Windows 7 Office Re-Activation?

O

OutOfOrder

Bit poster
Hi,

I recently purchased a new Macbook Pro and installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp. Although Windows runs nicely on Bootcamp, the constant hassle of having to reboot everytime I wanted to switch between applications became tedious and tiresome. So, I bought Parallels. I was wondering how to stop the constant requirement to activate Office 2010 on my Windows 7 when switching between using Bootcamp and Parallels.

Thanks,
-OutOfOrder-
 
Same Prob here!

HI,

I stumbled into the same problem. Installed via Bootcamp Win XP, Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 and activated altogether. And then installed/converted the partition for Parallels 6. Windows XP and Office 2003 doesn't have any problems with the activation, but Office 2007 and 2010 don't like the two instances.

Don't know what to do. MS-Support told me I've to buy two licenses and activate them. It's altogether installed on one Computer in one Partition. Funny guys, one programm on one computer with two licenses?!
I expect that Parallels is getting this thing right. In the end their advertisements say that the user can use all the windows software, regardless native with Bootcamp or via virtualization in Parallels (they support the bootcamp partition - so I want to use it). There wasn't any word about using either parallels or bootcamp...

Best wishes,

UM
 
OutOfOrder and UweM, could I ask you about MS Office editions you use (Home, Professional, Students and so on)?

How do you install them? Fresh install (on clean machine) or upgrade previous version of MS Office?
 
Hallo Alev,

thanx for the quick reply!

Info regarding my system:

MacBook 2,1
MacOs 10.6.5

Bootcamp Partition with
Windows XP Professional SP3
Microsoft Office Suite 2003 Professional
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007
Microsoft Office Professional 2010
installed
Parallels 6 using the bootcamp partition.

I installed all on a fresh bootcamp partition, one after the other - first XP in bootcamp, then Office 2003, 2007, 2010.

As I wrote before, using Windows XP and Office 20003 it doesn't matter if the software is started native in bootcamp or in parallels. But when using Office 2007 or 2010, the suites want me to activate them again in parallels because I already activated them in bootcamp.


Thanx for your help in advance
 
Last edited:
Hi alev,

Here is the information about my Macbook Pro:
Edition: 10.6.5
Parallels: 6
Operating System: Windows 7

I have the Bootcamp Partition running in Parallels right now. I did not import it, rather I have it just running the Bootcamp Partition. I have Office 2010 Professional which I installed as an upgrade. I activated using my product key, and it worked on Windows in Bootcamp.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
-OutOfOrder-
 
OutOfOrder said:
I have Office 2010 Professional which I installed as an upgrade. I activated using my product key, and it worked on Windows in Bootcamp.
-OutOfOrder-
Click to expand...

Could you, please, specify the Office you have used before you updated?
 
I used to use Office 2007 Professional on my Windows computer. Just as an update, I tried this once again to see if the issue still existed, and sadly it still does. It is getting frustrating having to re-activate these products whenever I switch between Bootcamp and Parallels. If anyone has a solution to this, that would be great!
 
My client has a new iMac27", OS X 10.6.5 He said there were no previous installs of Parallels or Windows. Bought new package Parallels 6, and Full Install of Windows 7. Parallels seems to install without any problems at all. When installing Windows 7 as the Virtual Machine OS, I get this fatal error from the Windows Installer:

The unattend answer file contains an invalid product key. Either remove the invalid key or provide a valid key in the unattend answer file to proceed with installation.

What is going on? Where would I find the file it is referring to? Where are the VM files in the Apple Directory?
 
Hello, JohnOD!

Actually your problem is for another topic.

Looks like you have entered incorrect product key (misspell probably) for Windows in express installation mode. Instead of correcting unattended installation file by hands - I will recommend you to remove this VM and create new one, but this time check the product key correctness.
 
same problem here

I have the same problem with the re-activating thing.
I set up windows 7 with bootcamp and installed MS Office 2010
While booted in Bootcamp Office is activated, using Parallels, i need to do some Activation.
If i want to activate, MS Office says, that my key is already in use ('cause of the Activation in Bootcamp!)

is there any solution for this problem?
i bought both products because of using the windows version of MS Office while using my OS X, but now i still have to reboot.
 
office activation

I am having the same problem.
Running Win 7 which i installed in bootcamp
Also running Office 2010 Home and Business installed and activated in bootcamp
Runs fine in bootcamp
Win 7 runs fine in Parallels
Office requires reactivation in Parallels
Even getting a confirmation ID via phone from Microsoft doesnt work
 
Same issue. Parallels, is there a fix for this??

I recently started having this same "activation" issue with Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac OS. When I boot into my Windows 7 partition, I am told that Windows 7 is genuine and activated. However, when I boot into my Mac OS partition and start up Parallels Desktop, which is using the Windows 7 partition as its virtual hard drive, I get only a black Windows desktop screen and I am told that I need to activate Windows 7. Upon entering my product key (the same product key being using for my Windows 7 partition), I am told that the product key is invalid. I posted a support request on the Microsoft forum and was told that I would have to purchase a second license in order to use Parallels Desktop with a Bootcamp Windows partition. Is this true??? I don't recall this issue occurring before I updated Parallels yesterday (updated Parallels Desktop to Build 6.0.11992), and I've had Parallels installed on my MacBook Pro for about 3 months. Could this Windows activation problem be related to the latest Parallels update, or is this simply a coincidence? Can someone from Parallels PLEASE address this issue? Parallels Desktop is unusable without Windows 7 activation! Thank you!

Computer: MacBook Pro (purchased September, 2010)
Host OS: Mac OS X Snow Leopard, version 10.6.5
Microsoft software on Mac OS: Microsoft Office 2008 Student Edition, Microsoft 2011 Student Edition
Guest OS from Bootcamp partition: Windows 7 Profession upgrade over top of Windows Vista Business Edition
Microsoft software on Windows 7 Pro OS: Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Edition
Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac (Build 6.0.11992)
 
I called Microsoft and spoke with them about the problem I was having with the activation of Windows 7 from within Parallels Desktop. Each time I started Parallels Desktop I was getting a message that I needed to activate Windows and, when doing so, I was told that the activation failed and could not use the Windows 7 product key I had for the Windows 7 Bootcamp partition on my computer. The solution was simple: choose to activate Windows 7 within Parallels Desktop by telephone. I tried phone activation at the urging of Microsoft and this worked, and solved all of the activation problems with Windows 7 within Parallels Desktop.
 
I just got a new MacBook Pro (Early 2011 15" 2.2 GHz) and wanted to transfer my Windows 7 Home Premium and Office 2007 Home & Student licenses over to it. I set up boot camp and reinstalled both. Had to activate both via the telephone. Installed Parallels 6, created new Boot Camp VM and needed to reactivate Windows and Office. Windows activated via the Internet okay, but Office won't activate.

The phone method says I have an invalid product key for Office and no longer offers an option to actually talk to a real person (that I could find.) It just talks about buying genuine software and provides a website to get a new key (the website isn't even for Office, it's for Windows). Rebooting into Windows natively via Boot Camp shows both Windows and Office still activated.

Tried reinstalling the Parallels Tools and it didn't help.

Any advice?
 
Hi Ben,

My guess is that your Microsoft Office disk has a single user license and, since you've installed Windows on the Bootcamp partition, Microsoft is under the impression that you're trying to install Microsoft Office once again on Parallels. There IS a way to contact Microsoft by phone. I've called them a couple of time over the past year or so and they've assisted me each time free of charge. They were very helpful as well. You can reach technical support at (800) MICROSOFT (642-7676). They are available Monday through Friday, 5:00 AM - 9:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Pacific Time). Explain to them that you've already installed Office on your Bootcamp partition and that you wish to access this same software via a virtual hard drive, which is the partition in your case. It IS possible to do this with one license. I set my MacBook up the same way you have and so it can be done. They may have to reactivate your license on their system, which they can do over the phone. I believe that I had the same issue your having and I think I had to activate the license by phone, and I did it while I was talking with the Microsoft rep. Don't let them tell you that you have to purchase a second license. You don't.
 
A year and several versions later, STILL NO SOLUTION!

I got a trial version of Parallels 7 today. After my Windows XP virtual machine file was converted from Fusion VMware format, Parallels booted the new virtual machine and I got asked for a Windows XP Activation Key! This is not a Microsoft issue, but an issue with Parallels loosing software activation keys when setting up the virtual machine. I see from the message in this forum that many have had the same problem over the past 12 months and the issue hasn't been resolved. Here's my solution: Stick to VMware Fusion.
 
Is Parallels trying to find a solution for this?

It's annoying. It would be a great solution if it worked, but being asked to activate software that has already been activated is not right. And I guess activating Windows 7 again in Parallels with another key will cause the BootCamp installation to be seen as "not Genuine" software. I have just tried it again and it seems that Windows 7 got activated in Parallels, but I haven't gone back to BootCamp to see what kind of message I will get (the last time, my original key was being seen as counterfeit, Windows wouldn't work, but somehow it started working again after a while -- too bad it scared me to death into thinking I would lose my BootCamp partition and all that I had installed). MS Office (in my case, Student and Teacher 3-license edition) doesn't activate, because the last license available was activated for the BootCamp Windows 7. I can't edit any document on it, or even copy any content from its documents. I will try to call MS using the phone mentioned here, but it's something that Parallels should be trying to resolve, if the software is to be considered a real alternative to BootCamp. And there should be clear warnings about this issue somewhere, I didn't find any before I installed the trial version and ran into problems.
 
Is there a solution to this problem

Is there a solution for this problem? It makes Parallels pretty much not useful.
 
Just the same trouble. My university purchased microsoft office & windows for every system running in the network of my campus. However, I have to activate the same office/windows distribution on parallels and on bootcamp repeatedly. Now I have to avoid using bootcamp if I don't want to activate them on parallels again.

It's obviously a problem of the cooperation between Parallels & Microsoft.
 
OutOfOrder said:
Hi,

I recently purchased a new Macbook Pro and installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp. Although Windows runs nicely on Bootcamp, the constant hassle of having to reboot everytime I wanted to switch between applications became tedious and tiresome. So, I bought Parallels. I was wondering how to stop the constant requirement to activate Office 2010 on my Windows 7 when switching between using Bootcamp and Parallels.

Thanks,
-OutOfOrder-
Click to expand...
hey,
you can also get the key to resolve your issue on this site (KeyGetter.com)
 
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