faced when sharing your Microsoft 365 Family subscription, and their potential solutions:

Microsoft 365 sharing invitation not received

If the person you invited to share your subscription didn’t receive the invitation, consider the following:

  • Confirm that you used their preferred email address.

  • 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:

  1. You have an active Microsoft 365 Family subscription. If you don't see M365 Family Sharing icon 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.

  2. You have some Shares remaining. Your subscription can be shared with up to five others.

Note: You do not need to share your subscription to install Microsoft 365 on multiple personal devices. You can use a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription on 5 devices, but you cannot share a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription with 5 other people.

If another person in your family group also has a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription, it will not be shared with them. 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 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 Family 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:

  • Verify that the user has accepted the invitation link.

  • 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

Learn more

Share your Microsoft 365 Family subscription

Learn more about sharing your Microsoft 365 Family subscription

Microsoft Family group roles, permissions, and data sharing

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