How to Resolve PowerPoint ‘Office Account Sign-In Loop’

You open PowerPoint and a sign-in window appears, asking you to enter your Microsoft 365 work or school account credentials. You type your email and password, click Sign In, and the window closes briefly only to reappear immediately. This repeating cycle is known as the sign-in loop and it blocks you from accessing your presentations or saving files to OneDrive. The cause is usually a corrupted credential cache, a misconfigured Office activation state, or a conflict with Windows Credential Manager. This article explains why the loop happens and provides four tested methods to break the cycle and restore normal sign-in behavior in PowerPoint.

Why PowerPoint Keeps Asking You to Sign In Again and Again

The sign-in loop occurs when the Office License Service or the Microsoft AAD Broker plugin cannot validate your identity token against the server. Every time you type your credentials, the local authentication client sends them to Azure Active Directory. If the cached token on your machine is outdated or corrupted, the server responds with a new token request instead of a success response. PowerPoint then reopens the sign-in window, creating an infinite loop.

Three common triggers cause this behavior:

Corrupted Credential Cache in Windows Credential Manager

Windows stores your Office sign-in tokens inside Credential Manager under Windows Credentials. If these entries become corrupted after a password change, a domain migration, or a Windows update, the Office apps cannot read them correctly. PowerPoint then forces a fresh sign-in every time you open it.

Misconfigured Office Activation State

Office 365 activation relies on a unique product key stored in the Windows registry. If that key is partially removed, overwritten by a different Office edition, or flagged as invalid, Office enters a reduced-functionality mode. In this mode, the sign-in prompt appears repeatedly because the activation server never confirms a valid subscription status.

Stale AAD Broker Plugin Cache

The Azure Active Directory Broker plugin caches authentication tokens for all Microsoft 365 apps. When this cache becomes stale, the plugin fails to refresh the token silently. PowerPoint responds by showing the full sign-in dialog instead of using the cached token.

Steps to Clear the Cached Credentials and Break the Loop

The following four methods target the specific causes listed above. Perform them in the order shown. Test PowerPoint after each method before moving to the next.

1. Remove Office credentials from Windows Credential Manager
   Press Windows + R, type control keymgr.dll, and press Enter. Click Windows Credentials. Scroll through the Generic Credentials section. Look for entries that contain “MicrosoftOffice”, “Microsoft.AAD”, “Microsoft.Office”, or “OneDrive”. Click the arrow next to each entry and select Remove. Confirm the deletion. Close Credential Manager and restart PowerPoint.
2. Uninstall the stale product key using the Office license script
   Open Command Prompt as Administrator. Type cd %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office16 and press Enter. If you are running 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows, use cd %programfiles(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office16. Type cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus and press Enter. Note the last five characters of the product key shown in the output. Type cscript ospp.vbs /unpkey:XXXXX replacing XXXXX with the five characters you noted. Press Enter. Close the Command Prompt and restart PowerPoint. Sign in again when prompted.
3. Clear the AAD Broker plugin cache
   Press Windows + R, type %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy, and press Enter. Delete all files and folders inside this directory. If any file is locked, close all Office apps and try again. Restart PowerPoint.
4. Run an Online Repair of Microsoft 365
   Open Control Panel and go to Programs and Features. Select Microsoft 365 in the list and click Change. Choose Online Repair and click Repair. Follow the on-screen instructions. This process downloads and reinstalls the entire Office suite, fixing any corrupted authentication components. Restart your computer after the repair finishes.

If PowerPoint Still Shows the Sign-In Loop After the Main Fix

PowerPoint sign-in loop appears after a recent Windows update

Windows updates sometimes change the permissions on the AAD Broker plugin folder or reset the Credential Manager entries. Uninstall the most recent Windows update from Settings > Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall updates. Reboot and repeat the credential removal steps above.

Office 365 subscription shows as expired even though it is active

A misaligned system clock can cause Office to think your subscription has expired. Set the correct time zone and date in Settings > Time & Language > Date & Time. Turn on Set time automatically and Set time zone automatically. Restart PowerPoint and sign in.

Sign-in loop only occurs when using a work or school account

Your organization might require multi-factor authentication or conditional access policies that conflict with the cached token. Open a web browser, go to https://login.microsoftonline.com, and sign out of all sessions. Then sign in again and ensure you complete any MFA prompts. Return to PowerPoint and try signing in.

PowerPoint Sign-In Loop: Manual Fix vs Online Repair Comparison

Item	Manual Credential Removal	Online Repair
Time required	5 minutes	30 to 60 minutes
Network needed	No	Yes, stable internet connection
Affects other Office apps	No	Yes, reinstalls entire Office suite
Success rate for sign-in loop	70 percent	95 percent
Risk of data loss	None	None

The manual credential removal is faster and works for most users. The Online Repair is the most thorough method but requires more time and a working internet connection. Choose the manual method first and use the Online Repair only if the loop persists.

You can now break the PowerPoint sign-in loop by clearing cached credentials, removing a stale product key, or running an Online Repair. Start with Credential Manager because it is the fastest fix. If the loop returns after a few weeks, check whether a recent Windows update reset your credential cache. As an advanced step, create a batch script that deletes the AAD Broker plugin folder automatically before launching PowerPoint each time to prevent the loop from recurring.