Question about Office activation???

Kevin Palmer · Feb 2, 2007

Well, long story short. I bought Microsoft Office with the intention of installing on my home PC. Well, got busy and did not get to it. Since then, my daughter did install it on her LAPTOP, not the PC. So I install it on the PC and it is good to go for 49 more times.

Hmmm, it dawned on me that I may not be able to activate it as my daughter either accidentally or thought she needed it on her laptop.

So, any advice on how to handle this when my 49 times is up????

Thanks in advance....

Thomas Rogers · Feb 2, 2007

My experience with past Microsoft products is that you can activate them on several computers without issue. "Several" in my experience has been two or three. Part of the reason they allow this is because machines get fried, parted out, reinstalled, upgraded, replaced, etc.

P.S. I am not advocating breaking any licensing agreements, just stating my experience.

TJR

Casey B · Feb 2, 2007

I think if you "activate" it the amount of times will disappear. Installing and registering is seperate from activating it. You may have to notify Microsoft that the "ownership" has transferred from one machine to the next. Of course it will have to be uninstalled from the laptop, or at least no more support or downloads will be available to her.

EDIT: I also agree with TJR. I have Office Pro installed on my desktop and laptop without issue. Both are legit with full support. My version is sold as "academic" but it is the complete Pro version.

Jim Sacco · Feb 2, 2007

Did you try to activate it yet? It's acceptable to move the suite from one system to another, but you should remove it from her laptop. The activation will most likely go through, and if it doesn't, you can call them and explain, and they will give you an activation number. They are just trying to prevent it ... well, you know. If you don't remove it from the laptop, at some future time, it will be marked as pirated from the update site, and she will not be able to get anymore updates/patches for it. I had a client go through a similar situation.

Dale Carlson · Feb 2, 2007

Edit: We should have asked, what version of Office? I believe 2007 has gotten more strict with activation.

If you don't want to spend the cash, you might try OpenOffice or SunOffice - two free office productivity suites that have most of the functionality, look, and feel, of Microsoft Office. It's what I installed on the laptop I gave to my daughter.

If your daughter's a student, you can qualify to buy (not that they check anyway), to buy a student/teacher version of Microsoft Office for about $149. It doesn't have all of the products that the full version does, but does your daughter really need anything beyond Word, Excel, and Powerpoint? You might have to look around in the different box stores to find it.

Kevin Palmer · Feb 2, 2007

It is the full version of Office 2003 with all the normal components.

Sean M 2 · Feb 2, 2007

Office 2003 needs a separate VALID product key or activation code with each install of the software. Upon startup you must initialize the software with the Microsoft server. If the key has ever been used it will be rejected. I deal with this often at work and it is a pain. I would call Microsoft if the key dosent work and explain to them that the software was originally on a laptop, which has now been removed. They will not let you run two instances of Office 2003 using the same retail product code.