I have a question. I have MS Office installed in my laptop. I need to format it and intall a new version of windows (want to go back to XP). Is the license key tied to the machine, so I can reintall office in the laptop and reactivate it with no issues, or should I follow some steps in order to do this?
Do the reinstallation, when it goes for activation it will probably fail, but there is an option to call for a phone activation - it is pretty straightforward. as long as you have a genuine key and software the process is simple, even if you get to speak to a person, not to many questions asked, and all you need to do is explain and they should give you activation key. you need to be at your computer for this.
If you format your system even 20 times its not an issue till the cd key being used by only one system as each license for whatever application is meant for only one pc,if installed on more computers you can have issues for using specially when connected to internet which will require for updates and registration.
if you have had the software activated for more than 160 days then the reactivation should not be a problem. I have had the same issue with a student edition and have had no issues what so ever after reformatting an reinstallation of O/S. for some reason 160 days is in my head - I think I read somewhere that the activation server resets the key after 160 days unless of course it gets blacklisted then you're stuffed.
