People refer to it as an activation key, product key, and license key. It is essential to know your product license before activation. The product license can be viewed on the “Systems” page which can be accessed in the “Control Panel”. The product license indicates that the product is licensed and warrants its use.
Ways to find your product license
There are two ways to find your product license:
- The product license in software usually comes with its retail package. It can be found through a physical DVD copy of the software or through a website when you download the software.
- All volume license software is free through the Microsoft Volume Licensing website.
Once you have logged in to the website, the Windows Live ID is identified with the email address you gave us when you purchase the software. The website will provide you with options on your software download that include download rights, how to manage your licenses, obtain the license key, and so on. Windows tries to verify the authenticity of the product license through its activation. To validate the product in relation to its license, an installation identifier is generated. Once it is generated, the license key enables you to activate your product.
Many customers, however, are wondering how long the duration of their license is or how long will they be able to use it. As it is an essential requirement for product activation, most customers would associate it with a definite period of time that would allow its use after the product has been activated. Of course, when buying Office products, it is necessary to look into the type of license you have, like, perhaps, if it would allow you to transfer software to another computer.
A traditional disc product can actually be transferred to another computer or if the PC user upgrades to a new computer or whenever its owner decides to sell it to another person. All the products we sell have its own license to allow its use.
Things to remember when it comes to your product license
There are some things to remember when it comes to your product license:
- The license that comes with your purchase is good for a lifetime. That means it is a perpetual license and warrants your use to the product, unless you decide to change to a new version or software. Once you paid for it and it has been downloaded to your computer, you have all the right to use it, even downgrade it to an earlier version. Every Microsoft product allows downgrades as the product goes with its previous version.
- There is a certain limitation when it comes to downgrades. Microsoft allows downgrades only between versions and editions to its previous versions of the same edition but not with an entirely different edition of a software package, like when downgrading from Office 2010 Pro Plus to Office 2007 Profession, not on the 2007 Standard Edition. Basically, a new product has no downgrade rights since it was not present in the previous edition.
- Only one license is good for one version. In other words, you cannot run both MS Office 2007 and MS Office 2010 at the same time since each of them has their own downgrade rights. When checking on the Volume Licensing website, you will be able to view downloads of the current version of a product, as well as its most recent version to which you have the right to download. In addition, if you have the media (CD or DVD) to the previous versions of a licensed product, you can downgrade your current version to previous ones.
There may be instances, however, when you receive an error message saying your license is “Invalid”. Some possible causes may be an expired subscription or some installation problems such as your memory footprint that can go over its limit aside from the memory already in the system. In this case, it will be terminated automatically by Windows. The memory can, however, be expanded, and you can move up from a 32-bit environment to a 64-bit system.
Normally, an Open Business license agreement is good for two years with an Open Value licensing agreement. This is, however, renewable. Prior to its termination, you will receive notification from Microsoft to renew your license at least 45. When the agreement expires, a 30-day grace period will be given to renew the Open Value agreement and a 90-day grace period for the Open Business agreement.
A word of caution: do not wait for the grace period to expire; otherwise, you cannot renew your product license, and you need to get a new agreement. The software product you purchased has a perpetual subscription license, so it does not expire. You can continuously use the product for as long as you want to. This, we can guarantee to all our customers.
SoftwareKeep can answer all your software questions
Maintaining your software can be a struggle at times. That’s why you need to purchase your software at SoftwareKeep, where we have experts who can help you with all your purchasing, installing, and troubleshooting needs. We also offer the lowest prices anywhere on the web on all our software. When you are looking to upgrade Windows or else buy a new version of Office, SoftwareKeep is the best place to do it.
Visit our website at SoftwareKeep today or contact us to find out more.