Question Office 2021 key issues

Weathered

Honorable
Aug 2, 2017
339
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10,795
This may be a little hard to explain clearly and hard to follow. Not sure if I did something wrong or what has happened. Bought a genuine copy of Office 2021 Pro Plus, actually 2 copies and 2 different keys for 2 different computers from ebay for my parents. Bought and installed them around beginning of this year. Installed one on a laptop running Windows 11 and the other desktop running Windows 10. Both been running fine with no issues.

Now both of these are tied to one microsoft account. Don't think that is part of the issue but idk for sure, just trying to include all details I can think of. On the laptop, it was previously running Office 2007. Before installing 2021, I uninstalled 2007. Not sure if there is more to it than just uninstalling the old one. Now I keep a list of what keys that go with what software and what device they installed on. I found a discrepancy on these 2 products, possible that the keys may have got mixed up but not sure. I tend to be a little ocd and try to be organized with things like this. So I get looking on the laptop, have a program that shows keys. Actually tried 2 different ones and both showed same thing. Both showed office 2007 and the key for 2007 on the laptop. Why would it still be showing the old 2007 key? I logged into the microsoft account that it is tied to and under order history it shows both computers which what office is installed. But does not show the key for either device, which according to my search results they say it should.

Now if I open word and go into account from there and go to change license, it does give me an option to change the product key as long as I am not signed into any account. Haven't actually tried to change it because don't want to enter the key for 2021 that is installed on the desktop. Now on the desktop, I tried to find that key using the same 2 programs I used for the laptop and both can't find any key for office. One program which is pcunlcoker but when I try to boot from it, gives me an error about not finding SAM file. Not really sure what that means. The other program does not show any key for office. What would happen if I enter the product key on the laptop that is being used on the desktop? Without using a program to find the key, is there a way to find the key? I have done some searching on this and tried few different ways with no luck and my head is starting to spin.
 
office will only show you the microsoft account used with the key and won´t show you the key itself.

"Can I view my product key in Office?
No, you can't. For security reasons, the full product key isn't displayed within Office.
Instead, for Microsoft 365, Office 2021, Office 2019 and Office 2016, you can view the Microsoft account that Office belongs to. This account takes the place of your product key and can be used to reinstall Office from the Microsoft account, Services & subscriptions page and to activate Office.
To view the Microsoft account that Office belongs to, open a document in Word (or any Office app) and go to File > Account. Look for the email address after Belongs to below the product name"


https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...h-office-12a5763a-d45c-4685-8c95-a44500213759

If you enter the key from the desktop, it should be blocked, nothing will happen
 

Weathered

Honorable
Aug 2, 2017
339
9
10,795
office will only show you the microsoft account used with the key and won´t show you the key itself.

"Can I view my product key in Office?
No, you can't. For security reasons, the full product key isn't displayed within Office.
Instead, for Microsoft 365, Office 2021, Office 2019 and Office 2016, you can view the Microsoft account that Office belongs to. This account takes the place of your product key and can be used to reinstall Office from the Microsoft account, Services & subscriptions page and to activate Office.
To view the Microsoft account that Office belongs to, open a document in Word (or any Office app) and go to File > Account. Look for the email address after Belongs to below the product name"


https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...h-office-12a5763a-d45c-4685-8c95-a44500213759

If you enter the key from the desktop, it should be blocked, nothing will happen

Ty for the info. So in the future when I have to reinstall Office on either the laptop or desktop, I don't need a dvd or product key even if I do a fresh install of windows as long as the products are tied to the microsoft account? I realize it wouldn't show the full key but don't see a partial key either.

But on the laptop, 2 key finder programs I used both show the key as being the previous version of office, which is 2007. How do I get that to show the current version, 2021? Is that something I shouldn't even worry about as long as everything is working?

This has got me curious. I checked my desktop which is running office 2019 and windows 11. Used 2 the key finder programs, while it does show office 2019, it shows a key I don't recognize at all for any type of software including windows. Is microsoft doing something to the key after the software is installed that prevents someone from finding the real key? I aslo ran a vb script which I found from googling and it gave me a key I don't recognize and is different from the key finder programs.
 
The key is just important to reinstall office offline. I think it doesn´t have to be stored locally anymore and as soon as office gets online, it´s getting "activated", eventually then removes the key from your computer and just sets a flag or similar.

Be careful with these key-finder tools, some can infect your computers with malware or similar.

You don´t have to care about this issue ;) as long as all works well