Once activated, does Office need activating again at any time?

Question

I have Office 2007, and after moving house, I cannot find the CD case at all, and this contained the product key. It is already installed on my PC but I was worried in case it ever needs activating again, ie. do you ever need to re-activate it on an annual basis or anything? I'm aware that I would need the product key if I was ever to reinstall, but aside from that, would I ever need to re-activate the product once it's been activated?

Answer 1

No - once activated you won't need to reactivate; of course you will need the product key in case of reinstallation

you could create a mirror image backup of your entire hard drive as it is now - in case of disaster, you can restore the backup and it will bring your pc back to its current state with all the activated software intact - crucial if you've lost the original media!

Paragon Drive Backup Express is free (back up to external usb drive)

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-...

Macrium Reflect Free (back up to cd, dvd or external drive)

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Answer 2

No.  You only need it once (when you install it) and never again.  Unless you re-install it.

And too bad about loosing it.  I did the same when I moved, but found my stuff 18 months later in a box I never opened.  So don't give up hope.  :)

Answer 3

I highly doubt that, unless if you want to install some plug-ins later, you shouldn't need the cd.

Answer 4

Most users only need to activate Office once when installing the software.  Activation associates your Office product key with your computer's hardware profile.  A minor change to your computer hardware (such as adding memory or changing a keyboard or mouse) will not trigger a reactivation prompt, but a major change (such as replacing a motherboard or CPU chip) or the cumulative effect of many minor changes to your computer hardware may require you to reactivate Office.  See http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/H... for more information.

You may want to download and install a keyfinder utility (such as the free Belarc Advisor from http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html or the free Magical Jellybean Finder from http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/ ), which will make you a list of installation keys for many of the programs currently installed on your computer.

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garfield-n-odie

Microsoft MVP 2005-2008

http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Answer 5

The only time you would need to reactivate your copy of Office would be if your system crashed and you had to do a complete reinstall of all of your software.  In that case a call to Microsoft will get you a new key.