reconcile serial numbers to the install discs.

[rhennosy]

I have 27 copies of office installed in our company. One person is
conficting with another user. I looked at the product ID number to try
to determine which set of install disks I need to re-install from, but
it does not relate to the serial numbers on the install disks. How do I
determine which serial number I need to use for the reinstall?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have 27 copies of office installed in our company. One person is
conficting with another user. I looked at the product ID number to try
to determine which set of install disks I need to re-install from, but
it does not relate to the serial numbers on the install disks. How do I
determine which serial number I need to use for the reinstall?

AFAIK, it's a one-way hash, so you can't tell what the Product ID (PID)
will be from the CD Key. That's a bummer, because you won't be able to
tell which CD Key hasn't been used.

You may find this site more efficient than uninstalling and reinstalling
office:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/pid.html

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I have 27 copies of office installed in our company. One person is

AFAIK, it's a one-way hash, so you can't tell what the Product ID (PID)
will be from the CD Key. That's a bummer, because you won't be able to
tell which CD Key hasn't been used.

You may find this site more efficient than uninstalling and reinstalling
office:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/pid.html

Also, the About number generated from the license should always be the same
except for the last 5 digits. So that might help you figure out where the
other end of the conflict is, and it'd be easier to check a list of all
extant About numbers than go open up programs, maybe.

 

[DWP @ ACTEWAGL]

AFAIK, it's a one-way hash, so you can't tell what the Product ID (PID)
will be from the CD Key. That's a bummer, because you won't be able to
tell which CD Key hasn't been used.

You may find this site more efficient than uninstalling and reinstalling
office:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/macoffice/office/pid.html

Hi JE,
I have followed your instructions re removing the PID in Office 2004, but it
does not work for me.
The PID is always there, and does not get deleted for me.
Do you have any other strategies for deleting the PID and installing a new
PID, rather than deleting the whole Office install and reinstalling from
scratch?
Thank you

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I have followed your instructions re removing the PID in Office 2004,
but it does not work for me. The PID is always there, and does not
get deleted for me. Do you have any other strategies for deleting the
PID and installing a new PID, rather than deleting the whole Office
install and reinstalling from scratch?

Don't know what to tell you. When I follow the instructions on my site
exactly, I can reset the PID every time. The two things I've seen some
people have problems with are

1) Not shutting down all Office applications before deleting the
files, and

2) Not emptying the Trash before restarting an Office app. I just
updated the page to emphasize the importance of this step.

 

[DWP @ ACTEWAGL]

Don't know what to tell you. When I follow the instructions on my site
exactly, I can reset the PID every time. The two things I've seen some
people have problems with are

1) Not shutting down all Office applications before deleting the
files, and

2) Not emptying the Trash before restarting an Office app. I just
updated the page to emphasize the importance of this step.

Hi JE,
Thanks for the comments.
Today I upgraded to Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger). I have Mac Office 2004 11.1.1
installed. I then did a search for the invisible file officepid and none
could be found. Do you know if Msoft have changed the officepid file name
under Tiger?

Thanks

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Today I upgraded to Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger). I have Mac Office 2004 11.1.1
installed. I then did a search for the invisible file officepid and none
could be found. Do you know if Msoft have changed the officepid file name
under Tiger?

No, it's still there, but apparently Tiger can't find it. I usually use
Terminal or X11, so I hadn't checked. Worth a bug report to Apple.

To delete it in Terminal:

1) Start Terminal
2) at the prompt, change directories using the "cd" command. Type or
paste the path exactly (though there's nothing bad that will happen if
you don't, just try it again):

cd /Applications/Microsoft\ Office\ 2004/Office

You prompt should now include the path.

3) Verify that OfficePID is there using the "ls" command (again, nothing
bad can happen):

ls O*

You should see something like this

OfficePID Organization Chart Template
Organization Chart

4) Remove OfficePID with the "rm" command:

rm OfficePID

5) Verify that it was removed:

ls O*

which should return:

Organization Chart Organization Chart Template

6) Quit Terminal