Unable to activate Office 2010

Hi,
New user here. I have a valid license for office 2010 but when I Activate the product it tells the product needs to be activated.
We just went through the automated activation process and the AI sent us an activation string which the system seemed to accept. However after reopening Word the same error message reappeared saying the product needed activation?

There seem to be no people we can contact now just a referral help.microsoft.com

Does anyone have any ideas. We need this office version working properly for the next month and not the reduced functionality version.

Thanks

Just as encouragement, see this success

PenPusher said:

Activated Office 2010 over the internet this week after upgrading hardware to Dell 3070 Micro running Windows 11 23h2.
No problem.

Click to expand...

You're not trying to activate Office 2010 Starter Edition are you? That edition was, for a while, preinstalled by computer makers and it cannot be activated on other hardware.

I suggest you post screenshots of your attempts to activate your office 2010 normally & by whatever procedure you then followed that resulted in that activation string being sent to you.


Denis

Spotted this after I posted.
This was a Office 2010 Home And Student Edition...
First time I opened Word 2010, Activation window came up, activate over internet, job done. (12th Dec 24)

Edit
When did the OP get this Office 2010 version and/or has it been used before. Has it exceeded max number of installations? Therefore requiring hardware reset on MS activation servers?

As @Try3 noted.. what Office 2010 version is it?

Hi,
thanks to all for the quick responses.

The software is one of two education license I bought a whole ago. Full function. one was a Microsoft media version the other a download. Unfortunately I don't track the number of installs of each so it could've that as has been suggested it's been used too many times. They were bought in 2013 and we've gone through probably 8 computers or rebuilds since then.

The problem machine is a surface Laptop 7.

I used the media to do the install but had to use the key that came with the download since it didn't recognize the key off of the packaging this time???

it installed ok and then when we opened it we got the message about activation.

Attempt one. the AI pushed the activation App. When we tried to enter the installation numbers the App only allows for 6 digits per box. ours are 7.

Attempt two. Called the AI to get a body was told use the web help

We followed the instructions to use the cmd prompt and were able to input the 7digit blocks that the app presented. after doing so the system returned a 54 number string in 9 parts which we entered and were told that activation was successful.

Today Word no longer presents the warning but PowerPoint and Excel still do.

Cancelling the warning allows the apps to be used without issues but the concern is that the 30day grace period is coming due at a time when I won't be available to help resolve or reinstall the software again in an effort to restart the clock.

Sorry for the long post. I don't have screenshots but the cmd app is just a couple of lines on a blue screen.

Without access to a warm body I'm not sure how to proceed.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions so far
LU

LubaUser said:

I'm not sure how to proceed.

Click to expand...

Get a licensed current version

1.
has the surface Laptop 7 installed Office before?
if yes, re-install that Office version, then no need of re-activation. it will automatically be done.

2.
7digit blocks
this should be, input 6x9 blocks. reply/re-fill 6x8 blocks. a standard business (yes, all ai processed). I recently did three PC Office activation this way. no problem.
If failed, you can re-do. (at least that's ai told me every time. but so far I got passed at 1st trial)

so if I were you, I would re-do if no plan to buy a new copy/version.

LubaUser said:

The problem machine is a surface Laptop 7.

We followed the instructions to use the cmd prompt and were able to input the 7digit blocks that the app presented. after doing so the system returned a 54 number string in 9 parts which we entered and were told that activation was successful.

LU

Click to expand...

Did your computer come with a trial version of Office preinstalled [as many do]?
- Look through the list of progs in Control panel / Settings.
If so, uninstall the trial version and run Office repair on the Office 2010.
Repair an Office application - MSSupport

LubaUser said:

the key that came with the download

Click to expand...

I know nothing about Education editions but I am amazed that any download, other than a new purchase, would come with a Product key.


Denis

You can try this but since 2010 is so old I'm not sure how far you can get. Warm bodies are hard to come by these days. You will probably start out with chat.
If it doesn't work for you, both LibreOffice c and OpenOffice are free and support MS Word and Excel files. Both are very good and 100% free.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
1) Like other users I don't want to buy a subscription
2) Having tried 365 I dont like it. too much buried functionality that used to be easy to access
3) the download was an option from an online authorized MS reseller. I didn't need two sets of media and both licenses were legit
4) the surface didn't come with office preloaded just the usual try 365 bait. I will try deinstalling that. thank you.
5) Thanks for the support link, that usually bounces one to a paid support line if you want to talk to a person these days but I'll try it again.
6) 7 digit blocks are ok. the instructions from MS say enter the 6 or 7 digit number blocks.

if push comes to shove I guess we'll have to upgrade and deal with 365.

Again, thanks for all of the feedback, comments and suggestions.

@siliconbeaver. thanks for the correction I was working from memory. it was 8 6 digit blocks not 9 as I stated.

LubaUser said:

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
1) Like other users I don't want to buy a subscription
2) Having tried 365 I dont like it. too much buried functionality that used to be easy to access
3) the download was an option from an online authorized MS reseller. I didn't need two sets of media and both licenses were legit
4) the surface didn't come with office preloaded just the usual try 365 bait. I will try deinstalling that. thank you.
5) Thanks for the support link, that usually bounces one to a paid support line if you want to talk to a person these days but I'll try it again.
6) 7 digit blocks are ok. the instructions from MS say enter the 6 or 7 digit number blocks.

if push comes to shove I guess we'll have to upgrade and deal with 365.

Again, thanks for all of the feedback, comments and suggestions.

Click to expand...

Well many use MS 365.

It depends on your needs.

Any paid licence can only be installed on 1PC.

MS 365 Personal can be installed on multiple pc with 6 pcs active at any one time including 1TB onedrive space.

The friends and family version has the same for up to 6 users each with 1TB onedrive space.

You can buy more modern versions with single pc licences from various sites cheaply but no guarantee of legitimacy.

The newer versions have same menu structure as MS 365. It does not take that long to learn the new menus - plenty of websites to assist.

I have 4 main pcs all with 365, get all updates, 1 have two friends using my 6 user licence deal as well plus I get permanent 30% company discount for £45 per annum. At full price, it would cost 100’s of pounds.

LubaUser said:

1) Like other users I don't want to buy a subscription

Click to expand...

You can get lifetime versions.

LubaUser said:

Hi,
New user here. I have a valid license for office 2010 but when I Activate the product it tells the product needs to be activated.
We just went through the automated activation process and the AI sent us an activation string which the system seemed to accept. However after reopening Word the same error message reappeared saying the product needed activation?

There seem to be no people we can contact now just a referral help.microsoft.com

Does anyone have any ideas. We need this office version working properly for the next month and not the reduced functionality version.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Fresh Install Windows 11 Pro | 24H2 | 26100.2605 on Lenovo (11/15/2024) and Dell on (11/7/2024) Laptops

Office Products Activated automatically with all the updates see below screenshots

Lenovo:





Dell:

You said you have education editions of Office 2010. Do you have Office Home and Student 2010 or Office University 2010?

I bought Office University 2010 back in 2012 when I was taking some Office classes at a local college. Other than the license it is identical to Office Professional 2010. Also, I could install it on both my desktop and laptop. Back then it was a bargain for $99. I still have it installed on one of my computers.

I bought Office Pro

@projenji

Would you be so kind as to explain how you did that. Our issue is on. surface laptop 7

thanks

LubaUser said:

I bought Office Pro

@projenji

Would you be so kind as to explain how you did that. Our issue is on. surface laptop 7

thanks

Click to expand...

Nothing special

After fresh install of 24H2 on Dell and Lenovo - updated Windows and then installed Office 2010 (64-Bit Edition) + Project (64-Bit Edition) Visio (64-Bit Edition) and checked for updates, I believe altogether around 50 updates and bingo the product is activated