After computer reset, unable to get Office activated

Question

I was forced to reset factory settings following a crash. I now find that I have a 60 day trial for MS Office and my product code is not accepted when I try to activate. Any advice?

Answer 1

You should be able to reactivate after a Windows re-install.

How did you buy Office?  The pre-installed trial should contain Home and Student, Home and Business, and Pro.  Confirm that you bought a license for one of those 3 if you are trying to use your key to activate the pre-installed trial.

What is the error you are getting when you try to activate?

If it is an invalid product key type message, here are some possible fixes:

1 Invalid Product Key - "This is not a valid Office product key. Verify that you have the correct key and retype it."

The tool in KB 836178 walks you through a trouble shooting procedure for Office 2010 Product Keys

This behaviour may occur for one or more of the following reasons.:

• You have a Trial Version of Office installed that is “intercepting” the activation attempt, uninstall it first
• Check the numbers and letters on the product key:

                the number eight (8) can resemble a capitalized B,

                the number zero (0) can resemble a capitalized O or Q

                the number six (6) and letter G

                the letters VV and letter W

Copy the product key from an email message to avoid typing errors.

• Make sure that you are not using a product key from an older version of Office. These product keys will not work with Office 2010.
• Office 2010 Product Keys do not Contain following Characters:

Numbers: 0 1 5

Letters: A E I L N O S U Z

• Do not use a product key that might be attached to the bottom of your laptop, or on the back of your desktop computer. These are usually the Microsoft Windows product keys and will not work with Office 2010.
• If a Product Key Card was purchased at a retail store and activated at the register, do not use the key that is inside the card to unlock Office 2010. You must logon to the website listed on the card and follow the instructions to obtain the actual product key for the version of Office that you purchased.
• A product key for an Office 2010 stand-alone product (such as Microsoft Visio Professional 2010) will not be accepted as a product key for an Office 2010 suite. It is important to match the product key to the product for which it is specified.
• Volume License product keys will not be accepted for a retail Office 2010 product.
• Product Keys that start with “FC7HF” can only be used on Office Web Apps running on SharePoint
• Check your Windows Product ID in the Help about screen. Ie PID 00426-068-0288566-86858 Focus on the 3 digit part of the ID if it matches or is within one or two digits of the examples below

065, 066, 067, 068 for Ultimate,

220, 221 are for Pro

230, 231, 221, 232 are for Premium,

you probably have an MSDN or Technet key.  There are probably others but they should be close to these posted

• If none of the above conditions apply, before, or after trying the following procedures you may want to do a Phone Activation and ask the service rep to explain what the specific problem is.

About MSDN or TechNet Product Keys

They are genuine Microsoft product keys for retail licenses, but not for Retail sale. They are intended for a particular product channel either the Microsoft Software Developer Network (MSDN) or TechNet for IT Professionals who pay a subscription fee. The main purpose is for evaluation purposes. The great thing about them, unlike trial Microsoft software, MSDN or TechNet keys don't expire. Because the agreement under which the subscription is provided is a single license, none of the software should be distributed outside of it. Even though its $50,000 worth of licenses, it is for one person only to use and no one else. Unfortunately, regardless of the licensing terms, persons still abuse the program, either giveaway product keys or resell it on auction sites. Microsoft licenses it in good faith that customers won't do so, but I guess human nature wins out.

What probably happened is, you bought an MSDN licensed key, which carries up to 10 activations unlike full packaged retail licenses which only carry 1 activation. The person who sold it to you probably sold it to 10 other persons. Somewhere along the way, one of those persons might have installed it on a second system, activated it, because it went past 10 activation threshold, Microsoft detected it that it was being abused and blocked the key from further use.

Validate Now:

You can confirm that your software is genuine now. It’s quick and easy: http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/validate/ Click the 'Validate Windows' button. If the validation check fails, then you are going to have to buy your product again. You should contact the vendor for a refund. Depending on where they are in the scam cycle they may give you the refund or they will string you along with delays. You should also contact your credit card company to cancel the transaction or to at the very least give them a heads up on the scam so that they can deny the scammer any further sales.  You may also want to report the vendor to www.microsoft.com/piracy .

If it is a legitimate purchase, then you are possibly having a known problem with Windows 7.

There are 3 possible causes, 4 possible fixes:

First confirm that you are not making a simple typing error.

Second, it may be an access rights problem. There are 2 possible fixes for it. Either activate using "Run As Admin" or "Take Ownership" of the problem drive folders and registry entries. I have provided links to several articles for these types of fixes. Pick one that you can follow and try it.

Third do a phone activation

Official MS Office 2010 Product Key Solution - http://support.microsoft.com/common/survey.aspx?scid=sw;en;1844&showpage=1

Invalid - "This is not a valid Office product key. Verify that you have the correct key and retype it."http://support.microsoft.com/kb/836178****http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903275

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916180****http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2002262

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2549291

If these tips don't help there are some more things I can suggest for you to try

Answer 2

Exactly which version of Office did you buy that you have the Key for?

Answer 3

Hi,

your question has been moved by a moderator to the  Office | Unknown/Other | Installing and Activating Microsoft Office Products | Windows Vista  forum for more focused attention by the experts on this subject.

LC