MS Office, new key for existing install?

Hardware and technical stuff
1

Long story short: I recently replaced my motherboard. Office 2010 Pro, which I put on the machine about 6 years ago, thinks it’s on a new device. Microsoft doesn’t recognize my serial number and won’t activate it.

No luck with MS Support; can’t even get through to a real person by phone or chat. I did get to spend 90 minutes playing Through the Ages while I waited in vain for a response, though.

So I’m thinking I’ll buy a new Office 2010 key as a stopgap until I put together a new rig in a year or so.

Does anyone have any tips/advice on using a new MS Office key to validate an existing install? Is it even possible? Or should I just uninstall, buy a new copy, and start from scratch?

2

Get an Office 365 subscription. You get 1TB of OneDrive storage, and you can manage the license online, so you can deactivate and activate machines. Plus, you’ll always have the latest version of Office.

3

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This. And you can put it on to 5 machines at once.

4

The 5-subscription is if you get the Home version, which is $99 but can be found for a lot cheaper if you hunt around online. And not only can you install it on 5 machines, but each user can get their own 1 TB of OneDrive storage. If you compare that to what Google or Apple charge for 1 TB of cloud storage ($120/year for 1TB for one person in Google’s case), it’s a great deal.

If it’s just you, you can get the Personal Edition for $70. Only 1 machine allowed.

5

You’d think you could just add keys, but in my office even with same-software switches the key doesn’t seem to work unless you uninstall everything.

Yea, going the subscription route (like everything) is easier. I don’t know if it’s better though. Business office wants a different login than personal office, and has different support and different webview pages. And it forced me to create some stupid [email protected] account that only lives in MS world and that it really wants me to use as my primary email.

6

Thanks, guys. Fresh install it is.

An Office 365 sub is overkill for my needs, thought the transferability is tempting. But it looks like I can get a new standalone version for ~$50, which will keep me going for a while on the cheap.

7

MS should fix it on the phone. Maybe you’re calling the wrong number or something, 70 minutes seems excessive.

Or just move to Google Docs, if that can work for you.

8

Yeah, I’ve used Google Docs, and liked it well enough, modulo the whole “this isn’t what I’m used to” penalty that comes with middle age. In fact, Docs + Sheets would satisfy about half what I need. I use Outlook a ton, though.

9

I have office 365, mostly for one drive, but I love having access to excel.

10

Office 365 Home is $79.99/year right now, which is not bad considering the bonus stuff they give. But do they ever offer it at a lower price? It’s for two users.

11

I have seen it on Walmart for slightly less in the past, but then you have to wait for the code to be mailed to you.

I believe if you elect to auto renew it some time, you get a free month

12

That’s a great deal.

I detest the concept of a word processor and spreadsheet as subscription but I’m almost willing to do it for the online space.

13

I don’t think I have ever seen 79.99 for 2 users, looks like a good deal!

14

My wife and I just share a Personal 365 account, since all our computers can access the 1 TB of space online, and it’s easy enough to move the authorization of MS Office from one computer to another.

The nice thing about Home though is that you can authorize 5 computers to have Office.