Using Office 2004 student teacher edition on multiple computers on alocal network

[rwblackwood]

Even though each copy of Office 2004 has it's own product number, I
can only have an Office program open on 1 computer on my home network.
This started after upgrading to 10.5. Anyone have a suggestion for
dealing with this?

 

[William Smith]

Even though each copy of Office 2004 has it's own product number, I
can only have an Office program open on 1 computer on my home network.
This started after upgrading to 10.5. Anyone have a suggestion for
dealing with this?

If you've installed the same key on all the machines then start the
Remove Office tool found in the Microsoft Office folder. After you
launch the application, immediately press the Option key at the first
dialog window and the button changes its name to read "Remove License
Info Only."

Do that, and the next time you start an application, it will prompt you
for a new key. Be sure to track which key is used on which machine.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

 

[rwblackwood]

If you've installed the same key on all the machines then start the
Remove Office tool found in the Microsoft Office folder. After you
launch the application, immediately press the Option key at the first
dialog window and the button changes its name to read "Remove License
Info Only."

Do that, and the next time you start an application, it will prompt you
for a new key. Be sure to track which key is used on which machine.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

Thanks. I already have different keys but for some reason Office isn't
picking that up.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thanks. I already have different keys but for some reason Office isn't
picking that up.

But have you done as Bill suggested, so that Office does pick up the
different keys?

The wording of your last post makes it difficult to ascertain what you have
done, if anything.

(By the way, if you have experience of Word for Windows, you may be
expecting Office to communicate with the Microsoft Mother Ship to report
your number. That does not happen with Mac; the only restriction is an
Office installation reporting its product key to any other installations on
a network that want to start up, and preventing a second instance of a
product key from starting up. But maybe you know this already.)

(Be assured that I'm not being negative; it's possible that a new glitch has
arisen with Leopard being installed and if so we'd like to know about it in
readiness for other posters.)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[rwblackwood]

But have you done as Bill suggested, so that Office does pick up the
different keys?

The wording of your last post makes it difficult to ascertain what you have
done, if anything.

(By the way, if you have experience of Word for Windows, you may be
expecting Office to communicate with the Microsoft Mother Ship to report
your number. That does not happen with Mac; the only restriction is an
Office installation reporting its product key to any other installations on
a network that want to start up, and preventing a second instance of a
product key from starting up. But maybe you know this already.)

(Be assured that I'm not being negative; it's possible that a new glitch has
arisen with Leopard being installed and if so we'd like to know about it in
readiness for other posters.)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

OK. I'll try what Bill suggests. Thanks Bill & Clive.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Even though each copy of Office 2004 has it's own product number

Side note--every installation will have a different Product ID in the
About menu. However, if the Product IDs differ *only* in the last block
of numbers, then it means the same license key was used to install all
of them. When a key is used multiple times, it creates a different
Product ID every time, but the first three blocks will always be identical.

 

[peter1942]

I have installed Office 2004 on our 3 family machines, and forgot to note which Product Key belongs to which machine. I now have ordered a MacBook Air and will sell one of the older machines, after cancelling Office from it. I would then like to install Office on the new Air without buying another CD (at least until the complaints about Office 2008 subside). My questions:
1) If I cancel Office on the old machine, am I entitled to use that Product Key on my new machine?
2) How can I establish which product key was cancelled? Of course, you can say to just try all 3 until one works but is that going to cause any problems with the re-installation?
3) Could you please explain exactly how the license restriction works, since Dalya talks about "using a key multiple times", whilst Clive says that Office does not communicate with Microsoft. In that case, how does the second computer know that the Product Key has already been used?
4) Did I understand correctly that two (or more) computers which are connected on a network can both use a SINGLE Product Key, as long as both do not try to use Office at the same time? If so, can the program be installed on both machines from the CD using that single Product Key?
Peter

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Answers in line below.

--
Bob Greenblatt [MVP]
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom

I have installed Office 2004 on our 3 family machines, and forgot to note
which Product Key belongs to which machine. I now have ordered a MacBook
Air and will sell one of the older machines, after cancelling Office from
it. I would then like to install Office on the new Air without buying
another CD (at least until the complaints about Office 2008 subside). My
questions:
1) If I cancel Office on the old machine, am I entitled to use that
Product Key on my new machine?

On the old machine, use remove office, to delete Office from that machine.
REmove Office is in the Office folder, or on the CD.

2) How can I establish which product key was cancelled? Of course, you can
say to just try all 3 until one works but is that going to cause any
problems with the re-installation?

You can't easily. See other threads on this subject. But in your case it
probably does not matter.

3) Could you please explain exactly how the license restriction works,
since Dalya talks about "using a key multiple times", whilst Clive says
that Office does not communicate with Microsoft. In that case, how does
the second computer know that the Product Key has already been used?

The second computer willl only "know" about another computer using the same
key, if both computers are on the same local network.

4) Did I understand correctly that two (or more) computers which are
connected on a network can both use a SINGLE Product Key, as long as both
do not try to use Office at the same time? If so, can the program be
installed on both machines from the CD using that single Product Key?

Yes and Yes.