MS Office Premium Preinstalled on Dell Notebooks Will not Activate

[Mike]

Dell notebooks purchased via federal government contract arrive w/ MS Office
Premium preinstalled.
However, we cannot activate the preinstalled Office software. Dell tells us
to enter our agency activation code
we do but the software doesn't activate. Anybody out there able to activate
MS Office using government activation
codes? Any tips will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[S.Lewis]

Dell notebooks purchased via federal government contract arrive w/ MS
Office Premium preinstalled.
However, we cannot activate the preinstalled Office software. Dell tells
us to enter our agency activation code
we do but the software doesn't activate. Anybody out there able to
activate MS Office using government activation
codes? Any tips will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

I'd call MS and explain the situation. They should be able to provide you
with a code that works after you give them your present code.

Or they might punt you back to Dell - but maybe not.

 

[Don MI]

Dell notebooks purchased via federal government contract arrive w/ MS
Office Premium preinstalled.
However, we cannot activate the preinstalled Office software. Dell tells
us to enter our agency activation code
we do but the software doesn't activate. Anybody out there able to
activate MS Office using government activation
codes? Any tips will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

Although Windows likely was pre-activated on your Dell computers, your
agency should have received a Product {activation}Code for Windows. I
would check to verity that you are not being given the Product Code for
Windows vice the Product Code for Office. Also, in the font Microsoft uses
for Product Codes, some letters and/or numbers can easily be miss-read {e.g.
8 and B}. Check that the Product Code is being read correctly.

Don

 

[Mike]

Ah, nice crosspost. Slashed.

I'd still try to contact MS just to eliminate them if nothing else. They
may scream "OEM install", or they may not since you're part of a larger
organization.

Failing that, I wouldn't waste my time with a salesperson unless you are
THE contact for buying the quantity of machines. I'd e-mail or chat with
tech support and work from that angle, escalating the issue if needed.

In effect, they've sold/installed worthless software on your machine at
this point. Office is no cheap bundle to add.

Good luck.

Apparently, MS Office is included in the government contract price.
The federal govenment has a lot of purchasing clout due to the tremendous
volume of computers they purchase. I don't know how they can load the
software
and expect the ac tivation code from my workgroup to work, which it doesn't.
I'll contact the sales rep. this order is eleven notebooks - small
potatoes..

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

That's the best way to handle it. Good luck.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

 

[Joe Morris]

Dell notebooks purchased via federal government contract arrive w/ MS Office
Premium preinstalled.
However, we cannot activate the preinstalled Office software. Dell tells us
to enter our agency activation code
we do but the software doesn't activate. Anybody out there able to activate
MS Office using government activation
codes? Any tips will be appreciated.

You need to talk with (or have *your* management talk with) your IT
support staff; they're the ones who are being paid to deliver a working
system to you. You don't say if you're a federal employee or a contractor
eligible to purchase from a GSA schedule, but either way the you probably
won't get very far trying to go to the Dell sales rep if s/he has no idea
who you might be; that's why the IT staff is likely to be your best
bet.

Also...depending on the specific schedule from which the purchase was
made the copy of Office might be a VLA installation which does not
require activation. (Even if activation isn't required, for some
reason Microsoft still displays a menu entry HELP -> ACTIVATE PRODUCT.)
Did the installation on your machine tell you that activation was
required?

Joe Morris