Can I "unactivate" a Microsoft Office 2010 key to install on a new machine?

Question

I just acquired two Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus keys. But I'm replacing the machine that I have soon. I don't want to have to use one key on the current machine and then use up the other key when I get the new machine.

Isn't there a way of "uninstalling" office that would effectively place the key back in my pool? That way I have no problem moving the license to a new machine.

Solution

The standard way of doing this is just uninstalling the copy of Office from the current computer and—because Microsoft only gets notified of new installs/activations, not uninstalls/deactivations—then using phone activation when you've hit the activation limit permitted by your license. If you explain the situation to them, they should give you a new key to activate Office on your new computer.

See this Technet question and this Superuser question.

Comments

[sawdust]

Seems like your question is along the lines of "are there Retail and OEM versions of Office as there are for Windows OS? So perhaps an answer would be aided by you providing the circumstances of how these Office product keys were obtain? Were they tied to the purchase of PCs, or were they retail SW packages?

[Admin]

@Lèse majesté: please make this an answer, and provide a short extract from the link.

[David Schwartz]

And if you think about it, it must be this way. Otherwise, you could just back up your machine, unactivate it, and then restore from the backup.

[IAmAN00B]

@sawdust: It appears you're over-thinking my question. I only have two keys. I want to keep them. It's that simple. I have to have a machine fixed. That means I have to install Office a minimum of 3 times and I only have two keys: One install on the original machine, one on the backup machine, and finally on my machine that gets back to me fixed. The only installation that'll remain will be the final install when I get my machine back.

[Isaac Rabinovitch]

This question is pretty clearly a dupe of the other Superuser question. However, it would be a pity to close this one, where both the question and answer are more carefully sourced.

[Anonymous Penguin]

Wow. You just saved me $100! THANK YOU!!! +1

[Ramhound]

Have you confirmed this answer is applicable to Office 2010?

[wp78de]

@Ramhound I have not personally verified it but the linked guide lists Office 2010 - 2019 (Office v14 - v16). Searching the web for office 2010 ospp.vbs gives positive results. So, I think it is applicable.