MS Office licence - transfer to new pc ?

[LIZS]

Can you reactivate a licence already registered? We have Office Student which was originally registered on a pc but can we reuse it on another if first is defunct.

[DowntonTrout]

It depends if the licence was for 1pc or 3 pcs.

The family pack is for 3pcs. It says on the packaging but I can't find it on the disc or box. If it was just a product key ( no disc) it will only be for 1 pc. The licence goes with the pc, not the person using it.

[MrAnchovy]

The licence goes with the pc, not the person using it.

That's not true. Install it on the new PC; when you try to activate it, it may tell you to telephone a number to confirm - do that, it should work fine. In theory you should uninstall it from the old PC but if it is broken you can't.

[Notquite]

Give it a try - I've got a version that was licensed for 2 pcs & I've installed it on 3 (only two alive at any one time!).

[WMittens]

The licence goes with the pc, not the person using it.

That's not true.

Neither statement covers the subject. It depends on the licence that was bought - an OEM licence is bought in conjunction with hardware (often a fully-built PC, but it could be with a major component such as a motherboard), and it is linked to that PC, and can only be used on that PC. When the PC dies (or usually, when the motherboard dies, as components can be replaced when they expire), the licence expires.

A boxed product is purchased separately to hardware (and is usually more expensive) and can be transferred from PC to PC, although it can usually only be installed (or used concurrently) the number of times specified by the licence (1, 3, 5, 10, whatever).

[LIZS]

Tried to install it but the disk won't run so looks like it was a one-use version (Office Enterprise 2007). dh got it through work so will see if he can get a another for 2010 before we rebuy.

[Twitterqueen]

If you end up buying a new licence don't forget that if you are a real student/schoolchild you can buy LEGALLY discounted versions at online retailers like www.software4students.co.uk/