MacOFFX: You Cannot Install or Use Multiple Copies of Office X for Mac

If you try to run one copy of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac on your desktop computer and another copy on your laptop at the same time, and both copies are networked together, you receive one of the following error messages when the second instance of Microsoft Office X starts where <Name> is the Macintosh Operating System X (Mac OS X) user name that is running the first copy of Microsoft Office X.

This behavior occurs if you install two copies of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac on two different computers that are on the same network, with the same product key, and one or both copies have not been updated to the Microsoft Office v. X for Mac Service Release 1 (SR-1).

To run two copies of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac on different networked computers, both copies of the product must be updated to the Microsoft Office v. X for Mac SR-1 version. Follow these steps to determine if Office v. X for Mac SR-1 is already installed on either copy of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac:

1. Start Microsoft Word X for Mac.
2. In the Project Gallery, create a blank document.
3. On the Word menu, click About Word.

If this copy of Microsoft Office v. X for Mac has Office v. X for Mac SR-1 installed, the following text appears in the About Word dialog box under the Office X logo: To resolve this behavior, download and install the Microsoft Office v. X for Mac SR-1 file. For additional information about how to download and install the Microsoft Office v. X for Mac SR-1 file, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: