Originally Posted by
ChrisVJ
I had a similar problem recently.
My old computer had an education WORD as I worked for the school board and they installed it. I have now left the board and bought a new computer for similar reasons. (The old one was getting very laggy and the drive sometimes had to be interrogated more than once to get files.)
I bought a copy of 2016 Office. It loaded fine from MS but would not authenticate. Turns out it may have been a "Buy with computer only" copy. When MS Downloader first asks the input key it only checks for version before downloading the files. eg. If the key is a 2016 OFFICE key it will automatically download OFFICE2016. However when you are asked to input the key after downloading in order to authenticate MS checks the key against vendor type and previous use and may then disallow.
After about five weeks of back and forth my vendor offered me a copy of OFFICE 2019 which loaded just fine.
So if you original copy of 2003 was bought with your computer it almost certainly will not authenticate your new installation.
I have used a couple of other programs in which the key only opened the program in my computer and at least one of those has been running on my computers since about 1994 and runs just fine on W10. Sounds as though your problem is that your 2003 interrogates an MS server for authentication which gives them the opportunity to deny it each time you load it.
My problem with my current 2019 download is that it is a license for one particular computer only. If I lose the computer I lose the program. I am not actually buying the intellectual right to use indefinitely across platforms. (It was a lot cheaper though!)
When you finished at the school, they probably would have terminated access to their computing facilities, including authentication to the school VL (volume licence) server, hence your VL copy (the cheaper version that Microsoft sell to your school as a bulk buy) is not authenticating any more. As you are not part of that program, as designed, it has stopped working - you are now inside the terms and conditions that it was originally provided. Licensing of Microsoft software, by design, has been a complex balance between marketing, sales, profits, and technical feasibility. You don't often get something for free! Authentication is done using unique fingerprints collected of your system, including specific unique motherboard, disk drive, and video card identifiers. It allows for change of some of these items to incorporate repairs, upgrades, and replacements, but will usually baulk if they are done all at once.
As well as the risk of bundled malware, a lot of the copies found on eBay, and pirate download sites are also VL versions, and need regular internet connection back to a licensing server to continue to function. Where Microsoft can verify the accompanying serial numbers are not legitimate, they can blacklist them. The other issue is can you trust a licensing server from your friendly pirate software peddler in upper Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Mexico, Pakistan, China, or Russia to keep their licensing server up, reliably, for ever, long after your money has been spent? Do you want to sponsor thieves? Do you want to run the risk of trusting their connection may be compromised, and also compromising your computer by association?
If you don't believe me, have a look in your event viewer log files as to how often your software contacts Microsoft to verify authenticity. You will be astonished! Yes it can be blocked, but like constipation, eventually something will give. A new software update will be released that will make the current authenticity bypass ineffective, and you will get nagged to get a legitimate version. Even some of the current privacy protection software found on the Internetz may keep you computing for a while, but they also have to be constantly updated, and the risks continue.
In the past, in a previous life, where a customer has come in with a computer that could not be economically repaired, I have usually had success with Microsoft telephone tech support in having the authentication tied to a single computer reset where evidence can be provided to confirm original ownership, and transferred to a new computer. In all cases, this is a time consuming exercise, and often the cost alternate of a fresh, legitimate, currently supported version far, far outweighs the time spent on keeping an old one functioning outside the terms it was originally sold for.
Older versions are not supported any more. Any bugs and security exploits are now unpatched. The recent spate of ransomeware can often be traced back to fixes and updates not being applied in a timely fashion. Why make it easy for the digital terrorists?
Is it worth it? Your time, your money!
For most it is an easy choice. Why heck, cost out the time you have spent reading the thirty off posts in this thread in real life money paying a technical support person by the hour, and compare it to buying a legitimate copy outright - that's right, you barely might come out in front!