Lost my Office 2003 cd...

I was just getting all my cd's together so that when I get vista tomorrow I will be ready to load them and cannot find my Office 2003 CD.. Looked for hours and im afraid someone may have thrown it out. Since its still on my laptop can I load it onto my external and load it back on when I have vista installed?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Do you still have your Product Key?

 

Yes I do have the key

 

There are a few things you can do, But that depends on what you're planning to do with Vista when you get it.

Will you be:
a) clean install
b) upgrade
c) dual-booting

You should be able to move the files on and off the external, although that will affect your registry for the office suite, although I believe that will not affect its ability to run (if im wrong, someone please correct)

Or you could also just re-download the Installation exe off the web and reinstall it using your key.

 

I will be doing a clean install

 

Do you think there is a way I can burn this to a cd or dvd and have it be how it was originally on the disk?

 

you can not do that because you will also need the setup files which are on the cd but not copied to the hard disk during install. but if you can find another office 2003 and enter your serial number during install, you will still have a registered software.

 

I was thinking that copying the data from program files onto the external and then copying the short-cuts onto it. Then with vista installed put everything were it was on Xp. Do you think this would work?

 

how about 2007??? that is better than 2003... want to have it??? send me a Postcard Mail...LOL...

 

I find it rather humerous that Microsoft itself provides the program needed to bypass it's own OGA (Office Geniune Advantage). Not trying to hyjack the thread just Microsoft touts their Geniune Advantage as a cure all for piracy but that's a laugher.

 

You could download a trial of 2003 from Microsoft, and then convert that with your key, but they might have taken that down with 2007 being released. A brief look around the Office website didn't find it, but maybe it's still there somewhere. If nothing else you could get yourself a trial of 2007 to use temporarily while you track down a CD for 03.

The "copy to external then back" will work for some programs but I really doubt it will work for Office.

 

Would you be so kind as to enlighten the rest of us on this software? Surely discussing what MS released isn't illgeal.

 

darn i just had deleted an old 2003 trial i found in a saved folder. I use 2007, love it, so i didnt need the trial anymore.

 

Why not just call MS and ask to have a replacement disc shipped at your expense? Last time I checked you could still do that if you paid a fee and read off the whole serial sticker...

 

This sounds legal

 

The only think I will say is that you need MGADiag.exe. The "bypass" so-to-speak is a continuation of something Microsoft patched last year. I don't condone software piracy. If you like a program enough, buy it. The reason I tinkered with 2007 is because I purchased Office 2007 academic and wanted it on my desktop and laptop. Please no one PM me about it because I won't reply.

Back on topic a little. I had both 2003 and 2007 on my computer because I wasn't sure if I really wanted 2007 on my laptop. I uninstalled 2003 and my OE started spell checking in French...lol Seems when you uninstall 2003 it takes the English dictionary with it. You have to install 2003's dictionary in order to fix it. OE kept telling me "the" was spelled wrong...lol

 

I agree software piracy is bad, but post/talking about possible crack published by MS is simply fun and entertaining. It just shows how incompetent the management at MS is. They published a hack to bypass their own anti-piracy measure. Since MS only publishes "legal and legitimate" software, can I assume that this is so? Anyways, for more information about the hack, Google it.

 

Exactly, let's not discuss any hacks here, Google that kind of thing as we won't allow further discussion of it here.

The original poster simply asked about getting a disk for 2003 if he has the product key and I think that question has been pretty well answered.