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    Our son, a college student, had his laptop stolen.  We still have his MS Office 2007 disks.  Police report was made. How can we reload and activate the MS Office 2007 CD's on the new laptop without it counting as one of the three loads?
    Wednesday, November 11, 2009 6:25 PM

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    Hello M Awtry,

    (NOTE: I am not a licensing expert and the terms of the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA), governing your use of the Microsoft Office product, takes precedence over anything I may say)
     
      Microsoft's Licensing agreements for Retail products (I am assuming your copy of Office is Retail) don't normally specifiy how many times you are allowed to install/activate a product.  It usually specifiy how many PCs a product can be used on at the same time.  (OEM Licensing, however, will usually only allow the product to be run on the first PC it was installed on, but OEM products don't usually come in a "3 License pack", like you describe...that I know of).

      If the End User License Agreement allows for your Office product to be used on three computers, my understanding is that it is allowing the Owner of the Office product's License to run the software on three computers.  Whoever stole the laptop is not the owner of your Office License so that copy of Office, install on the stolen laptop, would no longer "count" towards your total number of allowed uses.

      Below I have provided what I believe are the best and worst case scenario on that could happen due to this Office product being stolen along with laptop:

    Worst Case: The person that stole the laptop extracts the product key, being used in the Office product on the laptop, and posts (or sells) it out on the internet. 

    -If the key isn't piracted so much as to draw Microsoft's attention, then the only effect to you may be that the next time you install/activate using that key, you may be required to Activate by Phone.
    -If the key is pirated enought to draw Microsoft's attention, Microsoft, most likely, would Block that key from any further Activations and any Office using that key would then (eventually) show as Non-Genuine.

    Best Case: The person that stole the laptop (or the person he sells it to) either formats the laptop (deletes everything on the hard drive including the Office install) or doesn't extract the key being used by Office.  In this case there should be no effect on your use of your Office license.


    I hope that helps,
    Darin MS
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:26 PM
    Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:22 PM

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    Hello M Awtry,

    What edition of Office?

    Was Office preinstalled on the computer when purchased from the manufacturer or computer retailer, or was Office a separate purchase of retail software in the clear plastic retail box?
    For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
    Wednesday, November 11, 2009 6:46 PM
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    MS Office was not pre-installed on the laptop when purchased from HP.  The MS Office 2007 Business version was purchased separately and I have the CD's and product key.  The CD's have been loaded on both the stolen laptop (twice, once originally, and once when the hard drive was replaced after a crash) and once on another laptop (my wife's).  I am hoping I will not use up all three activations by loading it on the new laptop that will replace the stolen one.  Perhaps there is a way to deactivate the registry on the stolen laptop (I still have the serial number of the stolen laptop).  Thanks
    Thursday, November 12, 2009 7:27 PM
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    Hello M Awtry,

    (NOTE: I am not a licensing expert and the terms of the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA), governing your use of the Microsoft Office product, takes precedence over anything I may say)
     
      Microsoft's Licensing agreements for Retail products (I am assuming your copy of Office is Retail) don't normally specifiy how many times you are allowed to install/activate a product.  It usually specifiy how many PCs a product can be used on at the same time.  (OEM Licensing, however, will usually only allow the product to be run on the first PC it was installed on, but OEM products don't usually come in a "3 License pack", like you describe...that I know of).

      If the End User License Agreement allows for your Office product to be used on three computers, my understanding is that it is allowing the Owner of the Office product's License to run the software on three computers.  Whoever stole the laptop is not the owner of your Office License so that copy of Office, install on the stolen laptop, would no longer "count" towards your total number of allowed uses.

      Below I have provided what I believe are the best and worst case scenario on that could happen due to this Office product being stolen along with laptop:

    Worst Case: The person that stole the laptop extracts the product key, being used in the Office product on the laptop, and posts (or sells) it out on the internet. 

    -If the key isn't piracted so much as to draw Microsoft's attention, then the only effect to you may be that the next time you install/activate using that key, you may be required to Activate by Phone.
    -If the key is pirated enought to draw Microsoft's attention, Microsoft, most likely, would Block that key from any further Activations and any Office using that key would then (eventually) show as Non-Genuine.

    Best Case: The person that stole the laptop (or the person he sells it to) either formats the laptop (deletes everything on the hard drive including the Office install) or doesn't extract the key being used by Office.  In this case there should be no effect on your use of your Office license.


    I hope that helps,
    Darin MS
    • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:26 PM
    Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:22 PM
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    Hello M Awtry,

    To add to what Darin posted, since you still have the genuine physical materials (the Office clear plastic curved corner box, the hologrammed disc(s), the Certificate of Authenticity on the top of the box, and the Product Key label on the pivoting tray) that you purchased at the store (and I assume a receipt from the store), if ever a situation arose where you had to send copies of these items to Microsoft to prove your ownership, you would be able to do so.

    I would also suggest that you send a copy of the police report regarding the theft to the manufacturer of the laptop--they may have a policy of denying warranty support to laptops that have been documented as being stolen.

    One last thing---the edition of Office you purchased, Office Small Business 2007, has in the Software Licensing Terms (SLT) that it is only allowed to be installed on two computers at a time:  the license owner's main computer (presumably a desktop) and the license owner's portable (presumably a laptop).  May I ask how you came to think that it was allowed three simultaneous installations?
    For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
    Friday, November 13, 2009 4:58 PM
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    I thought it was the same as the MS Office Home and Student 2007 version which allows three computers in the same household at the same time to use the software.  I could not find licensing terms for Small Business 2007 so assumed it was the same.  Is there a website that has the licensing terms for Small Business 2007?  I have not been able to find it.  Thanks for your advice.
    Friday, November 13, 2009 5:21 PM
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    Hello M Awtry,

    To read your Software Licensing Terms, open an Office program (say, Word) then click on the Office button, then Word Options, then resoures, then About.  In the About window, click on the link for the Software Licensing Terms.  If you bought your Office in a retail package, the first set of Terms applies to you.  The retail license covers how many installations you are allowed in para 2a and 2b.

    You can view many license terms by entering your product info at this Microsoft website:  http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/
    For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
    Friday, November 13, 2009 5:42 PM
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    I had a similar issue, except with a laptop crash. I had Office 2007 Ultimate installed on my home desktop and my laptop. No problems. When my laptop crashed, I got a new laptop with W7. The old HDD is OK, but is not in a computer any more. Tried to install O2007 on the new laptop and I can't activate it as it has reached the max # of machines to go on. Am I hosed here? 
    Tuesday, October 5, 2010 7:53 PM
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    Hello peppermanl2k,

    Did you actually attempt to activate after installing on the new laptop?  If you did so and received an error message along the lines of "Office has been activated too many times," you should rerun the activation wizard and choose the option to activate over the phone.

    Buy Office 2007 Now, Get Office 2010 Free http://office2010.microsoft.com/en-us/tech-guarantee/microsoft-office-2010-technology-guarantee-FX101825695.aspx?CTT=97
    Tuesday, October 5, 2010 9:11 PM