Microsoft Office Standalone Single Machine License - Reusing when changing machines

[britechguy]

I have a client who purchased Microsoft Office Home & Student (I think 2019) and had installed it on her computer. That computer has since bitten the dust.

She wants to install this software again on her new computer, but Microsoft's online licensing is not permitting it, which doesn't surprise me as it would have every reason to believe that the original instance still exists and is still in use when it is not.

Does anyone know how to contact Microsoft to request a "release" of the license so that an installation on another machine can take place. I know it's not a violation of licensing terms to use a single seat license on as many machines as you wish provided it is only being used, actively, on a single machine. In theory, you could install on ninety-nine machines and provided that an uninstall or complete decommissioning of the ninety-eight of the ninety-nine has occurred so that only one instance is actually in use.

I have done this before, and with relative ease, but Microsoft seems to be making it ever more arcane to get a license released for reuse in situations like this, and I thought someone might have contact information that I don't.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Your client bought a scam.

Real MS office licenses are available via https://office.com/myaccount and you can simply download and install from there, and it doesn't give a flying rip how many machines you've put it on.

I've had exactly zero of these happen when I know the product was purchased via legitimate channels.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

This page provides support links for home users and support phone numbers for business users.

support.microsoft.com

Good luck. As @Sky-Knight points out it should work without issue and if it doesn't it is usually because of it being a grey market license that has been deactivated. But honestly, I have found that even M$ purchased licenses only allow a couple of reinstalls before they quit working and no amount of calls to M$ will get them to relent they insist that the license isn't valid. They are deliberately voiding any standalone license beyond 3 installs no matter the source. It is just one more way to push you to Microsoft 365 where you don't have issues at all. Personally, I refuse to install the stand-alone versions anymore.

 

[britechguy]

Well, since I have seen the license key card, and it was purchased through Best Buy (I believe), the probability of "scam" is effectively zero.

I've had this happen more than once, but it was much easier to resolve in the past.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Well, since I have seen the license key card, and it was purchased through Best Buy (I believe), the probability of "scam" is effectively zero.

I've had this happen more than once, but it was much easier to resolve in the past.

The problem is that even legitimate keys can be recreated or copied and that can put them on the no-fly list. There are only so many legitimate keys and plenty of programs can easily generate all the possible key combinations, so it is getting harder and harder not to have a key that somebody somewhere hasn't ginned up.

 

[britechguy]

@nlinecomputers & @Sky-Knight

Neither of you are telling me anything I don't already know. But none of what you're saying addresses the question I had in any meaningful way.

A litany of obstacles, most of which I'm quite aware of (though there could certainly be some I am not), doesn't help. Getting a phone number, web page, etc., that would allow some sort of direct contact with MS about something like this is what would. Even getting an answer that such does not exist addresses the request, but a litany of obstacles just doesn't.

 

[nlinecomputers]

@nlinecomputers & @Sky-Knight

Neither of you are telling me anything I don't already know. But none of what you're saying addresses the question I had in any meaningful way.

A litany of obstacles, most of which I'm quite aware of (though there could certainly be some I am not), doesn't help. Getting a phone number, web page, etc., that would allow some sort of direct contact with MS about something like this is what would. Even getting an answer that such does not exist addresses the request, but a litany of obstacles just doesn't.

You didn't see the link in my first reply?

 

[britechguy]

@nlinecomputers

No, actually, I hadn't. I'm just curious whether you added this as an update very shortly after you originally posted (as I sometimes find myself doing when I realize I had omitted something)? I know that I read the text of that reply and have no recollection of the link being there when I did. And since I already had coffee in me . . .

 

[nlinecomputers]

@nlinecomputers

No, actually, I hadn't. I'm just curious whether you added this as an update very shortly after you originally posted (as I sometimes find myself doing when I realize I had omitted something)? I know that I read the text of that reply and have no recollection of the link being there when I did. And since I already had coffee in me . . .

Sorry, it was there from the git go.

 

[britechguy]

Sorry, it was there from the git go.

Then chalk it up to inattention or the proverbial brain fart on my part. I apologize for somehow having missed it.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@nlinecomputers Interesting... I don't think I've managed any that have gone to that many installations.

Regardless, $100 a year for a 6 member family to have Office + Onedrive and be cryptoproof is no brainier cheap. Especially since you pay for two years of that just getting a single seat of perpetual.

Assuming you're billing for all the time that goes into this, Microsoft has made the cost of perpetual office insane. So all I can do is once again, recommend to the customer to go spend their $100 tax to get office. If that doesn't fly, I move people to LibreOffice. Those are the only two choices reasonably available anymore.

 

[britechguy]

In this case, I tried moving the client to SoftMaker Free Office, because the UI is so like MS-Office that I'm shocked they've never been sued.

I don't know what it is that she's having difficulty with, but she's intent on getting back MS-Office, and I doubt I'll be able to persuade her to go the 365 route. I tried that earlier this year when both she and her son (who lives here in town, but not with Mom) both wanted to upgrade MS-Office. I couldn't get it to fly then, and I doubt I will now.

 

[Markverhyden]

How much did she pay for it?

 

[britechguy]

How much did she pay for it?

I have no idea. But I wouldn't be shocked if she kept the receipt somewhere.

But having seen the plastic card with the key on it on one of my prior service calls there's nothing about it to suggest it's not genuine.

 

[Porthos]

I have no idea. But I wouldn't be shocked if she kept the receipt somewhere.

But having seen the plastic card with the key on it on one of my prior service calls there's nothing about it to suggest it's not genuine.

If she bought it with a keycard, It still has to be registered online there for she has it assigned to an email address.
If you can get to the office account you might be able to deactivate it there and then reinstall it again.

 

[fincoder]

It still has to be registered online there for she has it assigned to an email address.

Yes. All other posters have assumed @britechguy has already logged into the associated MS account page. I assume the install has been done from the MS account web page and the problem is the activation after install. Brian might want to confirm that.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Yes. All other posters have assumed @britechguy has already logged into the associated MS account page. I assume the install has been done from the MS account web page and the problem is the activation after install. Brian might want to confirm that.

Indeed. If he is trying to reuse the key on the card it will not work. It's a one-time key that gets replaced with a digital license key.

 

[callthatgirl]

When I do my client onboarding, first thing I look at is license and verify I can see it online before I even think of repairing/reinstalling.
Then, to keep it straight, I tell clients that any purchased Office products are junk and break too much. Subscription is best, works better and you get some support from Microsoft for personal. Still weak, so I tell them to buy business and get rock star support.

Skip that version, have them buy the $70 a year version and deal with it. As well, your hourly rate is worth moving off that license.

 

[Blackhammer]

I had this happen with Office 2016 Home and Student. The person finally got off of her Windows 7 desktop to a WIndows 11 PC. She copied the original download of Office to a thumb drive and it would not install with a key. I remoted into her system and on the message, it asked to either activate online or call Microsoft. I called Microsoft. I had a 24 (or maybe more) digit code on screen. I read the code to the person on screen. Then clicked next and entered a 24 (or more) digit code in and it activated. Not painful, but time consuming and billable. This person had their son help her (instead of paying me) and he used his Xbox account, for which she does not have the password for so she cant use the online access to her licenses. This was in April, 2022.

 

[Blackhammer]

And she did use that Softmaker software for a while. She had 2 other employees who used that and found that some of their Excel Forms were not 100% compatible. They were using a tablet with Excel free until I talked her into buying a second office license. We ended up with the Softmaker on a few public machines in her business. Oddly enough, the company uses Amish women to sort parts for packaging. They can use an Iphone or a public PC but not their own PC. So 4 Amish share a PC to report their work.