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Change Product Key for Mac Office 2008

A

ahealy89

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 12, 2012
5
0
I recently got a new mac book pro. I transfered my files to the new computer. Office 2008 Word does not open. It says there is a problem with the product key. I've looked at old forums with this same problem and they say to delete these files: Settings.plist & OfficePID.plist. I have searched my folders and I do not have these files on my computer at all. I am at a loss. Any ideas would be helpful!

Thanks,
Andrew
 
When I got my new MBP in August, I restored (using Migration Assistant) from my Time Machine backup, to the new MBP.

Office (2011 in my case) was the only app I had problems with; the first time I opened it, it popped up a form that said it needed the product key - I entered this, and no further problems. But the form that appeared was the same one as you would get when installing Office anyway, when you have to put the Product Key in during installation.

Interestingly, it was the only app I had any issue with at all after migrating to the new Mac; other apps that are supposed to be tied to a specific computer (Adobe Photoshop Elements was one) worked without a problem.

(The only other thing I had to do was an "Authorise this computer" in iTunes).
 
I checked my Invisible files with EasyFind, they're not there. Maybe I could try uninstalling Office, then re-migrating it from my old mac again?
 
Try deleting these two files:

1. Library -> Preferences -> Microsoft -> Office 2008 -> Microsoft Office 2008 Settings.plist
2. Hard Drive -> Applications ->Microsoft Office 2008 -> OfficePID.plist

Then restart the computer and start any Office application. Hopefully you will get asked for a serial number then. See also here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2394111
 
ahealy89 said:
I checked my Invisible files with EasyFind, they're not there. Maybe I could try uninstalling Office, then re-migrating it from my old mac again?
Click to expand...

That may work, but I would suggest installing it from the DVD rather than just copying files across. The installer will ensure that all necessary files are copied and will prompt for the product key.
 
Yea, its quite a messy situation. I don't have the DVD because it came already installed on my old mac. I can't do the deleting files (Settings.plist and OfficePID.plist) because they are not present on my new computer. I don't know. I may have to take it to a mac store or something. Thanks for your help guys. Any other thoughts would be good.
 
This link does not work. It is for Office 2011 which has a 25 digit product key, I have Office 2008 that has a 20 digit product key. Product Key and ID are the same thing right?

Thanks for the help Nermal:)
 
Last edited:
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