certificate of authenticity/product id problem

I have a Dell Inspiron 7500 purchased appx. 3 years ago. Last night, after attempting to download updates to my McAfee anti-virus software it crashed and my OS wouldn't load. I have Windows 98 Second Edition. After several unsuccessful attempts, I used the Dell Product Recovery CD to re-install the OS. In the process, I appear to have wiped out the MS Office 2000 Professional that was pre-installed on the computer. I didn't think this was a problem because I have the MS CD's that were sent with the computer. However, when I try to re-install the program, I am prompted for the product id. The only product id I have is the one on the bottom of the computer that is for the Windows 98 OS. I have no documentation whatsoever for the MS Office software. I either didn't receive any or I lost it. All I have is the white paper "envelopes" the CD's came in and they don't have any numbers on them. Is there any way to find the product id number for the MS Office software so I can install it? If not, is there a way to install it without the id number?

 

Without the proper key there is no real way to install it, at least not legally and we don't give advice on how to circumvent copy protection schemes here. Personally, you could try explaining what happened to both dell and microsoft and one of them might be able to assist you. Sometimes I believe microsoft will give you another key if they can verify you have origional disks.