Office on two machines

[Jim Voelzow]

I am licensed to run Office 2008 on two machines, my desktop and my laptop,
but after installing Office (a clean installation) on my new desktop, Office
(Entourage anyway) tells me it can't start because it's already running on
another machine--even when it's "off."

I did not have two machines prior to the new desktop, so I hadn't
encountered this issue. What's the fix?

Jim Voelzow

 

[Ed Kimball]

I am licensed to run Office 2008 on two machines, my desktop and my laptop,
but after installing Office (a clean installation) on my new desktop, Office
(Entourage anyway) tells me it can't start because it's already running on
another machine--even when it's "off."

I did not have two machines prior to the new desktop, so I hadn't
encountered this issue. What's the fix?

Jim Voelzow

Did you use the same Product Key in both installation? If your license
allows two installations, you should have two Product Keys. Reinstalling ONE
of them with a different Product Key should solve the problem.

 

[Jim Voelzow]

There is one product key. It is an Office 2008 upgrade, not a completely new
"full" version--but--it upgraded my 2004 student teacher version which had
three (3) product keys, and the Microsoft website and the tech service guy I
spoke with (re a different problem) told me I can run it on two machines.

Because it's an "upgrade" from the 2004 version (with three keys), are you
saying it's crippled and I can now only run it on one machine?!

Please tell me I didn't get screwed by upgrading.

 

[Diane Ross]

I am licensed to run Office 2008 on two machines, my desktop and my laptop,
but after installing Office (a clean installation) on my new desktop, Office
(Entourage anyway) tells me it can't start because it's already running on
another machine--even when it's "off."

You can legally install on two machines, but you can't use both at the same
time when they are networked.

The Home & Student version gives you three keys, but it doesn't come with
Exchange support.

Does this help?

 

[Jim Voelzow]

You're saying that since I'm on the same wireless network at my home I can't
use my laptop when I'm away from my desk, even when my desktop machine is
off?!

What's Exchange support?

 

[Diane Ross]

If your desktop is off, then there should be no problems using your laptop.
IMHO, it's a rather archaic restriction in this day of multiple computers
when you have a license for both.

Exchange support is the ability to connect via an Exchange account. If you
only use POP and IMAP, the home version is fine. The only other thing that's
missing is the Automator actions for Office applications. You can use
Automator with Entourage. I have an Automator workflow to automate backup
for Time Machine so that it runs once a day. Hourly backups are not
recommended because the database is in use and can result in a corrupt copy.