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A friend brought a new Toshiba laptop. That came preloaded with Windows 7 (x64) and Office 2007 Student Edition.

He tried a key and it came with a prompt "They key entered is invalid".

He, in his enthusiasm, entered a key which he found in the Net and now the software comes up with this message -

Your Software cannot be activated because the Product Key used to install the software is not valid. Please uninstall and reinstall it using a valid Product Key

Now, he has a valid Office 2007 key. But, how can he activate via internet without having to uninstall it and reinstall it?

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From MS KB: "How to change the product key for Office XP, for Office 2003, and for the 2007 Office system".

It explains how to reset the key (so it asks again) in Office XP->2007 without reinstalling.

  1. Close all Office programs.
  2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  3. Locate and then click the following subkey, depending on your version of Windows and of Office:

    • 32-bit versions

      • 2007 Office system

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Registration
        
      • Office 2003

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Registration
        
      • Office XP

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Registration
        
    • 64-bit versions

      • 2007 Office system

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Registration
        
      • Office 2003

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Registration
        
      • Office XP

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Registration
        
  4. Export the Registration subkey.

  5. Under the Registration subkey, there may be several Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID) that contain a combination of alphanumeric characters. Each GUID is specific to a program that is installed on your computer.

    Click a GUID. Then, view the version of Office that is listed in the right pane for the Productname registry entry. After you find the GUID that contains the version of your Office program, follow these steps:

    • Right-click the DigitalProductID registry entry, click Delete, and then click Yes.
    • Right-click the ProductID registry entry, click Delete, and then click Yes.
  6. Close Registry Editor.

  7. Open an Office program, such as Microsoft Word. When you receive a message that prompts you for the product key, type the correct product key, and then click OK.
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  • techie007: That was fast. Will take a look at it right away! On a related note, the Office 2007 that I used on Windows XP/Windows Vista (both x32 bit OS) not work on Windows 7 (x64 bit)?
    – Kanini
    Aug 5, 2010 at 17:04
  • 2
    @Kanini, Office 2007 is a 32-bit application. It will run fine on x64 bit platforms. Aug 5, 2010 at 17:42

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