Member Avatar for Gail B

I have just purchased a brand new Laptop with Windows 7. My older PC will be decommissioned. I have all my disks for reloading my programs however although I have the disks for MS Office 7, I downloaded the BETA version of Office 10 and it seems to have overwritten Office 7 - rather than be a separate version. (I thought I would stillhave 7 and 10 as well)

So, the question is, as my disks are "Upgrades", will I have any problems installing the Office 7 on my new Laptop, should I DL the Trial version and use my KEY CODE # to activate to full?

Thank you

Gail

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Clarification and a short, practical checklist for based on the thread: the key issues are what type of Office media/license is owned, how upgrade media behaves on a fresh PC, and how to handle activation or shared-component conflicts when multiple Office versions are present.

Retail vs OEM vs Upgrade: If the disc says "Retail" the license is normally transferable to a new machine. An "OEM" copy is tied to the original PC and generally cannot be moved. An "Upgrade" disc requires a qualifying previous-license (a prior Office product) to be legitimate. Keep the original product key and any proof of purchase handy — activation checks are where most problems show up.

Practical steps to reduce risk and speed resolution:

  • Confirm exactly which Office version and which license type is on each disc (look for "Full Product", "Upgrade", or "OEM" wording on the box/label).
  • Collect the old PC's product key or proof of original ownership before decommissioning.
  • If the machine currently contains a preview/beta build that altered shared components, remove it using Microsoft's official removal instructions/tool so no leftover components block a re-install.
  • Install the upgrade media and then immediately install the latest Office service packs and Windows updates for that Office version (older releases run more reliably on Windows 7 after SPs).
  • If the installer or online activation refuses the upgrade key because no qualifying product is detected, use phone activation or contact Microsoft Activation support with proof of the previous license — they commonly allow activation in legitimate transfer scenarios.

This expands on points from and by focusing on licensing and activation (often the true blocker), and on post-install steps (service packs/updates) that avoid runtime oddities when mixing versions.

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Member Avatar for mjdodd

I had similiar prob with a trial office on a new comp and wanted to use 2003 which I had. I had to totally uninstall the triial version (and do some removing by hand as well with care) before the 'old' activated legitimate 2003 version would work. Although MS says the two can exist together my experience was one at a time!
BOL
M

commented: Have a point back you don't deserve a bad name +1
Member Avatar for phaisal

they can exist together
i have had mine with 2007 and 2003 together in one pc
u might need to change the installation path

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