Can I install office 97 on a new e machine instead of upgrading

[midnight]

Hello,
I had my old computer for 10 years with Office 97 prof suite installed at
purchase. I recently bought an e-machine with the trial version of Office
Student and Home. I can't make any sense of it. Can I install my old version
of Office 97 without a key if it's registered at Microsoft? How can I find
out if it's registered?
Thanks.
mary

 

[DL]

Registration is optional, activation is a requirement.
A key is required to install Office
Office 97 is not fully compatible with Vista
A preinstalled version of office, oem version, cannot be transfered to a new
pc

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hello,
I had my old computer for 10 years with Office 97 prof suite installed at
purchase.

By current standards, that would make it an OEM version, which wouldn't be
legal to transfer to another PC. Check the EULA to see if you can work out
what you're allowed to do with the version you have. This explains how to find
it:

End User License Agreements (EULA)
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00378.htm

Even if it's legal to transfer to another PC, you'd need an Office 97 CD and a
key to do the install there. Belarc Adviser may be able to retrieve the key
from your current PC.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Registration is optional, activation is a requirement.

Not for Office 97 or for most editions of Office 2000.

 

[LVTravel]

By current standards, that would make it an OEM version, which wouldn't be
legal to transfer to another PC. Check the EULA to see if you can work
out
what you're allowed to do with the version you have. This explains how to
find
it:

End User License Agreements (EULA)
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00378.htm

Even if it's legal to transfer to another PC, you'd need an Office 97 CD
and a
key to do the install there. Belarc Adviser may be able to retrieve the
key
from your current PC.

To continue with Steve's comments. The key for Office '97 Pro is 4 digits a
hyphen and 7 digits long. Belarc or Magical Jellybean's keyfinder version
1.51 (not the latest version but both are on their web site
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/old.shtml) will find the program's
key on a currently installed working computer.

If the computer still works where it is installed you can also start Word
and then click Help, About and the key IIRC will be the first 4 characters,
a 3 character number or the letters OEM, and then the 7 character code
followed by a hyphen and more numbers (or more numbers then the 7
characters.

Office '97 Pro was normally shipped as a retail version. While it may have
come as an OEM version I have never seen one. All of mine (upgrade and full
installs) are retail licenses.