Office stolen key

[jonathani05]

So here is what happend:

My laptop was stolen 2 days ago. On it i had office 2016 pro plus. Now i need to buy a new one and i wanted to reuse the same key. I spoke to microsoft support and the lady a spoke to telled me that the key could not be reused because it is allready used (on the stolen machine).

Any suggestions what to do next?

 

[4745454b]

I haven't used office in a very long time so I'm not sure this is 100% accurate. But I would think if you either spun the disk or downloaded and installed the key should work. If it complains about a previous use, is there a way to tell it that you don't use that machine anymore? I hope there is a way to remove the stolen laptop from your account and add the new machine.

Any thief who knows what they are doing will wipe the drive. Too great a chance something will "phone home" and a location will be found. Pull the drive, format, put back in laptop and install unkeyed win10. That's what I would do if I was a low life. Odds are MS servers will never see the old office connecting again.

 

[USAFRet]

Technically, the MS rep is correct.

It was installed on that (stolen) laptop.
Not much different if you had sold it, or given the laptop away. You got an install on that machine, and only that machine.

Maybe, possibly...if you were to provide them a police report, and happen to connect to a very sympathetic MS rep...they might give you a new license key.

But, it's really not much different than the hardware. If your laptop was stolen, you can't call Dell and ask for a new one.

Purchase price for a new laptop or licensed software should maybe be handled by your insurance claim?


Lastly, what happens if you just try it? Install Office on some new system, and enter the license key (if you know it).
Talking to MS is sometimes a lost cause. The front line help desk is often clueless.