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"Your installation cannot be activated" error message when you try to activate Office 2007 or Office 2003

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Article ID:826526
Last Review:May 23, 2007
Revision:4.6
For a Microsoft Office XP version of this article, see 300273 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300273/).

SYMPTOMS

When you try to activate a Microsoft Office 2007 suite or Microsoft Office 2003, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
Your installation cannot be activated because you have activated up to the limit for your Product Key. For details about the maximum allowed number of product activations, close this wizard and review the End User License Agreement, available through the Help menu of this application.

If you believe that you are getting this message in error, click Back and choose the telephone option. The telephone activation system will provide you the opportunity to speak with a support representative about all activation issues.

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CAUSE

This behavior may occur if you installed an Original Equipment Manufacturer's (OEM) copy of Office, and you already installed and activated the same OEM copy on another computer. OEM copies of Office 2007 or Office 2003 can only be activated on a single computer.

Note You can remove and then reinstall Office by using the same product key on one computer successfully.

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MORE INFORMATION

For more information about how to activate your Microsoft product, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/trial/activate.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/office/trial/activate.mspx)

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APPLIES TO
•Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
•Microsoft Office Access 2003
•Microsoft Office Excel 2003
•Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
•Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
•Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
•Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
•Microsoft Office Word 2003
•Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
•Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
•Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
•Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
•Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
•Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003
•Microsoft Office Basic 2007
•Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
•Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
•Microsoft Office Professional 2007
•Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
•Microsoft Office Standard 2007
•Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
•Microsoft Office Word 2007
•Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
•Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2007
•Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
•Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
•Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007
•Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
•Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
•Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
•Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
•Microsoft Office Excel 2007
•Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
•Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

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Keywords: 
kbactivation kberrmsg kbprb KB826526

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