Installing MS Office 2007 Business upgrade options (without old license)

[jaydee]

I was helping a friend do a clean install of Windows 7, and he had MS Office 2007 Small Business upgrade. I didn't realize it was the "upgrade" until after I wiped the old HDD clean, and he doesn't have the old media, or product key for the previous version of Office.

I was wondering what my options are. I have MS Office '07 on my PC, can I use that product key as the "old" key, so we can install his upgrade version? Or will that invalidate the Office '07 on my PC? I feel this is legitimate because he really did have an older version of MS Office on his PC before the upgrade (he must have, otherwise couldn't have installed the upgrade), but just never kept track of the old version. And in the end, the correct product key will be attached to the correct PC. Thanks!

 

[jaydee]

Just realized. The laptop is an C2D-era Sony Vaio that came with MS Works pre-installed. That had to have been the upgrade eligible software on the computer that Office 2007 was installed on top of, if that helps any.

 

[Dahak]

Yes Works was one of the qualifying products to allow you to upgrade to Office 2007

 

[oynaz]

That upgrading license mess was when I ran out of patience and went ahead cracked it, I admit.

 

[jaydee]

Thanks guys. Ended up picking MS Works Suite 2001 (yes, you read that right) for $5 on craigslist and got the MS Office upgrade to install. Didn't even have to install Works, MS Office upgrade just asked for the Works disc during the Office install, read it for 5 seconds and told me I was good to go. Somewhat surprised I didn't have to enter a product key, but whatever, it worked!