Need help understanding how to activate second PC/Office suite
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Thread: Need help understanding how to activate second PC/Office suite

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
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    34

    Need help understanding how to activate second PC/Office suite

    Can someone help me understand how to activate Office 2019 on my second PC (laptop)?

    I built a new Desktop/Gaming PC last summer (Win10 Pro) and installed Office 2019 and bought a legitimate Office key from someone a friend recommended and registered/activated it. All good there, works great.

    About 2 months ago I started having issues (RAM went bad) with my 2nd PC/laptop. So, I backed it up, installed a new SSD, replaced/upgraded the RAM, and installed a fresh copy of Win10 Home. I also wanted to install a new version of Office to match the same version I had installed on my Desktop. I installed Office 2019 and went to Activate it and it's telling me that "This account doesn't have Office yet. Office isn't associated with MyEmail.Outlook.com account. To use Office, select one of the options below: Buy / Use a different account / I have a product key".
    So I entered the new Product Key I just purchased and receive this message: "Please double-check your product key and try again. We're having trouble recognizing it. Error: PIN-INAPP-INVALIDPIN-8".

    Please confirm, I do need a second Product-key, correct? Or is the activation somehow keyed off of my Outlook.com account?
    (I thought I read on the internet that I can activate multiple (up to 3 copies) with a single license. I tried that and went through the whole phone activation, using my old key from last year and it tells me it's not valid and to get another one (?? it's active on my desktop PC)

    If there's a problem with the key, I will reach out to the guy I purchased them from, he told me to contact him if I had any issues.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
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    18,063
    Office 2019 (not 365) that is not a volume license version can only be installed on one computer using any one product key.

    In addition, you may have issues if you try to use the same email address to register more than one copy of Office 2019 on different computers. When I register the non-365 version of Office 2019, I always use a new Microsoft-issued Outlook.com email address that is ONLY used for that purpose. The email address used for registering Office 2019 is never used for actual email.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
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    34
    OK, well that sounds stupid. (NOT you, Microsoft!!) So I need to create another Outlook email? Doesn't Win10 signon to my MS Account(?)

    I appreciate your answer, Thanks jdc2000!
    I guess I'll try that, but I hate creating an email (Account) that I will never use for anything else. Bummer. (I actually have a 3rd PC I was thinking of installing another copy/license of Office, but I'll definitely be looking for an Office Alternative for that one now.)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
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    I mentioned the email issue since I have encountered it before. I attempted to register a copy of Office on a new PC using an email address that already had a copy of Office registered using that email, and the automated Microsoft registration system refused to allow the new copy of Office to be registered to that email address. A call to Microsoft "help" personnel produced no results initially. I finally had to have a Dell tech support rep (Dell supplied the software and key code with a new PC) conference in to convince the Microsoft rep that he had better register this copy of Office using the desired email address. That took over an hour, and was not worth the time and frustration spent on it, so I now always use an Outlook.com email address for this purpose. Microsoft wants you to use that email address for all of your email, but I never do. However, do not lose that email address and password, as you will need it if you have to re-install Office.

    Office Alternative:

    WPS Office is probably the best, but is not free. LibreOffice is free and OK unless you need macro compatibility, however, it has some quirks.

    Windows 10 can be set to log in using your Microsoft account, but I never do that either, since it also enables Microsoft to sign on as you whenever they want as well. Not that they would, but you never know. They have also been hacked from time to time, so it is just a security risk I do not want to have to worry about. I use a local account that only I know the password for.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    34
    Thanks Again jdc2000! Very insightful.
    I'll just ignore my logic/common sense and create a new Outlook email. And I'll look into LibreOffice.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Location
    Largo, Fl.
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    22,322
    It doesn't make sense to me to have to mess around with email addresses.... No One should have to create a new address.

    BUT, there is a difference between having a Subscription version of Office that allows five installs and a NON Subscription that only allows one.
    If you're happy and you know it......it's your meds.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 1999
    Posts
    1,006
    I always used my regular microsoft email address for microsoft office and never had a problem.

    The microsoft office licence works like this:

    Office 365:

    Can be installed on as many computers as you wish
    Can be used on 5 computers at a time

    Office 2019

    Can be installed on as many computers as you wish
    Can be used on 1 computer at a time


    I don't know where you got Office 2019, but if you can install and activate the licence on another computer, you probably got a volume key or got your key from a site such as scdkey or similar.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Posts
    34
    Thanks for clarifying.
    I'm good with installing it on multiple computers and only using 1 at a time (they are all mine. A laptop and 2 gaming PCs).
    My friend provided me a guy (email) that he bought a couple Win10 & Office keys from, so I assume they are volume keys(?). I researched it and it said they were legit keys, but it was telling me that I need to use a different email account. (this seems stupid to me, tying my Office to my signon. I have 3 PCs with 3 Win10 licenses and they didn't restrict me when I installed Win10(?).
    Last edited by mptech99; April 20th, 2021 at 10:20 AM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 1999
    Posts
    1,006
    They probably are.

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