Microsoft KB Archive/321346

= You are prompted for the product key when you open an Office program =

Article ID: 321346

Article Last Modified on 12/4/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition for Students and Teachers
 * Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q321346



SYMPTOMS


For a Microsoft Office 2003 version of this article, see 836178.

When you open a Microsoft Office program, you see the user information screen, which prompts you for your user name, initials, organization, and product key. After you type all of the requested information, you receive the following error message:

Please enter a valid product key to use this product - setup has detected that the product key is missing or invalid. You will find this 25-character key on your Certificate of Authenticity or the yellow sticker on the back of the case.



CAUSE
This problem occurs when there is more than one installation of Microsoft Office or an Office program on your computer, and the installations are conflicting.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, remove the duplicate program (for example, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition), and then install Office or the Office program again.



MORE INFORMATION
This issue may occur when another Office suite (such as Standard, Professional, or Premium) or an Office standalone program (such as Word, Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, or Microsoft Publisher) is installed on the computer before you install Office XP or Office 2000.

For example, some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) sell computers with Microsoft Works Suite 2002 already installed. (Microsoft Works Suite includes Word.) If you install Office XP, the earlier installation of Word is not replaced, because the two installations are the same version. Therefore, when you open Word, you are prompted for the product key.

Additional query words: prb OFFXP OFF2000 CD Key OFF works2005 workssuite2005 wks2005 word2002 wd2003 trial works2003 workssuite2003 works2004 workssuite2004 invalid product key

Keywords: kbtshoot kbstartprogram kbprb KB321346

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.