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I just got a new Dell laptop with Office 2010, and I went to install Office on my desktop but it won’t activate. It says the product has already been activated. I thought I could have it on both. Any Ideas?

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Yes, you almost certainly bought your Dell with an OEM version of Office 2010, which only allows you to activate it once, and only on the computer it came with. With a retail license, you can put it on both. Here is a link to the Office 2010 EULA.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&CTT=5&origin=HA101817777&id=13653

The relevant parts:

OEM: “a. One Copy per Device. The software license is permanently assigned to the device with which the software is distributed.” (there is no provision for a portable device as with the retail below)

Retail: “c. Portable Device. You may install another copy of the software on a portable device for use by the single primary user of the licensed device.”

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  • Yup. Retail FTW. I remember this being a big selling point for buying retail copies of Vista and 7. I could resell those bad boys. But don't tell anyone. Shhhh.
    – surfasb
    Jul 21, 2011 at 23:08
  • @surfasb Yes, retail is the way to go, imo...for businesses, volume license is even better though. SOOO much easier to keep track of.
    – KCotreau
    Jul 21, 2011 at 23:17

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