Microsoft KB Archive/302806

= Description of Microsoft Product Activation =

Article ID: 302806

Article Last Modified on 12/4/2007

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This article was previously published under Q302806



INTRODUCTION
To try to reduce software piracy and to make sure that all Microsoft customers receive the product quality that they expect, Microsoft is now including Product Activation technology in several Microsoft products. This article describes what Product Activation is, when and how you can activate your Microsoft product, and how to contact the Product Activation center if you need to. Finally, this article describes some additional Product Activation resources that you might find useful.



MORE INFORMATION
By using Product Activation, Microsoft is trying to reduce a form of piracy known as &quot;casual copying,&quot; or &quot;softlifting.&quot; Casual copying is a form of piracy that occurs when people share software in a way that infringes on the Microsoft Software License Terms. For example, when a person buys Windows XP, that copy of Windows XP is primarily licensed for use on a single computer. Without the purchase of additional licenses, that copy of Windows XP may not be installed on other computers. For example, if that copy of Windows XP were to be shared with another person and installed on that other person's computer, that would constitute casual copying. However, with most software licenses, you are allowed to reinstall and activate the software on the same computer an unlimited number of times. To make sure that you are using your license correctly, please see the Microsoft Software License Terms or the product use rights for more information about that specific product.

Casual copying accounts for a large part of the economic losses that the software industry experiences because of piracy. If software piracy were to be reduced, the software industry could invest much more money in product development, in product quality, and in product support. This would also lead to better products and more innovation for customers.

How Product Activation works
Product Activation is a simple, straightforward process that is completely software based. It requires no hardware add-ons such as dongles, no floppy diskettes, or any other external tool. In most cases, the only information that is required to activate a product is an Installation ID, which is created by the software itself. The information that is collected during activation will not be used to personally identify you.

If you activate your product over the Internet, Product Activation will take less than a minute. When you activate your product in this manner, the product itself will do most of the work. Very little user participation will be required of you. If you would rather activate your product over the telephone, you can do this by speaking with a regional Microsoft Product Activation Center.

Important Product Activation does not track users of Microsoft software in any way. Its sole purpose is to activate legitimate licenses for Microsoft software.

When to activate your Microsoft product
Software that is bought in stores or as part of a new computer that is sold by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) must be activated. As was mentioned earlier, Product Activation is easy, and many users will only have to activate their product one time for the life of the product. However, some users may have to activate the product again if they move the product from one computer to another or if they make a significant number of changes to their computer.

Note OEMs may activate the software at the factory before the deliver a computer to the end-user.

To make activation convenient, products do not have to be activated immediately after they are installed. You can start Microsoft Office up to 50 times before you have to activate it. With Windows, you will have 30 days from the first time that you use it before you have to activate it.

How to activate your Microsoft product
To activate your Microsoft product, select either the Internet option or the telephone option in the Product Activation Wizard.
 * With Internet-based activation, Microsoft servers will process the activation and will silently activate the product.
 * With telephone-based activation, you can activate your product by contacting a Microsoft Product Activation Center and following the steps in the automated telephone system or by speaking with a customer service representative.

Important You should have your installation ID, which will be displayed in the Product Activation Wizard, ready before you speak with a customer service representative.

Note Product Activation telephone numbers are not listed in this article. There are many regional Microsoft Product Activation Center worldwide. Therefore, customers should use the Product Activation Wizard to make sure that they are routed to the correct regional Product Activation Center.

How to contact the Microsoft Product Activation Center
You can contact the appropriate regional Microsoft Product Activation Center by selecting the Activate by Telephone option in the Product Activation Wizard. As soon as you select your country or region, the appropriate telephone number will be displayed.

Note If you receive an invalid installation ID, the customer service representative may have you select the Change Product Key option in the Product Activation Wizard.

How to access the Product Activation Wizard
If you do not have the Product Activation Wizard open, use the following Windows or Office steps to start the wizard:

Windows XP

 * 1) Click Start.
 * 2) Click All Programs.
 * 3) Select Accessories.
 * 4) Select System Tools.
 * 5) Click Activate Windows.

Windows Vista

 * 1) Click Start.
 * 2) Right-click Computer.
 * 3) Select Properties.
 * 4) Click Activate Windows.

Office Programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and so on

 * 1) Click Start.
 * 2) Click All Programs.
 * 3) Select Microsoft Office.
 * 4) Select any Office program.
 * 5) As soon as the Office program starts, the Office Activation Wizard will be displayed.

2007 Microsoft Office

 * 1) Click Start.
 * 2) Point to All Programs.
 * 3) Point to Microsoft Office.
 * 4) Click any Office program.
 * 5) As soon as the Office program starts, click the Office button.
 * 6) Click   Options. (For example, click Word Options, Excel Options, and so on.)
 * 7) Click Resources.
 * 8) On the activate Microsoft Office line, click Activate.

For more information about how to activate an office product, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

828958 How to activate a license in Office programs



Web sites
For more information, see online Help, and visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/mpa.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/evaluation/features/activation.mspx

Knowledge Base articles
For more information about Microsoft product activation, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

299840 How to use Sysprep with Windows Product Activation or Volume License media to deploy Windows XP

291997 How to activate Windows XP using an Unattend.txt file

300273 Cannot activate OEM edition more than once in Office XP

298088 How to obtain a Volume License key for Enterprise Editions of Office XP

293477 Information about the Microsoft Activation Wizard Privacy Policy for Visio

293466 Reduced functionality, missing menu commands, and unavailable features in Visio

293151 Description of the Office Activation Wizard

291983 Ports that are used by Windows Product Activation

299056 An error message is displayed when you run Windows product registration

289657 Out of Box Experience (OOBE) does not run after Setup completes

Keywords: kbresolve kbguidelines kbmsccsearch kbpubtypekc kbenv kbinfo KB302806

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