How does Microsoft Office 2003 Activation work?
If you have just purchased Microsoft Office 2003, you will be required to activate this product directly with Microsoft. Microsoft product activation is set up as an anti piracy feature. This anti piracy feature is created in order to verify that your Microsoft 2003 Office suite is legitimate (not a fake copy) and is legitimately licensed to you the user. The process of activating your Microsoft Office 2003 is generally quick, easy and anonymous. Following is a step by step process on how the activation process works.
Licensing Agreement
You should know that the activation process works by Microsoft's computers being able to verify Office 2003 product key and its corresponding licensing agreement. Each Microsoft software application comes with a product key that must be inputted when installing the program onto your computer. The product key will also determine the licensing agreement for the software. In order for the product key to work and allow activation, your software application must be only on a specific amount of computers that the software license allows. For personal users, Microsoft Office 2003 can only be used on one computer at a time. For business users, you can purchase special licenses that specifically dictate the amount of machines that the software can be installed onto. It is important to note that if you try to activate Microsoft Office 2003 on additional computers that the licensing agreement forbids, your activation will fail.
There are two ways to activate your Microsoft Office 2003 Suite, the first way is via the internet and the second is by phone.
Activation via Internet
The quickest and easiest way to activate your Microsoft Office 2003 software is via the internet. Activation by an internet connection is practically automatic and anonymous. When you try to install Microsoft Office 2003 an installation wizard will pop up and ask you to activate your product. At this time, it will ask you for your product key. Enter your product key into the box and then click on the button to activate your product via the internet.
Activating your product via the internet is anonymous and automated. Once you elect to activate your product via the internet, the wizard will open your internet connection and connect to a Microsoft computer server which will assist with the activation. The wizard then sends the Microsoft server your product key for Office 2003. Microsoft computers then verify if the product key is legitimate and the number of licenses this software can be installed on. The Microsoft computer then checks if it has any records of this program being on more computers than licensed for.
If your product key complies with the license, Microsoft's computer will then create a confirmation number that is sent back to your Office 2003 software for activation. At this point, your Office 2003 software will receive the confirmation ID and you will receive a message on your computer screen that your activation has been successful. You only have to activate your product each time you install it on a new computer or if you are reinstalling it on your computer and have changed a number of hardware components inside your computer.
Activation by Telephone
You can also activate your Office 2003 software suite by telephone. When you first start the installation process, the installation wizard will ask you for your product key and then request that you activate your product immediately. There are two choices; you can activate it by internet or by telephone. If you choose to activate Office 2003 software by telephone, it will provide you with the telephone number on the screen.
Call this number with your computer on and the screen showing the product key. When you call the telephone number, you will either talk to a voice automated computer or live operator. The operator or computer will ask for your product key. Either enter it into the phone or tell the operator the product key via your voice. The operator or computer then inputs this number into the Microsoft computer to validate your product key. The Microsoft computer checks if it has any records of this program being on more computers than licensed for.
If your product key complies with the license, Microsoft's computer will then create a confirmation number that is sent back to the operator where it will read out the activation code that you can take down and input it into your computer. Once you input the activation, you should see a confirmation that states that your activation is a success. You only have to activate your product each time you install it on a new computer or if you are reinstalling it on your computer and have changed a number of hardware components inside your computer.
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Grace Period and Reduced Functionality Mode
When installing your Office 2003 software suite, you can install this software without activating it. However you must activate the software within 50 launches of installation or Office 2003 will restrict your functionality. If your software has not been activated, you should receive a message when launching Office 2003 that you only have X amount of times to launch the program without activating it. If you do not activate your Office 2003 software suite within 50 launches, the software program will go into reduced-functionality mode. This means that you will no longer be able to edit any documents or create new documents. However, the documents will still be available for viewing and printing and your documents will not be destroyed or deleted.
Once your Office 2003 enters reduced-functionality mode, you will be notified of the reduced functionality and asked to activate your software immediately. Even though your software has entered into reduced-functionality mode, once you activate your software, Office 2003 will return to normal operating status along with all of your files and settings.
Registration
After you receive a prompt that states activation was successful, you may also receive a message to register your Office 2003 software. This is different from activation and you do not need to register your product to receive full functionality. Registration is for users that would like to receive regular updates or more information on how to use Office 2003 effectively.
