OFFICE 2000 Recover keys - is there an app?

Hello all,

I'm tasked with replacing several units at work, these have MS Office 2000 installed, some have office 2000 premium also on the same unit. One install is publisher my guess. These are installed on Windows 2000 O.S

However without knowing which unit has which Cd-key installed i need to know which unit has which Office cd key, so i can replace this on the newer units with the appropriate key after its uninstalled from the older unit. Belarc is no good, magical jellybean nope, produkey not today, winkeyfinder no sir.:cry

Also posted this at;
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?query=2000+premium+office+key&cboDiscussionGroup=en_US_d02fc761-3f6b-402c-82f6-ba1a8875c1a7%3A%3Aen%3A%3A%3A%3A%3A&=Go&dg=&cat=en_US_d02fc761-3f6b-402c-82f6-ba1a8875c1a7&lang=en&cr=&pt=&catlist=&dglist=&ptlist=&exp=&sloc=en-us


Thanks to all whom have read this :wave and a big thankyou to those that take the time to respond. This is a curly one.

 

Try Major Geeks own member's (Matt Chugg) program, Jalapeno Keyfinder 1.06 at http://majorgeeks.com/Keyfinder_Thing_Lite_d5253.html

The one I use. Bazza

 

Dear Halo,

Thanks for your comments yours unfortunately didnt work either..none of them did..

Office 2000 is encrypted and doesnt get read by any of the apps in this post, i tried following Halo's link to microsoft read through the read me copied it and printed then tried using the find in the registry..no good..must have missed something?

Closest one I think potentialy was Everest free although i didnt see an option for office keys..missed something here too?? The paid version of everest may have been more succesful but I.T is way over budget for the year having upgraded 60% of training and 25% of non training units already this year and a new server to boot...please excuse the horrible pun.

I wanted to ask Halo if there were any pearls of wisdom or info on the apparently missed steps unfortunately I havent had enough posts to send an E direct which adds bit more to the frustration factor (ff)...but this is a bit of a nightmare now as far as time goes, as the units are to be sent to training units to replace older ones and its really all thats holding up the training units, and people are starting to spit as they were already itching for the faster units to replace the 8+ year old dinosaurs.

I find it extremly hard to believe in the 8+ years since the Office 2000 launch that no-one has tried this, i appreciate that its an old version and the key is encrypted some-one must have done this previously. Even using the activation number for microsoft?? to get issued new Keys?? havent tried this.

So thanks to all whom have posted todate although I'm still very much in the dark and starting to get ugly looks from people - I'm no longer the local P.C angel, I'm the foul deamon from the burning pits of hell and am starting to hear my flesh sizzle..cry

 

Check out the new version of ProduKey 1.35 from http://www.majorgeeks.com/ProduKey_d4953.html (latest release today).

I can't verify that it will work with Office 2000. :-D Bazza

 

O.K update from some helpful people out there in the ether's,

According to others in the MS office website the key itself isnt installed on the unit...thats a first for an ms product isnt it? mind you the 2000 products over compensated for previous versions 98 etc and the appalling Windows M.E that was about as stable as the last block in a jenga stack before it falls over unless you owned an H.P pc..from what i hear..I tried Windows M.E (Mighty Error not mellenium edition) on an upgrade from 98se to Xp pro but thought i'd try putting m.e in first just for a look (my flatmates old copy over the top of 98se) bsod 4 times in <10 minutes at differnet points after the install..anyway back on topic.

The key would need to be encrypted is my guess, as when i contacted microsoft support and explained the issue, i got some slightly dodgey advice at least in my mind.

P.S Sorry I am unfamiliar with how to close a thread on this site.

The support member (thanks ivan) said that the only time to know if the unit has got a current version of Office 2000 installed is when it comes time to activate it online...well for me that would be impossible as I have seven copies and five units to be replaced out of a larger workgroup and the other office 2000 units are in almost constant use.

As these units are nearly always used, removing the units that need to be replaced all at once and uninstalling all the office off those five to increase the chance of not using an exisiting copy, after saving the usual files, is not an option - to much down time i have to do these one at a time.

What he was suggesting to me sounded like potentially installing another copy that is already installed on another unit, the only time the issue would be apparent was when trying to activate the product. According to Ivan a msg appears at that time saying the key is already in use.

Hmm..After waiting all that time for the install, or even partial install of say only word to see if that would activate, instead of installing the whole suite...

The only absolute way to be sure (potentially?) would be to uninstall every copy, and reinstall again that way there would be no issue with activation..good grief.

I only need to replace five units not the whole workgroup..and then restore all the auto correct dictionary..we know how sensitive people are about loosing these and also outlook settings.

Kudos to the person that finds the algorithm that some how relates the activation key to the cd key if that is indeed how the activation key is generated. You would be a far better geek than me and also have a lot more time on your hands.

Looks like lucky me somehow found the unanswerable...

Necro61 responds to this issue with dismay / disbeliefe not believing that someone didnt encounter this in the last 8 years and there wasnt more info on this or my search must've been to narrow..

To the issue that i cant find anything to read the key..hmmm...let me see my old diabloII character, that is were my sudo name comes from would say "kill them all...raise them from the dead... and kill them again just to make sure! .

To all whom tried the assist thanks again i really appreciated the assists in trying to get through this. I had also posted this on the ms office site under gee38! similar thread / string name.:wave

I have informed management of this situation and am currently waiting further instructions what else can i do?...:cry...see you all on my next post how to slaughter a p.c with office 2000 installed

 

O.K a superior gee-eek! has found the way and to them all the glory goes.. wasnt me by the way, i'm just relaying the info for the next person that encounters this issue.

Following this should get you what you need if, you are looking for the office 2000 CD-key.

1.
open a search menu.
2.
Go to the advanced search feature - below if you can scroll down.
3.
Select the check / tick boxes for the following - search system folders, hidden files and folders, search sub folders.
4.
The search criteria itself = PIDKEY (no = required and not case sensitive)

A couple of plain txt files should appear depending how many products you have, the key appears to be in a msi install folder, but regardless of that, about one third the way down in the plain text file, when opened there will be a line starting with the word
Product and a 25 character no hyphens or spaces also several lines, but still on the same page under that you may see the activation key. Also the version like office premium etc in is the vacinity..

So there was an answer after all, couldn't fathom the logic that it couldn't be retrieved in the first instance...and ms office forum offered several options none that i could get to work, the guy at ms office help phone support..well that was dodgey to me, using the same key potentially twice and hoping it authenticates...i'm sure he meant well.

I'm am so glad / relieved this is sorted i was starting to get as many grey hairs coming through as Santa has on his beard...

Yet again to all those that tried to help, took the time and valiant attempts of finding the answer a big thank you very very much for your support, I can finally move on with the builds and get the training wing of my back, i'm now about to go have a very good weekend indeed. Ciao / bye for now

 

Very Big Whoops,

Quote

"If you take your time and look carefully the youll notice, a series of numerals and alphabet keys, 25 in total on its own line.

In particular these are mso.dll or msi.exe one of these right click on this and open with notepad, then should find the key in here, just look for a series of letters and numbers 25 in total in one long string, no - separates these into groups of 5 within this text."

As an update when i tried this today monday i had no joy as all i could see was code, and not the key.

Turns out the info was from a well meaning someone using windows 2000 and office 2003:cry..so still officaly stuck.

How-ever a nameless, fellow Major Geeker, has imparted some knowledge that may allow me to "potentially" continue. Although i consider it to be a absolute last resort...thankyou to the nameless one for the heads up.