WORD, Product Key lost?

Question

Hello...

In January of 2002, my husband and I purchased our first PC through Dell. We have windows XP and when our computer arrived, we noticed that it already had "WORD" installed as well as several other software programs! Since this time...we have had to do a re-install of windows due to a worm/virus that played havoc on our machine and we used (as advised by Dell Support group) the backup CD(s) that accompanied our computer.

After this re-install.. when I went to open up the WORD program, it denied me access into the program and required me to type in the 25 Chacter "PRODUCT KEY" that is suppose to be found on either the Certificate of Authenticity or the yellow sticker on the back of the CD case.

My situation is this.

All the back up CD's that Dell sent along with our Pc...were sent in plain white sleeve type envelopes with no codes, keys, numbers or the like anywhere on them. I cannot access WORD unless I enter the PRODUCT KEY number...of which I have no idea of what it is.

I found a sticker on the outside of my Tower that had a PRODUCT KEY on it, tried to enter that, thinking maybe our software was all conformed to this key number...but when I hit sumitt, it returned error.."You have not entered a valid Product Key"

How can I retrieve this key number to enable me to open up WORD and begin using this again?

Can someone please help?

Thank you soooo much!

Blessings,

Apeke

Mary G · Answer

Depends on whether you have Works with Word or Word w/ MS Office. If you have Works, the key is on the box that all the Works disks came in. With Office, it's on the jewel case that the Office disks came in. If you have Word 2000, call Dell and you can provide your service tag and get a key. If it's Word XP, this key is not available from Dell because of Product Activation. The number on your computer tower is for Windows XP and does not apply here. You should always keep a file with everything you receive with your computer. Go through everything again and see if you can find it. Look for a Certificate of Authority for Word on a booklet or in the paper work.

budlup · Answer

I have lost my key somewhere when I moved. I called Dell Customer Support and the representative gave me a toll free number of microsoft to get a new key. When I called the number, it was only an automated number for activation of XP products with the known key. I have microsoft word 2002. Does anyone know of the real 800 number to get a new key? Or is there another way to get a key? (I can't get through to customer chat because it's always busy)

rickmktg · Answer

@budlup wrote:
I have lost my key somewhere when I moved. I called Dell Customer Support and the representative gave me a toll free number of microsoft to get a new key. When I called the number, it was only an automated number for activation of XP products with the known key. I have microsoft word 2002. Does anyone know of the real 800 number to get a new key? Or is there another way to get a key? (I can't get through to customer chat because it's always busy)

If Office is still installed, you can run the Belarc Advisor at www.belarc.com and get the key. If you've formatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows, then it's time to buy a new copy of Office.

Productivity Software

WORD, Product Key lost?

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