The latest build of Parallels 5.0 (9370) claims that MS Office 2010 activation is preserved under Boot Camp. I have Windows 7 + Office 2010 in Boot Camp, and everything is running smoothly (both Windows and Office are activated). However, when I boot under Parallels, I have no problems with Windows but if I open Excel (say) I get the dreaded "Microsoft Office has detected a change in your hardware. Please activate" pop-up. Isn't this supposed to be fixed in the latest build? Anyone else having this issue?
Have you activated Office under Parallels before? Maybe you only have to do it once. If it asks you to do it again, then you have a problem.
I've tried that in the past, and ended up in a loop where I would validate in Boot Camp, then boot into Parallels, and validate again, and then boot into Boot Camp and have to validate again... ... and eventually the automatic validation stops working and you end up on the phone arguing with MS trying to convince someone that this is all the same machine. I didn't want to go through all that again. But then the new build says it preserves activation, so I thought I'd give it another shot - but no, I'm back at square one. Just want to find out if this is happening to others (i.e. Parallels claim is bogus), or it's just me and so I should try troubleshooting.
Did upgrading to 9370 also update the Parallels Tools? You can reinstall Parallels Tools to make sure. I don't have Office 2010 to test activation.
Same problem here Yeah. I've also found that I need to activate Office 2010 every time I switch between Parallels and Boot Camp. I didn't realise that they claimed to have fixed this. I've got latest Parallels / tools and running Office 2010 Professional Plus (64-bit) on Win 7 Professional (64-bit)
Finally stumped up for a support call with Parallels, and the issue is now resolved. First, as suggested above, they reinstalled Parallels Tools, which didn't change anything. Second, they went ahead and selected "Activate" when the window popped up after opening Excel in the VM. Activation went through automatically, and after that I haven't been prompted to activate in either Boot Camp or the VM. So the answer is, the new build *does* preserve activation, but only *after* you've activated in both Boot Camp *and* the VM.
That's what I was asking when I said "Have you activated Office under Parallels before? Maybe you only have to do it once. If it asks you to do it again, then you have a problem." Glad you got it working.
