Getting a Microsoft License Key Reset

[britechguy]

And, yes, I am talking about a retail license where the end user still has the physical license key card.

It seems that Microsoft wants to make this process harder and harder. The senior client that owned the dead AIO got the replacement yesterday and I set it up today. But the one thing I could not do is get her copy of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 reinstalled.

Yes, it's a single PC license. Yes, it has been installed on the now dead PC. But with drive failure that instance of Office is now dead as a doornail, and there should be some easy way to install it on the replacement machine. When I try going to office.com/setup and begin the process with the key, it says the key has already been used. When I go to her Microsoft Account, there is no indication of any Office license there, so I can't use that method.

Is there currently some method where one can contact Microsoft to have a license "re-enabled" under circumstances such as this. It seems to me, in distant memory, that this used to be easier to do when it was required. But now that this stuff is supposed to be linked to a Microsoft account, live assistance when things are not working as expected as far as allowing reinstallation is harder to come by.

 

[fincoder]

When I go to her Microsoft Account, there is no indication of any Office license there,

So it's the wrong Microsoft Account.

Try other email addresses that the customer might have or once had. Even without the password the MSAcct login will tell you if the email address entered is NOT a MSAcct. If you find another MSAcct you can then try and recover the password.

Is there currently some method where one can contact Microsoft to have a license "re-enabled" under circumstances such as this.

Yes I've heard of people doing that when they're locked out of their MSAcct and have failed to recover the password. I tell customers it's up to them if they want to go down that path. It should be a matter of finding a phone number for Microsoft support and explaining that the account is locked and no longer required, then they disconnect the Office product from the account it's associated with. After that it can be registered with a new MSAcct just like a new product.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yeah, the issue here is you have a key that's been used against a Microsoft account. You can reinstall office easily, if you login to that account.

If the user has lost this account, they get to buy office again. And before you ask, no... there is no way to get MS to tell you what account a given key was used on, and no they will not activate it again despite you proving ownership of it.

 

[britechguy]

@Sky-Knight

I am absolutely, positively sure we're logged in using the only Microsoft Account this user has ever had (until this evening, when I had to create another one until we could get back on to the computer, and into her email, so we could reset the initial one).

This is far from the only time when an Office license key, that was not a subscription version (Office 365), did not show up anywhere I could find in a Microsoft Account that I know that I, myself, did the initial installation for. It's maddening.

For the moment she has SoftMaker Free Office, which will likely suffice since I set it up to use DOCX as its default file format. She really only uses MS-Word, and TextMaker is a virtual clone for Word when we're not talking the 365 versions.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy

I've heard such stories, and I believe them... almost never. Because I have these for several clients:



Software is NOT lost in that account. If you want, try the direct URL: https://office.com/myaccount

But it's also after logging into Microsoft.com, clicking the icon initials in the top right, selecting my account, then there's a subscriptions section on the left. If there's nothing there, you have the WRONG ACCOUNT.

Computers do not lie... nor do they forget.

 

[Porthos]

The user used another email when registering the software. Happens all the time.

 

[Markverhyden]

So what happens when you put in the lk? Where did they get it from? How much did they pay for it?

 

[HCHTech]

The amount of time spent fighting with this will very easily surpass the value of a newly purchased copy of OfficeH&S. How many hours of your time add up to $150? The trick is finding the most acceptable way (to this particular client) to present this so they agree.

 

[nlinecomputers]

This is why I only sell Microsoft 365. M$ doesn’t jerk around with the subscription product.

One thing I have noticed is that Microsoft Accounts get deactivated. They claim they don't deactivate Accounts with products registered yet I have seen just that.

Microsoft also limits the number of reinstalls. From what I've seen you get 3.

Again all of the above is why I don't support the boxed versions anymore. It's crap but it is what you have.

 

[nlinecomputers]

For the moment she has SoftMaker Free Office, which will likely suffice since I set it up to use DOCX as its default file format. She really only uses MS-Word, and TextMaker is a virtual clone for Word when we're not talking the 365 versions.

Which for a light home user is just fine.

 

[britechguy]

Again all of the above is why I don't support the boxed versions anymore. It's crap but it is what you have.

Well, I guess I still choose to support the boxed versions (not that choice entered in here, particularly) since that is what I, myself, have and I know if one exists when I do finally decide to replace I'll go with again.

As others have noted, about other software, not just Office, some of us just do not like subscription-based software. I really don't want a monthly fee for Office. If push comes to shove, and for my usage pattern, I'll end up doing for myself precisely what I did for my client but probably with their paid version. I really neither want nor need Microsoft 365.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Well, I guess I still choose to support the boxed versions (not that choice entered in here, particularly) since that is what I, myself, have and I know if one exists when I do finally decide to replace I'll go with again.

As others have noted, about other software, not just Office, some of us just do not like subscription-based software. I really don't want a monthly fee for Office. If push comes to shove, and for my usage pattern, I'll end up doing for myself precisely what I did for my client but probably with their paid version. I really neither want nor need Microsoft 365.

Which is why you should just sell Softmaker. Microsoft wants everyone on a subscription and they make dealing with the standalone versions deliberately difficult.

 

[britechguy]

Which is why you should just sell Softmaker.

Again, to be abundantly clear, I do not sell anything other than my time and knowledge. That's my product.

If someone needs a computer or software, I sell my time as far as helping them determine what they want/need if they feel they don't already know that. If I happen to be helping to make acquisition decisions, I have some degree of control. With residential and very small businesses as my primary clients, and a break-fix shop, I very, very seldom do have that degree of control.

But, when I do, I try to feature-match to the client's needs. And the vast majority of my clients just don't need Microsoft 365, nor want it. But if they want substantial cloud storage and don't already have it, then Microsoft 365 is definitely on "the short list" of things to consider.

 

[Diggs]

Softmaker? Never heard of it until now. Hmmm.... (I've sent most computer out with LibreOffice set to MS Office defaults if there was no plans for O365.)

 

[britechguy]

Softmaker? Never heard of it until now.

I stumbled across SoftMaker Free Office some years ago. And they do have a paid version (I think it's something like $65 right now) that offers support.

It is as close, in every respect, to Microsoft Office in look and feel as I have ever seen. Ignoring trivial things like the background color on the window frame, most people would not know that they are not using one of the parallel Office programs when using SoftMaker. You can also set their programs to use the Microsoft file formats like DOCX, XLSX, etc., as the defaults when saving new files if they need complete and instant interoperability with other entities that use Office. I really don't understand how they "got away with" creating such a close replica of Office without being sued out of existence. But they are a German company, and I'm sure if there had been a way for Microsoft to shut them down it would have been done.

I still recommend LibreOffice, too, on occasion. But for those who are "learning curve averse" and want something "just like what I'm used to" and who don't want to buy Microsoft 365, SoftMaker Office is my go-to recommendation, and will continue to be so.

 

[Sky-Knight]

And the presence of both SoftMaker and Libre office have put me into the place where if people don't want to pay for the stupidly cheap annual sub for M365 family, they get the freebie version because the box version is just hard to work with.

I have NEVER SEEN an account destroyed by Microsoft that had software in it UNLESS that account was known to be compromised. I haven't had a single account I've managed have an issue.

Now, that being said, it is a giant chore to figure out which item in the list provided is on what machine. If MS wanted this to be easy, they'd be tracking the machine's name it was installed on. But all they do is when it was installed. So I have to maintain this spreadsheet to connect the dots and it's a huge chore! I cannot imagine it being any better for John Q. Idiot home user that doesn't bother to A, keep track of his accounts, and B secure them correctly.

Occam's Razor says MS's systems did the correct thing, and the squishy user didn't remember the right email address. But I suppose for some it's easier to internalize the big bad Microsoft just ate it. Which is more than likely patently untrue.

 

[nlinecomputers]

But if they want substantial cloud storage and don't already have it, then Microsoft 365 is definitely on "the short list" of things to consider.

Which right there is a prime reason I push people to M365. You get the office apps people are used to plus the convenience and protection of OneDrive. Being able to nuke and pave a system after a ransomware attack, with pushbutton recovery of even files encryption of the OneDrive stack is an easy sell.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Which right there is a prime reason I push people to M365. You get the office apps people are used to plus the convenience and protection of OneDrive. Being able to nuke and pave a system after a ransomware attack, with pushbutton recovery of even files encryption of the OneDrive stack is an easy sell.

This... 1000 times this!

 

[nlinecomputers]

But I suppose for some it's easier to internalize the big bad Microsoft just ate it. Which is more than likely patently untrue.

Except that I personally witnessed it. I leave my clients a printed form with the Microsoft account information that I setup for them. I've pulled out said document only to have it either fail to show the license or flat fail to show even the account. Like I said such events is why I no longer support the standalone versions. You either buy the subscription, Softmaker, or GTFO.

 

[britechguy]

Except that I personally witnessed it.

And you're not alone. But I refuse to argue my personal, direct experience with anyone who asserts that, by definition, it simply cannot be true.

It's the very definition of an impasse.

And I'm far from being someone who does not acknowledge the huge role that user error plays in many, many issues.