Office 2007 Trial

[Chad A. Gross [SBS-MVP]]

I've been searching the net for a solution to this, but so far I haven't
found anything.

Client purchased new HP laptop, which came with an OEM version of Office
2007 SBE / Office 2007 Professional Trial.

It is important to note that this Office SKU appears to be a new beast -
until I saw the media set and played with this, I'd never seen it before.
It's your standard Office SBE OEM media kit - except the SBE install lets
you select Access 2007 trial. So it's not like Office 2003 where we had a
separate Office Trial Edition listed in Add/Remove Programs. With this, all
we get listed in Add/Remove Programs is Office 2007 System.

The problem is that the user needs to use Microsoft Picture Manager - which
we all know is included in all versions of Office. The Access trial has
expired, and as a result, the user is unable to use Picture Manager.
Whenever they open Picture Manager, they get an activation message saying
the trial has expired and gives you two options - Purchase Office
Professional or Cancel. Cancel the activation and Picture Manager closes.

I have gone in to Add/Remove Programs and gone the route of Changing the
Office 2007 install to remove Access - and I still get the activation error
in Picture Manager. I've also gone the route of uninstalling Office 2007
completely, and re-installing making sure to not install Access - and we
still get the activation error. The last option that I have not tried yet
is to use the HP recovery disks to restore the laptop to it's factory
condition - but even in that state Office 2007 is already installed
including the Access trial - so my only hope would be that removing Access
before the trial expires would resolve the issue - but my gut feeling is
that isn't going to be the case.

Any ideas would be greatly apreciated. TIA!

 

[Steve]

If you search "picture manager trial" you will see several threads on this
exact topic...none resolved. I contacted Microsoft and after a short period
of time, they responded with a "work around" which involved overwriting two
files with a new file they emailed to me.

I think they are now aware of this problem...so maybe a search on the MS
site will produce the new file for you.

The most annoying thing wasn't the bug - but the fact that MS seemed to be
in disbelief about this snafu...even though some of theses discussion threads
go back almost three months!

 

[Chad A. Gross [SBS-MVP]]

Thanks for the info Steve. I had seen the previous threads, and was just
making sure there wasn't a solution available that I had missed. Thanks!

--

Chad A. Gross - SBS MVP
SBS ROCKS!
www.msmvps.com/blogs/cgross

 

[Steve]

No answer in KB yet, so I asked and received permission to pass along the
email address of the tech at MS who can supply the file:

You can get the new file and instructions via email from:

(e-mail address removed)

Please put in Subject: Re: Workaround for PictureManager 2007 Issue

 

[Steve]

***UPDATE***

Please do not send an email to the technician listed in my previous
email...he is being deluged with requests and MS is missing the vital step of
collecting some basic data from you.

Please call 800-936-5700 and ask for the PowerPoint Support Team after your
case has been created.

Thanks.