Article ID: 280649 - Last Review: December 4, 2007 - Revision: 1.5

Activate Product menu item remains after you activate the Office XP license

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This article was previously published under Q280649

SYMPTOMS

After you install Microsoft Office XP and activate the license, the Activate Product menu item unexpectedly remains on the Microsoft Office Tools menu (click Start and point to Programs).

When you click Activate Product, you receive the following message:

This product has already been activated.

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs if either of the following conditions are true:

You install a Select or an Enterprise version of Office XP, neither of which requires activation of the license.

-or-
You install a Retail version of Office XP, which includes a license, and have already activated the license.

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WORKAROUND

To remove the Activate Product item from the Microsoft Office Tools menu, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then right-click Activate Product.
On the shortcut menu that appears, click Delete.
In the Confirm Shortcut Delete dialog box, click Yes.

Notice that Activate Product no longer appears on the Microsoft Office Tools menu.

To remove Activate Product from the Help menu, follow these steps:

Start the Microsoft Office program that you want.
On the Tools menu, click Customize.
While the Customize dialog box is open, click Help, click Activate Product, and then drag the Activate Product icon to the document window.
In the Customize dialog box, click Close.

Notice that Activate Product no longer appears on the Help menu.

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MORE INFORMATION

The Activate Product menu item also appears when Office XP is installed over a network.

Unless you remove it, Activate Product appears on the Help menu of any Office XP program.

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