Hi -

Un-install all via the Control Panel. If not present, use the Windows Installer Clean-up utility for the non-Office 2007 products. There is a different one for Office 2007.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928218/

The $400 was for an Office 2007 upgrade? If I understand correctly, you went from Office 97 --> Office 2003 --> Office 2007?

Here is the site for MS Office - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX102855291033.aspx

You may also want to think about returning the Office 2007 upgrade package as a quick Google search brought up several retailers that sell the full retail version of Office 2007 Ultimate for less than the price you paid for the upgrade. Also if either of the previous versions of Office were OEM (bought with the computer and contain the letters "OEM" in the product key code), it is likely that they are not transferable to a new system.

If all else fails - think about re-installing Vista and going back to square-one. The Office 2007 trial will most likely not be present after a re-install.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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I will visit the sites you suggest to get the Office perspective of this problem. But first I should have been more precise what my situation is. You are correct in the sequence of the Office products I have purchased. However, I purchase Office 2007 18 months ago for the laptop I am trying to retire. Unfortunately I will not be able to return it. And Vista was on the new laptop I purchased and I am unable to reinstall it. It's looking more like another outlay of $$$ to but the full Office product. There is something wrong with this picture!!!

Thank you for your response.

 

Hi -

If Vista pre-installed on the laptop you should be able to re-install Vista by using the Vista DVD or using the recovery partition. If you don't have Vista DVD from manufacturer, go to their web site and purchase them. The cost for replacement Vista OEM DVD is minimal compared to cost of full retail Vista. For example, HP charges about USD $20 for a new set of OEM Vista DVDs.

As for Office 2007 - contact Microsoft and explain your position. It certainly can't hurt and you just may end up with a little or no cost solution.

Double-check your Office (& Vista) product key codes. Download and install Belarc advisor. The resulting report will list the key codes for Vista along with your installed Office products. Look about 1/2-way down the report for the 25-digit key codes.

Belarc - http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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I decided to take the easy way out. I just went ahead and purchased the full Office 2007 Professional edition. I have no additional time to mess with this. Thinking that I might have to go through this again in the future is not worth it. So Microsoft sucked in another "long-time" customer, forcing them to buy something they legally should not have to buy. I'm sure I have some friends who will want to buy my 2007 upgrade cheap!

The most irritating thing is that with all the technical brains behind Microsoft, they can't come up with a way to install an upgrade based on the product numbers from those previous versions associated with my name. I'm a software engineer. I could certainly tell them how to create something that users could download and get later releases of upgrades installed on new computers. But I'm sure this would be counter to the MS business plan.

Thank you all for your responses. I have saved them and also added them to my brain's Vista/Office knowledge base. And who knows, I still may need this information. I'm not home yet. I may even have difficulty installing the full edition. But at least I can contact Microsoft directly if I have problems.

 

Thanks for posting back - & sorry to hear you had to go to the expense of purchasing Office 2007.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.