MS Office Activation - How Can I Work-Around? 3

[hikermann]

Not directly MS Windows XP, but will try here: Purchased MS Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003 way back when and loaded it onto my PC -- only because for those occasions when needing to access a Word doc (I use WordPerfect) received from someone; have used PowerPoint a couple of times, but that's the extent of it.

Just upgraded my hard drive and reloaded everything; now Microsoft in its infinite wisdom presents me with:

===================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Thank you for installing Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003. You must activate your installation to fully enable all of the features. The wizard will guide you through the activation process.

How do you want to activate your copy of the software?
 I want to activate the software over the Internet (Recommended)
I want to activate the software by telephone

If you choose not to activate at this time, you may run the software 48 more times before many of the features become unavailable. Click Help for more information.

================
FOLLOWED BY:
================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Your installation cannot be activated because you have activated up to the limit for your Product Key. For details about the maximum allowed number of product activations, close the wizard and review the End User License Agreement, available via the Help menu of the application.

If you believe that you are getting this message in error, click Back and choose the telephone option. The telephone activation system will provide you the opportunity to speak with a support representative about all activation issues.

================
SO I GO TO THE ALTERNATIVE:
================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Thank you for installing Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003. You must activate your installation to fully enable all of the features. The wizard will guide you through the activation process.

How do you want to activate your copy of the software?
I want to activate the software over the Internet (Recommended)
 I want to activate the software by telephone

================
FOLLOWED BY:
================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Follow these steps to activate your software over the telephone.
Step 1: Select the country/region you are calling from and call the Product Activation Center using any of the telephone numbers provided
United States
Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product.
Step 2: When prompted, provide this Installation ID:
053743-893355-883236-445890-100680-366700-882166-832590-291376
Step 3: Enter your Confirmation ID here:
A B C D E F G

=====================

Sooooo ... what I have here is:

1. I purchase a bonafide copy of MS Office way back when
2. I initially load it on my PC and have a successful activation with MS
3. I use it rarely
4. I get a new hard drive
5. I reload MS Office
6. I'm presented with the option to activate by Internet, resulting in my being informed that "installation cannot be activated because have activated up to the limit for [my] Product Key."
7. Next, I attempt to activate by telephone, resulting in being informed that "Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product."
8. So, I've helped Mr. Gates maintain his billionaire lifestyle while he has decided that since I'm unwilling to continually purchase the Next Newest Greatest Microsoft Thing I'm going to be prohibited from the full and free use of my duly-purchased product. Go figure.

This has all the brilliance of Chevrolet selling me a car in 2003, then because I won't purchase a new Chevy every other year being informed that I have only 48 more trips available and then my 2003 car will be useless ....

QUESTION: Is there some way to bypass this now-useless activation business so I can have full use of what I have purchased?

Many thanks.

 

[rclarke250]

Your analogy is wrong. First you would "own" the car, you do not "own any part of the software, other than the physical disk it is on" Think of it more like renting or leasing the software, read your user agreement, note I didn't say owners manual. Now then on to the issue. You will have to find the Microsoft support phone number for the product and talk to them over the phone, they should be able to give you a working code. Now if for some reason they won't, just install open office, it is free, and can read and save files in the microsoft office formats, and many other office suite formats.

 

[goombawaho]

now-useless activation business

I'm not sure Microsoft would consider it useless regardless of any billionaire status or age of the product.

Link
Are you sure you didn't install an OEM version of the software?? That document doesn't mention anything about a retail version being affected by this problem and, in fact, I have moved retail versions between computers many times without a problem. Maybe if you did it every week, they might get suspicious, but otherwise it activates.

What is the product ID on the CD sleeve to determine if it's OEM or not.

We aren't in the business of telling people how to crack software here. You can look elsewhere for that. Read this and then I guess, you're off to another site.
Link


"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[xwb]

If you only use office to look at docs and not to edit them, why not use the Word Viewer

 

[strongm]

>Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product

If you wait on the phone long enough, you should get a live rep who may be able to sort this out.

 

[goombawaho]

rclarke250 - you just beat me to the posting punch while I was composing.
Yeah, I never found anything saying phone support is no longer available for Office 2003.

Where is our OP?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[hikermann]

Thanks for the responses.

Fascinating journey, this.

1. Re my analogy of owning a car being wrong. I think not. When one purchases a vehicle, what they "own" is both the physical hunk of shiny metal/plastic of the car AND ALSO the full rights and use of that vehicle for however long they choose. When purchasing "The Cornerstone of the Microsoft Office System" (their promo) I did not only purchase a shiny plastic computer disk -- I purchased the use of the program on that disk -- for however long I choose to do so. MS's non-reactivation prohibits me from that use.

2. As you said: Now then on to the issue (find the Microsoft support phone number for the product and talk to them over the phone, they should be able to give you a working code). Did make that call to BanglaIndia and was informed by the rep that "because 2003 is an old program that MS no longer supports" he "would have to get into my computer" -- should I be willing to pay for him to do that -- and "solve the problem." Direct quotes there. He also pointed out that my continued use of the soon-to-be-discontinued-support Windows XP is unacceptable to MS and that I should upgrade everything. Since that's something that I have not need to or interest in doing, guess I'll just keep truckin' on 'til "the old car dies someday..."

3. "Are you sure you didn't install an OEM version of the software?" Well, as stated, I purchased a bonafide MS Office. All I'm sure of is that what's I installed, and the Product Key on the back of the box has been used to activate the software twice before, most recently on 04/04/13 after having the hard drive cleaned. What do you mean by "product ID on the CD sleeve"?

4. "If you only use office to look at docs and not to edit them, why not use the Word Viewer." Don't only use Office for viewing; also, as stated, use PowerPoint sometimes and, unstated, Excel in very rare instances.

5. "Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product; If you wait on the phone long enough, you should get a live rep who may be able to sort this out." Did call the MS support line, and the rep's version of "sorting it out" was to reiterate that MS's position is that I should be upgrading their product(s) (#2 above); that reactivation was no longer possible because of my using an "outdated" product; and that having the use of a product I previously purchased "quit working" because "it's old" is an acceptable business model for MS. So, for all intents and purposes, "phone support" is nonexistent.

Thanks anyway.

 

[edfair]

You can always find and install the 1997 or 2000 versions which don't muck around with activation codes the same way. But you will be at the mercy of whomever is giving you files to make sure that they are encoded in such a way you can read and use them.

Understand your like of WP. Have 5 and 6 DOS versions ready whenever I need them although I mostly work with "open office", forced to upgrade from 3 to 4 recently to be able to get at "office 2007" files.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[hikermann]

Thanks.

 

[rclarke250]

Yes, you purchased the rights to use the software, but unlike a car, which you can do whatever you want with it, tear it apart, and sell off parts, replace the engine and tires, you can not do that with software. You don't own the software, in this case, Microsoft does, and you are bound by the user agreement you agreed to when you purchased the right to use the software. You can not change the software, reverse engineer it, supersede the digital rights, break it down to little modules, and sell them off. You could rent out the car, you can not rent out the use of the software. See where this is going? You don't own the software. Like I said, read the eula. You did not purchase the ability to use the software forever, you get to use it for as long as Microsoft says you can.

 

[hikermann]

You did not purchase the ability to use the software forever, you get to use it for as long as Microsoft says you can."

And that, very specifically, is where we part ways, as it says volumes about the character of that company.

Thanks to the others of you who were helpful in your comments.

 

[strongm]

> I purchased the use of the program on that disk -- for however long I choose to do so

No you didn't. And, in particular, in this instance you actually purchased one of the more restrictive licenses - you can only use the Student & Teacher Edition only whilst you meet the criteria of being what Microsoft call a Qualified Educational User (basically a full- or part-time student, a home-schooled student, a full- or part-time faculty or staff member of an accredited educational establishment), and it cannot be used for commercial purposes. Nor can you sell it or give it to a third party.

>I purchased a bonafide MS Office
Only if you were a Qualified Educational User at the time (and, as mentioned above, continue to be so)

>because 2003 is an old program that MS no longer supports
Dunno who you spoke to, but it doesn't sound like someone who knows what they are talking about. Office 2003 has not yet reached end-of-life, and is still officially and formally supported (mind you, as with XP, that all stops in April ...). Microsoft have stated (as they did with Office XP, the first Office suite that required parts to be activated and which EOLd back in 2011) that they have no intention of removing the ability to activate the product after EOL is reached.

>Did call the MS support line,
I didn't suggest you call the support line. I suggested calling the Activation phone number (which is not the support line; I believe the toll-free US number is (888) 352 7140, but I guess you got the correct number from the activation wizard), then waiting. You should eventually get put through to an Activation specialist for your country, not the generic support line. Or are you saying that somehow, bizarrely, you are automatically being put through to generic support when trying to use the telephone activation?

>as it says volumes about the character of that company
You do know, don't you, that most software licenses are like this in the proprietary software market? Since WordPerfect got mentioned above, let's mention its current EULA, which very clearly states "The Software is licensed to You, not sold to You", and is even more restrictive than Microsoft's (including restrictions against using it via a remote desktop or terminal services session, and that you are not allowed to buy it in a country in which you do not hold legal residency!)
So let's not get too worked up about Microsoft's EULA. It is pretty much in line with the industry.

>you get to use it for as long as Microsoft says you can.
And let's be fair, Microsoft have - to the best of my knowledge - never actually stopped anyone using legitimately licensed software (they just stop directly supporting it and optimistically advise that you'd be better off upgrading) no matter how old it is. There are still people out there using MSDOS

>Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product
BTW, is this an actual direct quote of what the automated voice on the phone activation said, or a summary of the more usual "Product activation error

 

[goombawaho]

Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product

Why didn't I find anyone on the internet that is having the same problem as you - no phone activation for MS Office 2003? Hard to believe you are the first. Not saying it's not possible, but I'm just doubtful.

He also pointed out that my continued use of the soon-to-be-discontinued-support Windows XP is unacceptable to MS and that I should upgrade everything. Since that's something that I have not need to or interest in doing, guess I'll just keep truckin'

And here's the deal with XP. It's time you moved off for your own good. In April there will be no more security patches or patches of any kind. There will be tons of malware directed at no-longer-patched vulnerabilities. You will be at much higher risk for infection. You can be stubborn and mad at Microsoft but XP is like an old car - time to let it be recycled and move on. Stubbornness at some level is admirable but it rises to stupidity when taken too far. Not throwing stones directly at you, as I often suffer from this as well.
Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[cdogg]

hikermann,
I understand the frustration, but as some of the others have suggested, you should still be able to activate it by phone. Definitely stick with the phone number it gives you in the "Office Activation Wizard". Per

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326851,

you can also try (888) 652-2342 if it's different from the one the activation wizard is showing you.

There are a few more things you can look at and try, which are noted in the article Goom posted above:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903275

And finally, as rclarke250 suggests, you can always fall back on Open Office, which is a free open-source replacement for Microsoft Office. It doesn't have all the same bells and whistles, but for basic use, it suits most people just fine.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

OP is now officially po'ed.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[aloewen166]

cdogg, my activation wizzard says that activation by phone is no longer available and won't give me a phone number. I used the phone number you provided in your post and got my MS Office 2003 activated within a few minutes. Thanks for your help!

 

[strongm]

Hurrah!

 

[kjv1611]

By the way, just thought I'd mention that OpenOffice isn't the only alternative. I now prefer to use LibreOffice over OpenOffice, though I haven't delved very deeply into either. I use them on occasion, but generally use MSOffice 2010 as my primary tool for office docs.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[hikermann]

Problem resolved a while ago. Thanks to all who engaged the issue. Appreciated!