Activation Question

[jimbo321]

I have a copy of Office Small Business Edition 2003 that came installed with
an old desktop running XP. I also have the CD's.

The old desktop died and to keep functioning, I installed Office on a laptop
running XP. The installation went fine and I activated Office via the web.

I have also obtained a new desktop running WIN 7 and have been getting
everything migrated to that new desktop. This included installing Office.
The installation went fine but when attempting to activate via the web, I got
some sort of error (don't remember the details) and ended up calling the
number that the wizzard gave me. I got a voice response system but was able
to get the Office programs to run.

But now, every time I start an Office program, the license agreement pops up
and I have to accept to continue. (If I go to the activation wizzard, it
indicates that the program has already been activated.)

I can live with the constant popups but obviously would prefer that to end.
I am, however, concerned becasue I don't know what is really going on and I'm
worried that I may lose the ability to run Office, especially now that I'm
starting to use Outlook for email, contacts, calendar, etc.

I wanted to talk to someone at MS to discuss and resolve the issue but can't
find a number anywhere.

Can anybody clarify the siutation and telll me what I can do to get it
resolved? Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Sardine]

I have a copy of Office Small Business Edition 2003 that came installed with
an old desktop running XP. I also have the CD's.

The old desktop died and to keep functioning, I installed Office on a laptop
running XP. The installation went fine and I activated Office via the web.

I have also obtained a new desktop running WIN 7 and have been getting
everything migrated to that new desktop. This included installing Office.
The installation went fine but when attempting to activate via the web, I got
some sort of error (don't remember the details) and ended up calling the
number that the wizzard gave me. I got a voice response system but was able
to get the Office programs to run.

But now, every time I start an Office program, the license agreement pops up
and I have to accept to continue. (If I go to the activation wizzard, it
indicates that the program has already been activated.)

I can live with the constant popups but obviously would prefer that to end.
I am, however, concerned becasue I don't know what is really going on and I'm
worried that I may lose the ability to run Office, especially now that I'm
starting to use Outlook for email, contacts, calendar, etc.

I wanted to talk to someone at MS to discuss and resolve the issue but can't
find a number anywhere.

Can anybody clarify the siutation and telll me what I can do to get it
resolved? Your help is greatly appreciated.

I had this problem on a new W7/64 machine. Office 2003 did exactly this.
About two weeks later it "cured itself" somehow.

Anyway since my experience I was alert to this issue and just a few days
ago I read about someone else with this problem and they had found a MS
article about how to fix it. Sorry I don't have the link but it had
something to do with being logged in as an Admin when you click the
agreement.

I'll bet you can find it if you search, look for a MS link concerning this.

Sard

 

[Peter Foldes]

Here you go

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884202

 

[LVTravel]

I have a copy of Office Small Business Edition 2003 that came installed
with
an old desktop running XP. I also have the CD's.

The old desktop died and to keep functioning, I installed Office on a
laptop
running XP. The installation went fine and I activated Office via the
web.

I have also obtained a new desktop running WIN 7 and have been getting
everything migrated to that new desktop. This included installing Office.
The installation went fine but when attempting to activate via the web, I
got
some sort of error (don't remember the details) and ended up calling the
number that the wizzard gave me. I got a voice response system but was
able
to get the Office programs to run.

But now, every time I start an Office program, the license agreement pops
up
and I have to accept to continue. (If I go to the activation wizzard, it
indicates that the program has already been activated.)

I can live with the constant popups but obviously would prefer that to
end.
I am, however, concerned becasue I don't know what is really going on and
I'm
worried that I may lose the ability to run Office, especially now that I'm
starting to use Outlook for email, contacts, calendar, etc.

I wanted to talk to someone at MS to discuss and resolve the issue but
can't
find a number anywhere.

Can anybody clarify the siutation and telll me what I can do to get it
resolved? Your help is greatly appreciated.

I'll be the bad "cop" here. If the version of Office "came with" a computer
it is in all probability an OEM version which is forever tied to the first
machine it is installed onto and can not "legally" be transferred to another
machine.

To ensure that you have a legal copy that can be transferred, look at the
license sticker where the 25 character key is located and in the lower right
corner if it says MLK or OEM it is an OEM version. If it says FPP then it
is a retail version and you are legal to do what you did. If you can't find
the original license sticker look at the disk. If it says for sale or
purchase only with a new computer it is also an OEM version.

 

[jimbo321]

Thanks guys, really appreciate your help. I think I'm OK re licensing but
if, in fact, Dell (who I bought the original computer from) is selling me MS
software that is only usable on that particular computer and not
transferrable to a replacement machine, that is a real rip-off, especially
considering that you are never advised ahead of time of that sort of
limitation. Why would I ever want to buy any software from Dell under those
conditions vs. buying it in the open market???

I seem to be making some progress in eliminating the pop-up's.