I rescued a desktop computer from a salvage place. It was a Quad Core with a 2TB hard drive and USB 3 ports so it couldn't have been too old. The motherboard was damaged. I was able to confirm externally that the hard drive was good. I figured it was worth a shot so I spent $60 and ordered a motherboard from China. The bet paid off and the computer works.



The computer had Windows 8 (ugh) and I replaced it with Windows 7. I located and installed all the drivers (video, sound, ports, etc). The computer has built in wireless, got right on the internet. Everything works fine. Checked the system info and the computer is less than 2 years old and faster than anything else I have in the house.

Now that you've sat patiently through all that, here's where Office comes in.

I tried installing Office 2010 and when I put in the product key, got the message that I'd been to the well too many times and it wouldn't activate. OK, I understand that. I play around with used computers and have a few scattered around the house

A tech friend of mine has one of those pro licenses that allows him to install Windows and Office on many computers and he gave me a hard drive with Windows 7 and Office.

I want to install that hard drive as primary for the OS and Office and make the 2TB hard drive secondary to use for data and other apps.

Is there anything I need to do or know to accomplish that?

As you can see from the photo, the motherboard has 4 SATA connectors. #1 is connected to the 2TB hard drive and #2 is connected to the DVD drive.

Attached Images

SATA Connectors.jpg (14.4 KB, 10 views)

You could try phoning MS support and telling them your situation.

But it sounds like you have used the product key too many times (on how many computers?)

Or - why don't you just buy Office 365, its not very dear for one year.