I have found a copy of MS Office small business 2000 that I did not know I had. I certainly never bought it, so I suspect that it came with a computer that I bought many years ago. It does so happen that one of my old machines did come with Office 2000 on it. But I have no product key.
Are these discs therefore completely useless?
Notes:
1. Yes, I have OpenOffice on most of my machines. That's not the point.
2. Yes, I have read to this page:
pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/ht/findof2000key.htm
Curiously enough, I downloaded some of the key finders they recommended, but they would not even open on the machine that had Office 2000 on it.
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No promises, but "back in the day" some MS products would yield to the old "add up to 7" trick.
I Googled cos of failing memory of details and and now here quote. Might be worth a try, although no promises.
"If you want to make up your own key of the form nnn-nnnnnnn, it seems that the first three digits can be any number you like while the last seven digits must add up to a multiple of seven. A really boring (but easy to type key) is:
111-1111111"
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I infer from your note1 that it is out-of-bounds to question your reasons to activate an outdated product.
So accepting that you wish to activate it, then note that there is no need to download any "dodgy" keyfinders that you might not trust - just contact Microsoft.
Note that despite the statement at the top of the page in the following link, it does state in the third paragraph "2000 version of the following Microsoft Office 2000 programs: Excel 2000, FrontPage® 2000, Outlook® 2000, PowerPoint® 2000, and Word 2000"
office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/replace-lost-office-product-keys-HA001150834.aspx
"Outside of the United States, call the number that appears in the activation wizard.
When you call Microsoft for a new Office product key, have the following items available for the customer service representative:
The product CD-ROM
The computer on which you want to install Office
The readable parts of your original product key (if available)
The ProductID information in the registry
How do I find the ProductID?
[follow instructions given there]. "
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John H,
Thanks very much for that. I'll try it.
>>"I infer from your note1 that it is out-of-bounds to question your reasons to activate an outdated product.
i. There are things that MS Office SB does, even MS Office SB 2000, that Open Office simply does not do.
ii. Because of familiarity, I prefer Office 2000 to Office 2010.
iii. It costs money to purchase recent versions of Office.
iv. If something works, even if it is 12 years old, I don't consider it to be outdated.
Crankcase, if I get desperate, I may try it. :-)
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Oops wrong thread! - sorry!
Last edited by: devonite on Fri 27 Jan 12 at 11:22
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On my Setup CD of Office 2000 there is a simple text file on it called something like licence.txt and the last portion of the string shown in this text file (use just enough of it to fit the boxes on the product key insert boxes) is the product key.
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>>"... the last portion of the string shown in this text file (use just enough of it to fit the boxes on the product key insert boxes) is the product key."
Thanks very much for that, Victorbox.
The string is in the form of 8 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 12 digits - i.e. xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. That is 32 digits.
However, the product key that is requested 5 groups of 5, i.e. 5 digits.
I take it that you are saying that I should ignore the groupings / dashes, and just use the last 25 digits?
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>> The string is in the form of 8 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 4 digits, dash, 12 digits - i.e. xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. That is 32 digits. >>
That is the product ID, which is what MS will ask for when you phone them.
>> However, the product key that is requested 5 groups of 5, i.e. 5 digits. >>
That is the "key" or "licence" ["license" in Americanese] you require and will be given to you when you phone MS.
If contacting MS does not work for you, as a last resort only please do contact me via email via the mods [and drop a note here to say you have done so] and I shall see if I can be of help off the forum.
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Thanks. I'll report back - probably next week.
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Funnily enough I've got a similar challenge with a copy of Word 2002 on my Win7 laptop, if I try auto-activation then it can't connect to server, and I can't find a UK number for activating anything that old. I'm surprised the keyfinder doesn't work, I use one to keep tabs on the various XP/Vista/Win7 systems at Spamcan towers.
I might have to grit my teeth and install Office 2010 :-/
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>> I take it that you are saying that I should ignore the groupings / dashes,
>> and just use the last 25 digits?
>>
From memory, on my CD the number of digits and dashes corresponded exactly to the input format but there were just too many digits in total. Because I had the certificate on the box as well I could see that it was either the first or second lot of characters (I can't remember which way round) that I needed to input. This was very useful when a few years down the line I'd lost the original CD box!
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Try Balarc Advisor. This is a free piece of software that basically audits your computer and tells you what you have installed, when it was installed, last used etc. From memory I think it also tells you the product key of any installed software. I have it on my laptop at home and used it find all the stuf I never used and had forgotten about.
www.belarc.com/free_download.html
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I had tried Belarc Advisor. As I said in my original post, "It does so happen that one of my old machines did come with Office 2000 on it. But I have no product key. " The curious thing was that when I ran Belarc Advisor on that machine, it gave me product keys for some MS products, but not for MS Office, even though MS Office was on the computer.
I am also beginning to suspect that the copy of MS Office 2000 that I have on disc may not be the copy that is on that computer. I am, therefore increasingly puzzled as to where I got that copy of Office 2000!
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>> I had tried Belarc Advisor.
That will extract the product ID, but not the key. The key is reportedly encrypted in the registry, but the "win keyfinder" software might successfully extract it, subject to your having applied SP2 to Office 2000.
Win Keyfinder 1.73 RC2
"Now Support MS office 2000 Key Viewing and Key changing but only if MS office Service Pack 2 has been installed."
>> beginning to suspect that the copy of MS Office 2000 that I have on disc may not be the copy that is on that computer. >>
Tell us which versions you have on the disc and PC.
Last edited by: John H on Fri 27 Jan 12 at 14:32
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>> That will extract the product ID, but not the key. The key is reportedly encrypted
>> in the registry, but the "win keyfinder" software might successfully extract it,
I'd use Magical Jellybean Keyfinder to give it to you if Office is installed on a PC: www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
Last edited by: Victorbox on Fri 27 Jan 12 at 15:01
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Product keys are easily decoded from their registry entries using a simple VBSCRIPT. But has the OP got Office 2000 installed on the other machine still? If yes then he'd be in his right to uninstall it and put it on another machine.
This for example grabs the XP key:
Public Function sGetXPCDKey()
Dim bDigitalProductID
Dim bProductKey()
Dim bKeyChars(24)
Dim ilByte
Dim nCur
Dim sCDKey
Dim ilKeyByte
Dim ilBit
ReDim Preserve bProductKey(14)
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
bDigitalProductID = objShell.RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMICROSOFTWindows NTCurrentVersionDigitalProductId")
Set objShell = Nothing
For ilByte = 52 To 66
bProductKey(ilByte - 52) = bDigitalProductID(ilByte)
Next
'Possible characters in the CD Key:
bKeyChars(0) = Asc("B")
bKeyChars(1) = Asc("C")
bKeyChars(2) = Asc("D")
bKeyChars(3) = Asc("F")
bKeyChars(4) = Asc("G")
bKeyChars(5) = Asc("H")
bKeyChars(6) = Asc("J")
bKeyChars(7) = Asc("K")
bKeyChars(8) = Asc("M")
bKeyChars(9) = Asc("P")
bKeyChars(10) = Asc("Q")
bKeyChars(11) = Asc("R")
bKeyChars(12) = Asc("T")
bKeyChars(13) = Asc("V")
bKeyChars(14) = Asc("W")
bKeyChars(15) = Asc("X")
bKeyChars(16) = Asc("Y")
bKeyChars(17) = Asc("2")
bKeyChars(18) = Asc("3")
bKeyChars(19) = Asc("4")
bKeyChars(20) = Asc("6")
bKeyChars(21) = Asc("7")
bKeyChars(22) = Asc("8")
bKeyChars(23) = Asc("9")
For ilByte = 24 To 0 Step -1
nCur = 0
For ilKeyByte = 14 To 0 Step -1
'Step through each byte in the Product Key
nCur = nCur * 256 Xor bProductKey(ilKeyByte)
bProductKey(ilKeyByte) = Int(nCur / 24)
nCur = nCur Mod 24
Next
sCDKey = Chr(bKeyChars(nCur)) & sCDKey
If ilByte Mod 5 = 0 And ilByte <> 0 Then sCDKey = "-" & sCDKey
Next
sGetXPCDKey = sCDKey
End Function
Public Function Question()
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim Ans
Ans = MsgBox("Yes = Write Windows XP Serial key to the C Drive and No = Prompt with Serial key",4)
If Ans = vbYes then
Set oOutFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile("c:XP_Serial_Key.txt")
oOutFile.WriteLine sGetXPCDKey
else
wscript.echo sGetXPCDKey
End If
End Function
call Question
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But some characters removed by the site like \.
A similar script would work for Office. For Office 2007 32bit on Windows 7 64-bit the line to change is:
bDigitalProductID = objShell.RegRead("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft
\Office\12.0\Registration\{90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}\
DigitalProductID")
I don't have Office 2000 to say what the reg key is for that product.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 27 Jan 12 at 15:21
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>> use Magical Jellybean Keyfinder >>
that is the first in the list in OP's link he gave.
As OP said " I downloaded some of the key finders they recommended, but they would not even open on the machine that had Office 2000 on it. ".
We need to tease out some more info from him - which ones did he try?
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Update:
I think the answer to my original question is that the discs are completely useless.
It turns out that
1) I purchased them on ebay a few years ago, and have never installed them on any computer, therefore there is no information about them in the registry of any machine that I have. Key finder programs are therefore of no use.
2) The discs are OEM, therefore Microsoft cannot provide a product key.
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If you have someone in the immediate family who qualifies as a student in any way shape or form then Software4Students do a full version of Office 2010 Pro for £37.89! www.software4students.co.uk/Microsoft_Office_2010_Professional_Plus-details.aspx
Last edited by: Victorbox on Thu 2 Feb 12 at 16:13
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But do it fast as the offer expires on 31 March for all Microsoft products on Software4 Students - I had an email from them to this effect only this week.
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RJ do I need VB6 to compile that? I assume it won't work in .NET but I assume I could write something similar.
I use third party software for this purpose but would rather have it built into my AutoIT application.
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It doesn't need compiling it's VBSCRIPT. The website will have taken out the backslashes from the first bit I posted. And you need to work out the registry key containing the hashed product key.
I found the code to find XP keys and then adapted for SQL keys, Office (various versions etc).
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MS Office 2000 but no product key. - Crankcase
