I know I f'd it up

[sheri]

Recently my motherboard crashed so I removed the harddrive and put it as a
slave in another computer. While attempting to get Outlook working I messed
up Office and then to further cause more grief I did a restore and backup. I
realize now that this was a major mistake but I'm not looking for what I did
wrong I'm looking for ways to fix the issue. What I ended up with was back a
computer back to square one with a trial version of Office. Well we were
running the full version so I'm thinking I have the license key for the full
version but this is not the case. I purchased the existing assets of a
business 3 years ago and assumed they had provided the licenses to all the
software loaded on the computers. Evidently not the case. So my question is
- is it possible to retrieve the full version from the backup somehow or call
microsoft to get the key?

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

If Office was installed on the drive that is now the slave, it will not run.
You need to install Office on the main C:\ drive. If you don't have the
Product ID (different than the license), then you can apply to Microsoft to
see if they can help you out. As long as you have the physical media, they
can most likely provide a Product Key if the software is not too old. They
no longer provide keys for anything from Office XP and prior, and I am not
so sure about Office 2003.

See this article for assistance: How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing
Microsoft Software or Hardware.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[ln];326246


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
ALWAYS post your Outlook version.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, sheri asked:

| Recently my motherboard crashed so I removed the harddrive and put it
| as a slave in another computer. While attempting to get Outlook
| working I messed up Office and then to further cause more grief I did
| a restore and backup. I realize now that this was a major mistake
| but I'm not looking for what I did wrong I'm looking for ways to fix
| the issue. What I ended up with was back a computer back to square
| one with a trial version of Office. Well we were running the full
| version so I'm thinking I have the license key for the full version
| but this is not the case. I purchased the existing assets of a
| business 3 years ago and assumed they had provided the licenses to
| all the software loaded on the computers. Evidently not the case.
| So my question is - is it possible to retrieve the full version from
| the backup somehow or call microsoft to get the key?

 

[DL]

The answer being no;
You have neither the key or original media. Had you purchased a PC or Office
from a company that was no longer trading the MS kb may have helped, but
your purchase was from a third party

 

[sheri]

So what was the point of performing the backup? Isn't there any way to
restore it and get back what I started with?

 

[Bob I]

Depends on what you backed up and how, but as far as Office licensing
goes, IF you replace a motherboard or switch computers you are going to
have to reactivate at a minimum and probably reinstall if things don't
go well. What you had was a computer without a license to use the
software that was one it which you now don't have either.