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Reinstalling my OS.

Will I have any trouble reinstalling Office 2010 with the same key on the same PC?

Is there a difference between installing it on a second PC vs. what I am doing?

(does reactivation on the same PC differ from a different PC?)

Is it true a key really works unlimited times?

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Probably not. The main difference is that you don't have two copies of Office installed at the same time.

I've reinstalled Office a few times now on different hardware and OS's (XP and now 7) without any problems.

If you do get problems ring Microsoft and explain you are reinstalling after an upgrade/reinstallation and they should unlock it for you.

I don't know whether the key really works for an unlimited number of times, but I suspect that there is a check on how frequently you are reactivating it. If you reactivate every day (say) then I would expect that to cause problems.

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ok, great, thanks! – Tommy Feb 9 '12 at 23:28
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A lot of retail Office packs actually ALLOW two installations (only two, though). It should say. – Shinrai Feb 10 '12 at 0:11
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@Shinrai - that's on a desktop and a laptop (though how they tell I don't know). The idea being that you're still only using one at a time. – ChrisF Feb 10 '12 at 0:23
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@ChrisF - That's the intended use, you're exactly right, but I believe the fine print doesn't really care. I've certainly never heard of anybody having trouble. I'm assuming this is because there IS no easy way to tell. – Shinrai Feb 10 '12 at 15:41
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@Shinrai: The fine print does care. It's the software implementation that does not prevent you from using two installs simultaneously. – surfasb Feb 11 '12 at 2:15

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