You are prompted for the Office CD Key when you try to start Word

When you try to start Word, you are prompted for the Microsoft Office CD Key. After you type the CD Key that appears on the back of the Office CD-ROM case, you receive an error message that says that the CD Key is not valid.

This problem may occur if you install Office 2000 or Office XP on a computer on which a stand-alone version of Word 2000 or Word 2002 is already installed.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps to remove Office and Word, and then reinstall Office. Because Word is part of Office, you do not have to reinstall the stand-alone version of Word.

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. If you are in Classic view, click Switch to Category View under Control Panel in the left pane.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Click Microsoft Office 2000 edition (or Microsoft Office XP edition), where edition is the edition of Office that you installed, and then click Remove.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove Microsoft Office.
6. In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, click the stand-alone version of Word, and then click Remove.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove Word.
8. Close Add or Remove Programs.
9. Reinstall Microsoft Office.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: