recovering OEM MS Office key from windows.old

[Pants]

I have an HP Pavilion g7-1150us laptop that I'm working on. I have reinstalled windows 7 on it using one of my own discs because this guy is in a hurry to get his computer back so we didn't order the recovery media from HP. The recovery media has Office 2010 Starter preinstalled.

Is their an OEM product key for Office 2010 Starter that I can recover (somehow) from the windows.old folder? I tried using Magic Jelly Bean key finder and it didn't turn anything up when laoding hive from c:\windows.old\windows. The Windows 7 product key came up but nothing from MS Office.

I could just get this guy to use Open Office or something

 

[Pants]

Woot! I got a Starter downloader package from here. Seems to be legit...No key required:

http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/26083-microsoft_office_starter

 

[glricht]

As you've discovered, there's no product key requirement for MS Office 2010 Starter. I used to enable that quite frequently for my residential Win 7 users.

Also, if you need an Office look-a-like product, rather than Open Office or Libre Office, take a look at Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2013 (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/software/kingsoft-office-freeware). Fast, small footprint, multiple GUIs (both legacy and ribbon), no external software requirements, etc. I found it about two months ago and love it.

 

[Pants]

Hey thanks!...............

 

[HCHTech]

Just FYI, we have had 3 cases recently where customers with Office Starter have had their software stop working and they are prompted to buy the full office suite. It turns out there was a recent Office update that broke the file associations, link here and here.

You can repoint the associations (to the protected "Q" drive) and it will work again.

 

[cypress]

Just FYI, we have had 3 cases recently where customers with Office Starter have had their software stop working and they are prompted to buy the full office suite. It turns out there was a recent Office update that broke the file associations, link here and here.

You can repoint the associations (to the protected "Q" drive) and it will work again.

I ran into that same issue a couple weeks ago.

 

[brandonkick]

I'd point them towards LibreOffice, free and gives much more functionality then office 2010 starter. If they're open to change that is!

 

[BillMoney]

I'd point them towards LibreOffice, free and gives much more functionality then office 2010 starter. If they're open to change that is!

Also, if you need an Office look-a-like product, rather than Open Office or Libre Office, take a look at Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2013 (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/software/kingsoft-office-freeware). Fast, small footprint, multiple GUIs (both legacy and ribbon), no external software requirements, etc. I found it about two months ago and love it.

That or you could just sell them Office and make some $ instead of giving them a free product

 

[brandonkick]

That or you could just sell them Office and make some $ instead of giving them a free product

To mark up an already somewhat expensive office program wouldn't probably push many copies off the shelves. At least not to the residential user base.

 

[16k_zx81]

As you've discovered, there's no product key requirement for MS Office 2010 Starter. I used to enable that quite frequently for my residential Win 7 users.

Also, if you need an Office look-a-like product, rather than Open Office or Libre Office, take a look at Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2013 (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/software/kingsoft-office-freeware). Fast, small footprint, multiple GUIs (both legacy and ribbon), no external software requirements, etc. I found it about two months ago and love it.

Big fan of Kingsoft here.

I have used it on my bench machine for last 2 years in preference to MSOffice. Its a faboulous piece of software and also frequently recommend it to end-users. Personally, I love the Legacy interface option.

One of the other things I like about it is that (for end-users) it does not require any fiddling to save in compatible formats, unlike Libre~ and Open~, an issue which I have seen customers mess up on time and time again.

Card-carrying Fanboi, me.

 

[cypress]

Big fan of Kingsoft here.

I have used it on my bench machine for last 2 years in preference to MSOffice. Its a faboulous piece of software and also frequently recommend it to end-users. Personally, I love the Legacy interface option.

One of the other things I like about it is that (for end-users) it does not require any fiddling to save in compatible formats, unlike Libre~ and Open~, an issue which I have seen customers mess up on time and time again.

Card-carrying Fanboi, me.

Thank you both for the information and insight. I had no idea about this. Rep added!