Installation considerations for the Office XP Trial version

When you install the Office XP Professional Trial version, you have the option of either keeping or removing any earlier version of Office. If you choose to remove an earlier version of Office but want the option of using that version at a later time, you must have the installation source for that earlier version available (for example, the installation CD-ROMs). Before you reinstall your earlier Office version, you must uninstall the trial version.

This article outlines some of the considerations that need to be made before you install the Microsoft Office XP Trial version.

Office XP Installation Removes Earlier Version by Default

By default, when you install the Office XP Trial version, the Upgrade Now option is selected in the Choose the type of installation you need dialog box. If you use the Upgrade Now option, your earlier Office installation is removed from your computer.

If you mistakenly removed your earlier Office version, do not install your earlier Office version after you install the Office XP Trial version. You should always install the latest version of Office last. So, in this situation, you must do the following:

1. Uninstall the Office XP Trial version.
2. Install your earlier Office version.
3. Install the Office XP Trial version by using the steps outlined in the "Keeping a Previous Office Version Along with Office XP" section of this article.

Activate the Office XP Trial Version

When you start any of the Office XP programs for the first time after you install Office, the Microsoft Office Activation Wizard automatically runs. You are presented with one activation option, or you can choose to activate Office at a later time: If you select the Activate by using the Internet option, the Office Activation Wizard automatically contacts the Microsoft licensing servers through your Internet connection. If you are using a valid product key that has not been used previously, your product is activated immediately.

After you activate your product, you have a license to use Office XP for a period of 30 days.

You can run Office up to five times without activating it. If you fail to activate the product, the programs begin running in reduced-functionality mode. In reduced-functionality mode, you cannot save modifications to documents or create a new document, and additional functionality may be reduced.

For more information about how to activate an Office XP Trial license, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the Office Activation Wizard and reduced-functionality mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Keep an Earlier Office Version Along with Office XP

If you want to keep your earlier Office version installed when you install the Office XP Trial version, follow these steps:

1. Run Setup for the Office XP Trial version.
2. In the Choose the type of installation you need dialog box, click Custom and then click Next.
3. In the Choose which applications for setup to install dialog box, clear the check boxes for any Office XP programs that you do not want to install. Click Next.
4. In the Remove previous versions of Office applications dialog box, select the Remove only the following applications option, and then clear the check box for each earlier Office version program that you want to keep. If you do not have an earlier version of Outlook installed, you can instead select the Keep all previous versions option.
   
   NOTE: If you have an earlier version of Outlook installed, you may not see the Keep all previous versions option, and the Microsoft Outlook check box under the Remove only the following applications option may be selected but appear shaded. This occurs if you are attempting to install Outlook 2002 as part of the Office XP Trial version. Because you can only have one version of Outlook on your computer at one time, the earlier version of Outlook is automatically removed.
5. Click Next.
6. In the Begin installation dialog box, click Install.
7. Click OK when Setup completes successfully.

Office Shortcuts on the Programs Menu

Because Office XP creates shortcuts on the Programs menu whose names are the same as those for earlier Office versions, you must manually re-create the shortcuts for your earlier Office version.

The following steps outline this procedure for Office 2000 programs:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Taskbar & Start Menu.
2. On the Start Menu Programs tab, click Add.
3. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click Browse.
4. Locate and open the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder.
5. Select one of the Office program executable files in the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder (for example, Excel.exe), and then click Open.
6. Click Next in the Create Shortcut dialog box.
7. In the Select Program Folder dialog box, select the Programs folder, and then click New Folder.
8. Type a name for the new folder, and then press ENTER.
9. In the Select a Title for the Program dialog box, type a name for the shortcut. This is the name of the shortcut that will appear on the custom menu item that you created in the previous step. Click Finish.
10. Repeat steps 2 through 9 for each shortcut that you want to create for your earlier Office version programs.
11. To start one of the earlier Office version programs, point to Programs on the Start menu, point to the custom menu that you created in step 8, and then click the shortcut for the program you want to start.

Uninstall the Office XP Trial Version

The Office XP Trial version license is only valid for approximately 30 days from the date of activation. Therefore, you must uninstall the Trial version at some time. The method that you use to uninstall the Office XP Trial version depends on the version of Office that you plan to install after the Trial version is removed from your computer.

Reinstall the Earlier Office Version That Was Removed During the Office XP Trial Installation

If your earlier Office version was removed during the Office XP Trial version installation, you must uninstall the Trial version before you install your earlier Office version. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. In the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, select the Office XP entry (for example, Microsoft Office XP Professional), and then click Add/Remove.
3. In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, select the Uninstall Office option, and then click Next.
4. Click Yes to confirm the uninstall.
5. After the Office XP Trial version is uninstalled, run Setup.exe from your earlier Office version source. This may be on CD-ROM, on a network administrative installation, or on floppy disk (for Office versions 4.2/4.3, 95, and 97).NOTE: If you do not have your original Office source media, please contact the original vendor from which you purchased Microsoft Office.

Repair an Earlier Office Version That Was Not Removed During the Office XP Trial Installation

If you chose to keep your earlier Office version installed when you installed the Office XP Trial version, you may have to repair your earlier Office version installation.

For Office 2000, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. Double-click the Office 2000 entry in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.
3. In the Office Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Repair Office.
4. In the Reinstall or Repair Microsoft Office 2000 dialog box, select Repair errors in my Office installation, and then select the Restore my shortcuts check box.
5. Click Finish.

For Office 97 and Office 95, follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. Then double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. In the list of programs, click the Microsoft Office 97 entry, and then click Add/Remove.
3. In the Microsoft Office 97 Setup dialog box, click Reinstall.

System Files Update

When you install a trial version of an Office XP product on either Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), the System Files Update installation may automatically run during the Office installation. In this situation, after you uninstall the Office XP Trial version, the System Files Update is still listed in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box. This is not a problem, and you can uninstall the System Files Update if you want to. However, if you uninstall the System Files Update, many of the files included with the System Files Update installation are not removed from your computer. The files included with the System Files Update are permanent system files and cannot be uninstalled.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Install a Non-Trial Office XP Version

If you run Setup with a non-trial version of Office XP, and the Office XP trial version is still installed on your computer, you do not have to uninstall the Trial version before you install the non-trial version. When you run Setup with the non-trial version, you receive the following message: If you click OK in the dialog box that displays this message, all pre-release or trial versions of Office XP will be uninstalled. When the pre-release versions or trial versions are uninstalled, the non-trial version of Office XP is automatically started.

NOTE: After the initial activation, this product cannot be reinstalled on the same computer or installed to another computer. Only one activation of the trial version is allowed.