Office 2003 "too many activations"

[Nigellus]

I just installed my copy of Office 2003 on my new computer and upon attempting to activate got a message saying I have "too many activations."

Now, since I use this for work, I don't want to uninstall it on my old computer before I'm sure it will work on my new computer.

Does anyone know definitively that uninstalling it on my old computer will alert Microsoft somehow that it can now be activated on my new computer?

The internet has been singularly unhelpful and I don't want to be in a situation where I uninstall it only to find out that I can't even re-install it on the same machine due to it being activated "too many times."

[Nigellus]

I've been continuing my research. The reason I had to start this thread is because the internet is populated with aggressively rude and unhelpful people (fortunately not here).

As always happens, whenever I find a title of a thread addressing my problem exactly, most of the commenters either express what's wrong with the form of the question, claim the question isn't specific enough (even though answers of general application ARE available), or admonish the reader for asking something that was already answered and provides a link (which is inevitably broken OR doesn't in fact contain an answer that is responsive to the question asked).

Would it seriously kill those people to just answer the question? Especially since they're bothering to respond at all. Even if the answer isn't helpful to the OP due to nuances or whatever, it will be useful to someone.

Anyway, I was able to find one or two useful tidbits amongst all the junk out there.

It seems like the problem might be that I already installed Office on my Flex 2 less than two months ago, so it's caused my version to be flagged for closer observation. A possible solution would be to UNINSTALL the program from my Flex 2. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a source confirming that this will solve the problem. Until I do, I won't nuke my only permanently working copy of Office 2003.

If anyone has any first hand knowledge about this sort of activation issue with Microsoft, I'd appreciate hearing from you. And so would the internet.

[Nigellus]

Okay, no drastic measures necessary. I finally got through to Microsoft. My main stumbling block is that this product is not supported for phone activation anymore.

I gave the voice menu a hard time until it transferred me to a customer representative, to whom I explained what was going on. He was then able to give me a confirmation ID to enter into the prompt and activate my software.

His accent was difficult for me to understand, so his answer wasn't clear as to whether the problem would have been solved by uninstalling Office 2003 from my Flex 2.

[JaneL]

Good to know

[rambo47]

I've had assorted activation with Microsoft products over the years; product keys being rejected even thought I was using the exact key printed on the label, upgrades failing to activate, etc. Each time, a call to Microsoft got it sorted out - I have to give them credit for their customer service. Getting through is usually a painfully tedious chore, but it's often the only way and it's effective. Another way to get in touch is through a live web chat:

https://sales.liveperson.net/hc/2166117 ... University

[Nigellus]

I've had assorted activation with Microsoft products over the years; product keys being rejected even thought I was using the exact key printed on the label, upgrades failing to activate, etc. Each time, a call to Microsoft got it sorted out - I have to give them credit for their customer service. Getting through is usually a painfully tedious chore, but it's often the only way and it's effective. Another way to get in touch is through a live web chat:

https://sales.liveperson.net/hc/2166117 ... University

Yeah, in my case, I wasn't even sure if that would work because I kept getting a prompt on the telephone activation screen saying it was no longer supported for this product.

[Temetka]

Ok this is little shady but works every time

call the MS activation 1-800 number and follow the steps

when they ask you how many machines it's installed on, answer zero.

Activate office.