Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition - validation failure

Question

[0x80180108] Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003: Validation Failed  The product key used to install Office is not valid. It has been identified by Microsoft as a false key used with counterfeit copies of Office.   I get the above message after attempting online validation.  I've went through all of Microsoft's validation procedures, including the browser settings diagnostics that all pass, and still get this.  I even tried to uninstall and reinstall with no change.  This software was purchased directly from Dell along with E520 PC about 2 weeks ago.  Any help is appreciated.

rickmktg · Answer

bassmen6 wrote:

[0x80180108] Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003:
Validation Failed
The product key used to install Office is not valid. It has been identified by Microsoft as a false key used with counterfeit copies of Office.

I get the above message after attempting online validation. I've went through all of Microsoft's validation procedures, including the browser settings diagnostics that all pass, and still get this. I even tried to uninstall and reinstall with no change. This software was purchased directly from Dell along with E520 PC about 2 weeks ago. Any help is appreciated.

First, make sure you are using the key that came with Office, not the one that came with Windows.

Second, make sure you are putting in zeros and Ohs properly, also the letter B versus 8.

bassmen6 · Answer

This is not an activation problem.  The software activates fine.  I entered the product key directly from the Office box.  Is there a way to reactivate the software by reentering the product key?  I uninstalled and reinstalled, but it says it was already activated.  This validation failure occurs when I run the Office Genuine Advantage online.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

rickmktg · Answer

bassmen6 wrote:

This is not an activation problem. The software activates fine. I entered the product key directly from the Office box.

Is there a way to reactivate the software by reentering the product key? I uninstalled and reinstalled, but it says it was

already activated. This validation failure occurs when I run the Office Genuine Advantage online. Thanks for any help you can provide.

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/faq.aspx#Question5Label

bassmen6 · Answer

Just wanted anyone that has seen this issue to know how I resolved it.  Someone at forums.microsoft.com helped me.   Go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Office Genuine Advantage\data and delete the data.dat file, then reboot.   This allowed my OFFICE 2003 to pass validation!

dgrant4715 · Answer

I had a similar problem and experienced a lot of frustration dealing with Microsoft and Dell. Here is how I solved my problem. I removed all of the Office 2003 software as there was some trial software(2 types) as well. I reinstalled the software that was shipped separately but the problem continued. When I checked, I had reinstalled the software that I had purchased but it had also reinstalled the trial small business edition as well. I removed that program and I can now go to Microsoft websites and not have any problems.
Check to see how many types of Office 2003 are installed and that may help you decide if that is the problem.

bgrffdave · Answer

I have Office XP Pro with Publisher that came from Dell with my new computer a couple years ago.  While trying to download a new component lately I ran into the same problem so many others have faced... my Office failed validation!  After 2 different calls to Microsoft and 1/2 hour on the phone with Dell support (who tried hard) I had no solution.   I tried the suggestion made by so many experts;  delete the data.dat file from the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data  folder and restart.  Didn't work for me either.  I tried the validation tool but that just gave me a list of information to provide the 'experts' who all suggest the file deletion mentioned above.   Here's what I did that fixed this problem for me.   I found another data.dat file for Office in this folder: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Data I thought, prayed actually, that if I deleted this along with the other one listed above it might make a difference.  Here's what happened.  By deleting both these data.dat files I reset my activation!  When I deleted them both, restarted my computer, and restarted Office I was asked to activate my Office like it had never been done before.  I activated my Office and Publisher (they needed to be done separately) without a hitch.  I then was able to validate my Office at http://www.microsoft.com/genuine without a problem.  How did the 'experts' miss this one???

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