My Office application cannot start becauseOffice is already being used

[dalfam]

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My Office application cannot start because Office is already being used.

I used a pendrive to transfer an old Word file from my old System 9 iMac to print it through my MacBook Pro. Usually no problem doing this - but suddenly i get this message. Obviously each computer has its own independently installed MS Office (by dealer) - so what's up?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

My Office application cannot start because Office is already being used.

I used a pendrive to transfer an old Word file from my old System 9 iMac to
print it through my MacBook Pro. Usually no problem doing this - but suddenly
i get this message. Obviously each computer has its own independently
installed MS Office (by dealer) - so what's up?

What's up is that your computer is on a network with other computers which
are using a component of Office also. It appears from your description that
all the computers have the same product key. This is a violation of the
license agreement. If you have the original CD's with the license key you
can change the keys so they do not conflict. Instructions are here:
http://entourage.mvps.org/version/license_version.html#keys