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Old 01-11-2014, 10:50 PM
Hikermann Hikermann is offline Windows XP Office 2003
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Default MS Office 2003 Activation - How to Work-Around

Purchased MS Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003 way back when and loaded it onto my PC -- only because for those occasions when needing to access a Word doc (I use WordPerfect) received from someone; have used PowerPoint a couple of times, but that's the extent of it.

Just upgraded my hard drive and reloaded everything; now Microsoft in its infinite wisdom presents me with:

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Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Thank you for installing Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003. You must activate your installation to fully enable all of the features. The wizard will guide you through the activation process.

How do you want to activate your copy of the software?
 I want to activate the software over the Internet (Recommended)
I want to activate the software by telephone

If you choose not to activate at this time, you may run the software 48 more times before many of the features become unavailable. Click Helpfor more information.

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FOLLOWED BY:
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Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Your installation cannot be activated because you have activated up to the limit for your Product Key. For details about the maximum allowed number of product activations, close the wizard and review the End User License Agreement, available via the Help menu of the application.

If you believe that you are getting this message in error, click Back and choose the telephone option. The telephone activation system will provide you the opportunity to speak with a support representative about all activation issues.

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SO I GO TO THE ALTERNATIVE:
================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Thank you for installing Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003. You must activate your installation to fully enable all of the features. The wizard will guide you through the activation process.

How do you want to activate your copy of the software?
I want to activate the software over the Internet (Recommended)
 I want to activate the software by telephone

================
FOLLOWED BY:
================

Microsoft Office 2003 Activation Wizard
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Follow these steps to activate your software over the telephone.
Step 1: Select the country/region you are calling from and call the Product Activation Center using any of the telephone numbers provided
United States
Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product.
Step 2: When prompted, provide this Installation ID:
053743-893355-883236-445890-100680-366700-882166-832590-291376
Step 3: Enter your Confirmation ID here:
A B C D E F G

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Sooooo ... what I have here is:

1. I purchase a bonafide copy of MS Office way back when
2. I initially load it on my PC and have a successful activation with MS
3. I use it rarely
4. I get a new hard drive
5. I reload MS Office
6. I'm presented with the option to activate by Internet, resulting in my being informed that "installation cannot be activated because [i] have activated up to the limit for [my] Product Key."
7. Next, I attempt to activate by telephone, resulting in being informed that "Telephone activation is no longer supported for this product."
8. So, I've helped Mr. Gates maintain his billionaire lifestyle while he has decided that since I'm unwilling to continually purchase the Next Newest Greatest Microsoft Thing I'm going to be prohibited from the full and free use of my duly-purchased product. Go figure.

This has all the brilliance of Chevrolet selling me a car in 2003, then because I won't purchase a new Chevy every other year being informed that I have only 48 more trips available and then my 2003 car will be useless ....

QUESTION: Is there some way to bypass this now-useless activation business so I can have full use of what I have purchased?

Many thanks.
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