Microsoft Project 2016 Activation Problem

Question

March of last year we purchased a license of Project 2016 for my Boss, go it, installed no problem, activated and he was happy. Then this March his Surface Pro 4 had a defective battery problem and had to send it back, so I do like normal, uninstall Office 2016 and Project 2016. Sent the Surface in, got a replacement, and installed Office 2016, which installed and activated without a problem. Project 2016, when I go to activate, keeps telling me "This product cannot be activated because the product key is not valid". And if I try to do a telephone  activation it gives "Microsoft does not recognize this as a valid product". 

I have tried getting in touch with the company we bought the software from, but it looks like they are out of business. Just wondering if this is the end of the line and our company has to pay for another license copy, or if there was some way to remedy this?

Thank you,

Jeremy Armer

Answer 1

There are 2 possibilities:

First is that the message is correct. Did you get it at a really good discount compared to the MS store price? That is a strong possibility since the company you bought it from has evaporated. What happens is that someone buys a "Volume license" with multiple product keys. Then they resell those keys to the unsuspecting public. The problem is that the license terms do NOT allow the original buyer to sell the key to anyone outside of their company. They do this, then close up shop and keep the money. At some point MS recognizes the keys have been distributed improperly and marks the keys invalid. They poor suckers like you get stuck holding the bag. MS is happy to sell you another key.

The second possibility is that the message is wrong. Do a phone activation, but this time do not reply to they prompts until they offer you the option of talking to a live service rep. Explain the situation, give them the key and ask them to check it for you. If they say it is invalid, ask why, exactly what type of license was it.

ACTIVATION PHONE SUPPORT - PHONE ACTIVATE

If you have an activation specific error, ie things like “invalid” or “blocked” product key, you specifically have to contact the “phone activation” support reps. Apparently “normal” support has no way of transferring you to them … <sigh>

The process you need to follow is rather round about:

• Start normal activation,

• select phone activation option,

• this will display appropriate phone number for your geographic location.

• Phone them

• do NOT reply to initial prompts

• wait, a long time, until you are offered the option of talking to a “service” rep

• explain problem to them

• ask to be transferred to a supervisor when front line support can’t help you

2017 01 20- “TELEPHONE ACTIVATION IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED FOR YOUR PRODUCT” ERROR WHEN ACTIVATING OFFICE

The problem started in the fall of 2016. In Jan 2017 a MS staffer provided the following excuse. But the problem still exists! MS oops’d, and just hasn’t bothered to fix the problem for much too long. Go to green link below to get the correct phone number for your specific geographic location

<snip https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/fo... >

Michelle V [MSFT]

We apologize for this inconvenience. We are currently fixing this bug in our Office products. In the meantime, you can call the numbers for your specific country/region listed in this article

(https://support.office.com/en-us/article/-Telep... ).

Please also note that this issue impacts Office non-subscribers only—those who purchased the product as a one-time purchase. For more information, see What’s the difference between Office 365 and Office 2016?

If this doesn’t solve the issue, please contact our support agents linked from the bottom of the same article.

Again, we apologize for this issue. We are working to get this resolved quickly and will update this thread once the fix is available.

Thanks,

Michelle V.

Office Team

</snip>

Answer 2

Thank you, that is kinda what I was suspecting. It was the first scenario, with the vapor-business.

Guess the only way to get it is ProjectLibre or pay for another license from Microsoft (don't want to have to deal with the other problems of having a Click-to-Run and standalone headbutting)

Thank you again for your quick response