how to extract software license keys to reinstall

If you need to reinstall Office on your computer, use the Product Key on the sticker. If you retrieve that key using a tool you can’t use that key to reinstall Office because Microsoft will NOT activate software using that special key.

It uses a special Product Key which is NOT the one on the Office Product Key sticker that comes with your machine. This doesn’t apply to Trial or Starter editions of Office.Ĭomputer makers (aka OEM’s) use a disk image to setup a new computer.

If you’ve lost your copy of the Office Product Key (essential for installing Office) then usually you can get the Key from the Windows Registry using a special tool like ProduKey from Nirsoft see our article “ If you’ve lost your Office install disks“.īut that might not work for OEM copies of Office, that’s one which is preinstalled on a new computer. Why can’t you get the right key from a pre-installed copy of Office?īuying a pre-installed copy of Microsoft Office has some pitfalls and one of them is trouble recovering the Product Key.

How to extract software license keys to reinstall