How can I tell if my Office 2007 can be unlocked with an OEM key?

[Cornfleek]

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to ask this:

I've just received a new laptop with Office 2007 pre-installed. My first
assumption was that this was the full version, but it turns out to be a trial
version. The supplier of the laptop does not answer any questions concerning
this (not my supplier anymore as you might understand), and my trial is
running out, so I need to get the full version of Office 2007.

I now have two options: buy the OEM version or the retail version. I've read
that the OEM version will only work with pre-installed Office 2007 (Office
Ready it's called?). Now my question is, how can I figure out if I have a
trial version pre-installed or if I have an Office Ready Office 2007 waiting
for an OEM-key?

And no, asking my supplier is useless. Does anyone have an idea? I've read
somewhere that it should show up in your "system" tab, where it should say
Office Ready underneath the OS specification. Can someone confirm this?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to determine whether you have a trial edition of a 2007 Office suite or program installed:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927920/en-us

How to convert a trial version of a 2007 Office suite or program to a full retail perpetual license version:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927756/en-us

How to buy the 2007 Microsoft Office suites:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101678741033.aspx?ofcresset=1

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

:

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to ask this:

I've just received a new laptop with Office 2007 pre-installed. My first
assumption was that this was the full version, but it turns out to be a trial
version. The supplier of the laptop does not answer any questions concerning
this (not my supplier anymore as you might understand), and my trial is
running out, so I need to get the full version of Office 2007.

I now have two options: buy the OEM version or the retail version. I've read
that the OEM version will only work with pre-installed Office 2007 (Office
Ready it's called?). Now my question is, how can I figure out if I have a
trial version pre-installed or if I have an Office Ready Office 2007 waiting
for an OEM-key?

And no, asking my supplier is useless. Does anyone have an idea? I've read
somewhere that it should show up in your "system" tab, where it should say
Office Ready underneath the OS specification. Can someone confirm this?

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Cornfleek]

Hi Carey, thanks for the reply,

The problem is that according to your first link, there are three ways to
tell if it's a trial:
1) in the About Program_Name bit --> it doesn't say trial for me
2) in the task bar --> it DOES say trial for me
3) in Add/Remove programs --> it doesn't say trial for me

I wonder if I am running an "office ready trial version" is such a thing
exists. I've tried the activation assistant and such, and this does nog give
any info on what to buy, retail or oem.

Price difference is major, and I hate being forced to gamble and go for OEM,
only to find out it doesn't work... The other way round it would be a waste
of money to buy retail when OEM would suffice.

Thanks so far!

 

[DL]

If your laptop paperwork didnt contain a key for Office, and you didnt pay
the significant sum of monies for Office then its a trial
If you buy an OEM version of office its locked to that Laptop, and dies with
that PC
If your laptop had Works or similar installed, you may qualify for an
upgrade version
Buying from eg amazon.com may be cheaper than other places
*Uninstall any trial prior to installing any other version*

 

[Cornfleek]

Hi,

Thanks again for your input. Following your responses I'd have to conclude
that there was only one thing to do for me, buy the retail version. What
happened though is that I've taken a gamble, and bought the OEM MLK version
instead.

And guess what, it worked just fine, so now we have a working version of
Office 2007 which apparently was Office Ready afterall. Both the HP helpdesk
and the Microsoft telephone helpdesk were wrong apparently and wrongly
advised us to purchase the Retail version.

Weird but wonderful