activating 2007 Pro trial (from MS) with OEM key doesn't work

[pclsposts]

Hello all.

A customer purchased a new PC and installed Office Pro 2007 Trial on
it (downloaded it from Microsoft.com/office). It's NOT expired.

We sold the customer a copy of OEM Office Pro 2007. The key is a valid
key for Office Pro 2007 (according to Microsoft.com's backup media
website) but yet the trial does not accept the key and "Convert" .

What has Microsoft required behind the scenes?

Why isn't this working?

What do we need to sell the customer before this will work?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[JoAnn Paules]

My guess would be that it's expecting a retail product key, not an OEM
product key.

 

[lepeter]

I ordered Microsoft Office Basic 2007 with a new Lenovo Thinkpad. I
installed the CD with the software on the computer. A Trial Copy of
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 also was installed from the CD. I do not
want this upgrade but I can't seem to get rid of the message that asks me to
upgrade every time I use the PowerPoint Viewer. Any ideas how to get rid of
it. Microsoft has been no help.

 

[pclsposts]

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

This synopsis might be helpful to everyone involved in selling OEM
copies of Office 2007 but not yet intiated by the beast: System
builders such as we are required to use the Office Preinstallation Kit
to install the software before the computer is sold to the customer.
In the case described by me intially, the customer needs to be given a
refund on the PC and the OEM Office MLK license. The reseller needs to
use the OPK (purchased from MS -- or Newegg -- for $15-20. Preload
the software with the OPK media, and recreate another invoice to sell
the customer the software "preloaded" and the MLK to activate the
trial copy).

There is another step---- the Office Activation Assistant. It may or
may not be a required installation.

Can someone tell me (and the world) if the Office Activation Assistant
is required if the customer is sold a copy of an MLK at the time of
delivery? Or is the OAA only used in the case where the customer has
the OPK preinstalled and desires the ability to EASILY get a trial
license (OEM of course)? This is a question.

And another highly recommended step is to be sure the customer
puchases backup copies of Office 2007 installation media from
Microsoft at $9 each. So that when the hard drive fails before they
get a chance to clone it, they have something to reinstall Office
with. Without having to bug the system builder for a reinstallation.
This might be in violation of the OEM license.

Can someone tell me (and the world) ----- if a hard drive dies, does
this mean the OEM copy died with it?

And, can someone tell me (and the world) -- if the customer purchased
the MLK ----- and the backup media from Microsoft ----- and the hard
drive died --- do they ever need to bug the OEM ever again in the
reinstallation?

These are the joys and requirements of Microsoft Office 2007 OEM
software. The customer can either pay more for retail copies and be
assured of easy use and install-ability in case of hard drive failure,
or go the OEM route and jump through these initial hoops and over the
pits to be guaranteed future ease of support. And save a little money
- until the PC is retired. That's the final cost and it is fair I have
to say. Publicly :^)

Thanks again for any follow-up answers!

 

[pclsposts]

I ordered Microsoft Office Basic 2007 with a new Lenovo Thinkpad.  I
installed the CD with the software on the computer.  A Trial Copy of
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 also was installed from the CD.  I donot
want this upgrade but I can't seem to get rid of the message that asks me to
upgrade every time I use the PowerPoint Viewer.  Any ideas how to get rid of
it.  Microsoft has been no help.

Btw, LEPETER , I bet if you uninstalled the trial copy of Office 2007
Pro and the PowerPoint viewer your problem would go away. But, don't
do it until you are prepared for Office Basic to break (and you have
the CD that might be required when you do a "Repair" (I assume this
ability still exists with 2007, it did with 2003)).

Do NOT uninstall/reinstall your copy of Basic unless you want to have
to go through the re-activation process. And for that matter, you
might not even have the installation CD for the Office Basic so if you
don't, be sure you buy your backup media from Microsoft's website. Cut
and paste the following, remove the spaces from the following, and go
there to order your backup media for maybe less than $20 delivered.

http:// www. microsoft. com/office/backup

Lastly you should be able to download the Powerpoint viewer for free
at http://www. microsoft. com/powerpoint. (Again, remove the spaces)
So don't worry about that part.

 

[pclsposts]

LEPETER, see my post below. I hope it helps!!

I ordered Microsoft Office Basic 2007 with a new Lenovo Thinkpad.  I
installed the CD with the software on the computer.  A Trial Copy of
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 also was installed from the CD.  I donot
want this upgrade but I can't seem to get rid of the message that asks me to
upgrade every time I use the PowerPoint Viewer.  Any ideas how to get rid of
it.  Microsoft has been no help.
--
lepeter











- Show quoted text -

 

[pclsposts]

One more bit of info....

I am happy to say that the site

http:// www. microsoft. com/office/backup

allows customers (and we, as authorized designated helpers of our
customers) to download the backup media for most if not all Office
2007 products .

And I am happy to say that with one download, both Basic and Pro
versions are supported. It's a hybrid file that contains both. I
don't know if SBE is also in there. Won't be able to tell until we
test with a customer's SBE key ---- can anyone tell us so we have the
real info needed for future reference?

Note that to get these downloadable files you MUST have the valid
license keys for your Office 2007 product.

 

[Beth Melton]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is exactly why I don't
recommend folks use the OEM route for purchasing Office. There are too many
uncertainties and many OEMs deny responsibility to the customer once they
have their money. I've personally done the leg work and researched numerous
OEMs and was very disappointed by what I learned and that is you get what
you pay for. Of course I'm not referring to you in these statements -- I
have no idea who you are or how you run your business -- I'm referring to
those in which I've had more experience which are the larger OEM providers.

Regarding your specific questions, I don't think any of us here are
qualified to answer them. We can provide you with our "best educated
guesses" but there's no guarantee they would be correct. I recommend you
contact Microsoft directly and ask them. There are also System Builder
newsgroups that you can access from the OEM Partner Center
(http://www.microsoft.com/oem/default.mspx) which are monitored by
Microsoft's System Builder Support team. Note to you do need to sign in to
see the Technical Support/Newsgroup resources.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton

What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs