Upgraded hard drive now cannot use Office

[danwillis75]

I recently upgraded my Macbook HDD to an SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner, however now I cannot use any MS Office programs as it thinks it is an install on a new computer. I have the product key and have entered it, however MS Office 2011 (Home & Student) is no longer supported, therefore I believe leaving my product key and my software obsolete. Any way around this, with ought having to now buy/subscribe to a new version of office? My 2011 was working fine

Thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[panjandrum]

It used to be that you could manually copy some files afterwards to get this to work. I've Googled a single example of the instructions that I could still find, but I'm sure there are others: https://cwl.cc/2012/02/easy-way-to-move-microsoft-office-2011-mac.html

Neither Carbon Copy Cloner nor Migration Assistant will get the job done with MS Office, this is despite the fact that at least CCC is definitely getting all the correct files in place. I expect that when it detects it is being first run on new hardware MS Office deletes or tweaks a critical file. After that if you then replace these files with ones from your original computer it will work. Basically just insane crap from a company that already has all the money in the world; make your life harder just so they don't lost one damn cent. Bastards.

I hate this kind of crap, so IMHO switch to iWork and LibreOffice. Also, need Photoshop? Look at Pixelmator Pro. Support software from companies that don't bend you over and you-know-the-rest every time they get the chance.

 

[ChrisDx]

I have the same issue with a new SSD in my 2011 iMac. If only there was a way to find/copy/paste the missing file.

 

[mdgm]

You should be able to do phone activation. I have recently done it multiple times for different machines using a toll free number.

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...g-office-9b016cd2-0811-4cb3-b896-5a6a13177713

With the phone activation you are asked by an automated system to press numbers on your phone and it reads out numbers back to you to enter into the software to activate the product.

 

[ChrisDx]

I tried the phone activation as well. It did not accept the numbers I keyed in despite their being the ones they said. After 30+ years of using MS products, it's time to move on. Loyalty? It works both ways.

 

[IowaLynn]

I recently upgraded my Macbook HDD to an SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner, however now I cannot use any MS Office programs as it thinks it is an install on a new computer. I have the product key and have entered it, however MS Office 2011 (Home & Student) is no longer supported, therefore I believe leaving my product key and my software obsolete. Any way around this, with ought having to now buy/subscribe to a new version of office? My 2011 was working fine

Thanks in advance.

Dan

I think 10 years is reasonable. Time to upgrade

"MS Office 2011 (Home & Student) is no longer supported"

 

[BrianBaughn]

In some prior versions of macOS I've moved Office 2011 to a new hard drive and having the original product keys worked just fine…but there may be some sort of "phone home" that Office is trying to do that just doesn't work anymore.

 

[ChrisDx]

Okay, here’s an update. I gave it one more try, using the phone activation method which did not work previously. Today it worked and I’m back in business! So much for Einstein’s quote on insanity.