license key

N

newguy

I am trying to do an audit of your office 2004 installs. Is there a way to
find the product key after its been installed?
 
C

CyberTaz

Not that I know of. In fact, I get the impression that the CD Key isn't even
stored anywhere but may be simply used for authentication during the
installation [but I have nothing on which to base that other than pure
speculation:)]. Regardless, the only info available is the generated
Product ID displayed in the program's About menu. That, however, reveals
nothing about the CD/license key used to do the installation.

What I've done in the past is to keep a file in which I record the CD Key &
the identity of the system it which it was assigned. I believe there is
software available that tracks this automatically but I've never followed up
on it. Also, hold on to the original CD sleeve for future reference - if
there's only one license & one system it's no problem & for personal needs
you can just make a note on the sleeve if you have multiple licenses (such
as the 3 which Student/Teacher edition provides).

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
 
B

Bates

I am trying to do an audit of your office 2004 installs. Is there a way to
find the product key after its been installed?
Click to expand...

Hey - Don't do an audit of my installs!

Seriously though - there are several such apps for Windows that search
the registries, but I've not found one for Mac OSX.

I've not tried this, but do you have an install where you know what
the product key is? Have you tried finding that product key using
'grep' or something similar in the shell to see if you can find where
the product key lives? Assuming of course it is actually stored as
text somewhere - not that I assume it is.....

Neil
 
J

John McGhie

No: My information is that Bob's correct. The CD Key is not stored on the
installed machine.

However, all but the last 5 digits of the Product ID are guaranteed to be
different for each different CD key in use.

If you get two machines in which the front of the Product ID match, then the
same CD key was used to install them. The same CD Key installed to the same
machine with the same hardware serial numbers (CPU Serial Number, NIC Mac
Address, RAM configuration, HDD Volume Serial Number) will always produce
the same Product ID with the exception of the last five digits.

Hope this helps

I am trying to do an audit of your office 2004 installs. Is there a way to
find the product key after its been installed?
Click to expand...

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]
 
C

CyberTaz

Hi Neil -

Snip>
Seriously though - there are several such apps for Windows that search
the registries, but I've not found one for Mac OSX.
Click to expand...
<snip>

Yeah, the Mac utilities I was referring to don't work "after-the-fact". They
need to be installed prior to the installation of the other applications &
grab the input during the installations. This is going back a way (prior to
OS X) so even if I remembered what they were they may not be OS X compatible
or may only work with VISE... Or I cocld be making it up:)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac
 
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