MS Works 9 Dell OEM software - does it require a license key?

Question

Hi there,

This is my first post -- my son has a Dell Inspiron laptop that we purchased last June. It came with MS Works 9. He is away at college and called me last night, saying that he was trying to type a paper for school and could not use his word processing software, without entering a 25 digit license key. I have the software here, and there is no 25 digit license key on the disk, sticker label on the plastic envelope it is in, or elsewhere. I saw a posting somewhere on line -- cannot remember if it was on this forum or another -- that his computer may have also come with a trial version of Office, and that is why he is being prompted for a license key, and that the Dell OEM MS Works 9.0 does not require a license key? Is this correct?

He does not need MS Office, and the limited functionality of MS Works 9 word processor is just fine for him. I'm confused as to why it is prompting him for a license key. This has happened once in the past, and I simply reinstalled the MS Works disk that came with his computer and things worked fine for a while. Now it has happened again.

I have an older Dell Inspiron that came with MS Works 9, and I have never had this problem and have never been prompted to enter a product key or license key. Is it possible that he is inadvertently trying to open word processing through an Office trial that came with the computer that has now ended vs. opening it through Works?

I hope that someone might be able to help -- he has a paper that he has to prepare after class today, and me getting the disk to him today to reinstall is a geographical impossibility due to the distance...

Thanks in advance - he is to call me when he gets out of class today so that hopefully "supermom" (LOL!) can come to the rescue and get him with a functioning word processor to write his paper.

kb808 · Answer

Thanks so much for the replies, fireberd and natakuc4. I located the post that I mentioned re: no code required for MS Works. It was on the microsoft site, and the following reply was from somone who is identified as a "support engineer." The reply was as follows:

"Microsoft Works 9.0 doesn’t have a product key for installation. The Office suite on your machine could be a preinstalled trial which is not a part of the works 9.0 suite and requires a product key. You will notice that none of the works applications will prompt for product key when you use them. The applications included in the works 9.0 suite are: Works word processor, Works spread sheet, Works calendar, Works database"

Based on the above post on Microsoft's site, I am wondering if his computer came with a preinstalled Office Suite, as well as the Works 9.0, and that perhaps the Office Suite trial is prompting him for the code vs. the Works 9.0. If that is the case, it would be easy enough to tell him to launch MS Works from his start menu vs. hitting an desktop word processing icon, which may be linked to an Office trial version.

This quoted reply on Microsoft's site was in direct response to someone who was having exactly the same problem that my son is having -- namely, having the free OEM Works 9, but getting a prompt to enter a product code which was not contained anywhere in his or her software that came with the computer.

In our case, my son definitely had/has Works 9. It was preinstalled by Dell on my son's computer, and it also came with a Works 9 CD, which I have has a 20 digit alphanumeric code on the sticker of the plastic envelope containing the disk. The disk itself has a Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity on the paper envelope containing the disk with an alphanumeric 8 digit code next to the COA logo, and a 14 digit "tracking id" located between 2 bar codes on the same label.

Definitely if we can't figure this out, we'll go the route of one of the software downloads natakuc4's post provided in the links, but the issue my son is having is driving me nuts, esp. when I see this post on Microsoft's site that Works 9 doesn't require a product key, and we definitely have a legitimate and legal OEM copy of Works 9.0 that came with his computer. Plus, as stated, I have Works on my almost identical (just a little older) Dell laptop and I have never been prompted for a 25 digit code to be able to continue using it.

Thanks for the posts, as well as anyone else who could respond and might know what is going on with my son's Works 9.

Philip_Yip · Answer

Hi Welcome to the Dell forums

I have wrote a few wikis on Microsoft Software and also on Free Software which I find useful. Links are below and you and your son might find some useful information in them.

"Since Works 9.0 doesn't require an activation key, you can just download and install the file. Theoretically, this means that you could also install Works 9.0 without properly owning the software. Please note that this would be illegal and in violation of Microsoft's license agreement." The link to the download is available in the Microsoft Software link below. If it was preinstalled then the computer should already possess a valid license (i.e. he should well be within his rights to download and use this software)

Alternatively he can download and install Microsoft Office 2010 Starter (if he is running Vista or 7). This gives limited functionality Word and Excel and no product key is required. This is again available to download in the Microsoft Software link.

Alternatively he can download and install Open Office. The link for this is in the Free Software for Microsoft Windows below.

Finally there are some Microsoft Office deals for students available all the time. Get him to google search "The Ultimate Steal" this is a deal Microsoft have with students, he should be able to get a much better deal there than normal. Software there is usually provided as a download and the product key is sent via email.

fireberd · Answer

This does sound like he has the MS Office "Trial" version and it has expired. I have a Lenovo laptop bought about the same time and it came with the Office Starter" edition which is similar to the old MS Works and has a word processor. It also had the Office Trial version and I uninstalled that as I had a full, legal, version of MS Office 2003 that I installed.

He can download the free Open Office suite of programs that are comparable and compatible to MS Office. That would give him the WordProcessor, Spreadsheet (Excel), Presentation (Powerpoint), etc. www.openoffice.org

kb808 · Answer

oops, double post - sorry

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MS Works 9 Dell OEM software - does it require a license key?

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