Uninstalling Microsoft Office 2010 from a laptop/PC so that the licence is available for another laptop

[RatDesPaquerettes]

I have bought a new laptop to replace my current one. I would like to uninstall Microsoft Office 2010 from my current laptop and install it on my new one.

I am sure there is a way to do this without impacting on the licence agreement (i.e. so that Microsoft does not think I am trying to install Microsoft Office on more laptops/PCs than I am allowed to), but I am not sure how to go about it.

Has anybody got any instructions or links on how to achieve this?

Many thanks for your help!

Bump

www.howtofixcomputers.com/forums/microsoft-office/deactivate-uninstall-office-2007-install-activate-new-la-101375.html

uninstall on old

reinstall on new. might have to confirm by telephone rather than internet though.

Thanks, boxoftricks. I had found similar instructions on other forums but I was hoping to find some fail-safe instructions which would not necessitate a call to Microsoft.

On top of that, I have three licences and only two are already being used, so I have a spare one. However, I want to make sure that I retain the spare one.

I fear that I will be able to install Microsoft Office 2010 on my new laptop but I will not know whether my current spare licence has been used for it (i.e. Microsoft thinks I have done 3 installations of Office) or whether the uninstall in my current laptop has freed up a licence which is then used for my new laptop.

Any experience of such a scenario?

Late night bump

Funny enough I was thinking about whether I could do this the other day. I await replies with interest!

Ok, pinkteddy, I shall bump on a regular basis, so we might get a definite answer at some stage.

bump

yoooooo-hooooo... any techie out there?

... or maybe, partners of techies?

bump - must be someone!

pinkteddy, maybe we should attempt to rephrase it as an AIBU thread...

I don't know about uninstalling/reinstalling but when my Mac's hard drive died, i was able to load the MS Office onto the new one. I spoke to Microsoft and they said that i could do that and it worked with no problems.

Thanks, Beanbagz. That is reassuring.

Surely, there must be a specific procedure that is fairly automated in the case of a planned uninstall and reinstall, without requiring calls to Microsoft...

pinkteddy, here is the Microsoft procedure for uninstalling Office 2010.

office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx#_Toc269981341

I still cannot find any confirmation that the licence that has been freed up can be reused on another device.

In your case, have you already used all your licences OR are you in the same position as I am? I still have a spare licence so will not be able to tell which licence is used during my next installation: the freed-up one or the spare one.

Bump...

I would even be glad for a drunken answer or possibly a zombie-themed one... just to feel less lonely!

I've used my licence on the PC so don't have another. So not sure what will happen if I try to transfer and it thinks I don't have a licence, presume it will try and charge me?

Maybe we should look at other Geeky stuff topics and see if there are regulars we could approach? Some members may only come on at weekend so we can see if any joy over the next couple of days. :)

I have office 2010 which is only licensed to use on one computer,I tried uninstalling it from my laptop to install it on dd,s laptop and I got the message that the activation code had already been used the permitted number of times,however I was able to reinstall it on my laptop.It may be worth posting on the techy section of forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29.

thanks sassylassy I will have a look. It sounds as though it won't work for me then.

Can't answer for 2010, but I had a licence for 2003.

I got a new PC, and wanted to transfer the stuff. Uninstalled it on my old pc and installed on new machine.

It told me my code had been used, but I called Microsoft and told them that I was reinstalling it on the same machine after a rebuild due to a virus infection. They were fine and sorted it out for me (new code IIRC).

They don't bite

The procedure is simple and easy as stated above - you just have to pick up the phone, and as CarpeJugulum says, they don't bite or make it hard for you - they just want to know why you are installing it again. If you call them every 12 months to say you are reinstalling Windows or whatever they won't bat an eyelid; if they get 10 calls in a day on the same registration number they know it has been compromised.

The process is deliberately designed so that a human talks to a human to sort it out, any other way makes piracy easier. For the same reason, uninstalling doesn't 'free up' a registration number - if it did you could easily pirate the software by taking a full hard drive backup, uninstalling it so that it could be installed again on another machine and restoring from the backup on the first machine.

Ok - many thanks to all of you!

It looks as if we will have to pick up the phone and talk to Microsoft then!