Office 2003 - Cannot Activate or Register

[derdle]

Thanks Davey, have done.

[Sim0nC]

I too am havng exactly the same problem, cannot activate a copy of Office 2003 Student & Teacher Edition on a Mesh laptop.(Pegasus 8889C).

Emailed davey so fingers crossed you can get that office fix over to me asap!

[Mantus]

Ok this is my first post this forum and most likely my last. I was doing a Google search on the same problem outlined in this forum and I came across the solution on my own. What you need to do is uninstall Office then go through the registry and delete every instance of the search word "office" keep in mind that there are some things that have "office" in there so use some common sense and make sure you not deleting keys related to HP officejet and so on. Just remember to use some common sense before editing the registry and make a back up. Second you need to navigate to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft" and delete the office folder. You may need to adjust folder settings so you can view hidden files. After that restart the machine seeing as you did remove registry keys you must restart or your attempts will be in vain. After that reinstall office and you should be able to activate. The reason you’re running into this problem is the same reason I did. I built some new computers all identical and didn't do an OEM install of office. After I did that I cloned the hard drive to the other computers I was building. After the 50 uses office went into reduced functionality and I was not able to get the office product activation to run, I searched and searched for a solution on-line was not able to find one and tried to fix it on my own and low and behold I got it working. Hope this works for you.

[Davey W]

Hi all,

Actually the reason was a bugged trial installer courtesy of Microsoft. It places a key in the registry that is checked during installation of recent versions of Office, but not removed when appropriate by the uninstaller.

So you remove trial but the key is there. You install any version of Office, XP and above I beleive which installs ok but picks up the registry key and then locks up again.

When people email me a request for the patch, for me it's a simple case of clicking reply, attaching two files, writing a little hello mesg () and then sending it off. I pretty much do that as soon as I see the new mail notifcation come up during the day so it would be safer to solve the problem that way than delving into the registry yourself. All done pretty quick.

Of course during evenings and weekends people are welcome to try the suggestion by Mantus but it's important to note that you tamper with the registry at your own risk.

Davey

[WeetwoodFox]

Hi Davey,

I've just read through the thread, and realised this could be an issue for me soon. I've been using the trial version for a couple of weeks now, and always presumed that to upgrade (which I was planning on buying from the cheapest retailer - e.g. someone like Amazon) I'd just have to enter a new product key. However, am I right in thinking that I'd have to uninstall the trial version before clean installing the new S&T 2003 edition??

Can you clarify what actually needs to be done (in order to have minimal impact on the computer... i.e. I don't particularly want to have to do an F10 recovery - I've spent a lot of time tweaking and customising the computer!)?

Also, will this mean I'll lose all the customised settings in Outlook too?

Thanks in advance,
Ben.

[Davey W]

Hi WeetwoodFox,

It's a registry entry that needs to be removed. The simple method is to email me and I'll send you the patch back with instructions.

Settings should not be affected although I can't say I've ever checked before and after on a system to be honest.

F10 recovery was what we did to remove the problem wayback before the patch was given to us so it's not necessary now.

Davey

[WeetwoodFox]

Thanks for quick reply. Email has been sent... cheers Davey.

Ben.

[Steve_G]

I managed to 'activate' the trail msoffice 2003 a couple of weeks ago. I now wanted to buy the full license but just cannot get the CONVERT process to work to upgrade MSOFFICE 2003 from the trail version to the Student & Teacher edition. The webpage link to buy the product key hangs for ages then when it finally comes up and I complete the form at the final step it returns the message "Communication error has occurred, please retry or come back again." This has now happened three days in a row.

Do you feel the 'Office Fix" referred to in this thread will work for my specific problem above ? if so could Davey please e-mail to me the "Office Fix" solution with some guide lines on how to proceed. I am reasonably conversant with computers but just need help and guidance. I have entered my serial number in my profile.

Thanks in advance.

[Davey W]

Hi Steve_G,

How did you get on with the email?

I still feel that the problem you have hasn't even reached the trial issue yet.

A possible solution might be for us to get our sales department to call you and sell you the upgrade that way. Then when you get the physical media you can wremove the trial and install the full product rather than convert.

Davey

[Steve_G]

Hi Davey,
Sorry for the delay in reply but I only just got back on-site due to work.

I have now resolved the problem as decribed by me earlier above. Your excellent e-mail reply did promt me to think further and I agree with you that the issue I had was NOT as the other users were having. I feel sure that the issue was 'product activation' related as the Microsoft S&T edition upgrade purchase went fine until the last page when the microsoft webpage and my computer system seemed to check each other out and that is when it failed to CONVERT. Maybe, just maybe, the microsoft website was checking my pc and found the same problem with activation. Just a thought.

Anyway what I did was to completely uninstall the original Microsoft Office2003 TRAIL program. Then in case there was still an issue lurking in the registry that may prevent the activation of even a new purchased Office 2003 product I also ran your small cmd file to remove any 'possible' registry problems. I then purchased locally a fresh Office2003 application which has installed fine. I did actually try to purchase it over the phone from Mesh but nobody answered the phone......... again.

I have to say that I have a number of complaints about MESH telephone customer support as the telephone support if utter rubbish. When the pc arrived and there were various issues including some leads missing and it took me all day to get through on the phone and then the customer services girl put me through to technical support (who knows why as it was just a matter of a couple of leads missing) but guess what...... technical support dept said it was a customer service issue and put me back through at which point I got cut off and had to start again. I did finally get the missing DVI monitor leads, but regarding the ATI graphic card Mesh just said "the X800 ATI specific video output lead for S-video/composite do not come with the card" and they did not know where to get one. This was a bit weird as all my previous Mesh PC's came with the required ATI leads and I bought the PC with S-video output stated on my mesh order, but the pc would not perform S-video without the required special ATI lead. Finally I resorted to buying the other missing ATI leads direct from an excellent USA site for under £20. The site was www.s-video.com and they have everything you would need in the way of those special ATI leads etc for your ATI graphic card. I got the ATI 9-pin out to HD lead, and also the ATI 9-pin to S-video/component VIVO lead both for £20 delivered to my door from the USA in four days.

Anway enough from me ......
The PC is now running fine,
Davey W scores 10/10
The guy and gals on this forum score 10/10
MESH telephone customer support scores 0/10

Just to say once again many thanks for your own personal fast response to my original e-mail to you.

Steve G

[Mick H]

Hi Davey W

Praise where praise is due.
I read the comments in this forum this afternoon, registered, and asked for the Office patch. Within Half an hour I had received this by email.
Did as instructed, reinstalled Microsoft Office, and Hey presto! the activate product
information was there.

I activated the product over the phone no problem. I now have a fully functioning Microsoft Office.

Many thanks

A happy Mick

[grim_snowball]

Now then
Im having exactly the same problem with my small business edition of Microsoft office, its gone into reduced functionality mode. I e-mailed Davey W on friday but have not had a reply. I REALLY need excel running as im already 2 days behind with my project. If any body can help me out pronto id appreciate it otherwise im gonna go swinging into the registry with an axe.

Cheers

Grim

[Davey W]

Hi grim_snowball,

I've only got two emails awaiting reply from Friday but neither of them are about a problem with MS Office.

Could you send it again? My address for confirmation is davey@meshcomputers.com

Davey

[MC1]

I have the same problem.

Davey,

Can you send me the Office patch?

[Major Haggis]

clean install of system from the recovery disk to get rid of all the crud.... If you have backed everything up to another drive inclucing the (dubious) Dirvers folder that is....

[Davey W]

Hi MC1,

Could you enter your Mesh Order Number into the box provided in your Hexus.net profile please?

You'll need to email me via davey@meshcomputers.com so I can reply with the update attached. Please ensure that the address you provide can receive a zip file and won't be blocked.

Davey