Windows 10: Microsoft Office 2013 too many old computers have same license or Product KEY

Issue I have a copy of 2013 Microsoft Office 2013

It was purchased in 2013 through an employer employee offer

Issue, since 2013 I have had a series of bad luck
Floods ruined several computers
electrical overloads due to lightning strikes burnt out computers and more
computers failed so they were replaced

in each instance I installed Microsfot office on the computer with the supplied product key
well another computer died it was 8 years old replaced it today went to install the product
and now it says I can't I used up all my chances

I called Microsoft no luck as the phone call was disconnected and it think they wanted money

I went to my Microsoft account and there are no licensing options
but I can remove at least one old computer form my account.

HELP!

:)

 

Office 2013 retail is “permanently assigned” to a single computer




There have been some licensing tweaks in the latest retail version of Microsoft Office that users may be surprised by and they are definitely not in your favour. It’s easy to skim through and accept the terms when you install new software but eagle eyed reporter Adam Turner of The Age confirms the drastic changes to the Office 2013 license are real and could impact many buyers who upgrade, refresh or even repair their PC hardware.

When you install your new retail copy of Microsoft Office 2013 on your computer the license is tied to that machine for its life. If your machine goes kaput or you upgrade to a new computer then you can’t reinstall this copy of Office onto the new machine, you’ll have to buy a new copy which will be then tied to that machine. This new license is a lot like the Windows OEM license, but applying it to an application suite rather than an operating system seems far less reasonable. In effect the new Office 2013 retail and OEM licenses are the same.

Here is the key difference in the Microsoft Office 2010 and Office 2013 retail licenses, as highlighted by Hot Hardware:

Office 2010: “One Copy per Device. You may install one copy of the software on one device. That device is the ‘licensed device.’”Office 2013: “One Copy per Device. The software license is permanently assigned to the device with which the software is distributed. That device is the ‘licensed device.’”

The Age reporter suggests that this licensing change is designed to push users from buying Office to subscribing to Office 365. In trying to clear up exactly what rights he had as an installer of a retail copy of Microsoft Office 2013 Turner contacted Microsoft and got the following answer; “A perpetual license of Office 2013 can only be installed on one personal computer. This means that the customer can only install it on one device, either a desktop or laptop, but not both. If the customer has a system crash, they are allowed to reinstall Office on that same computer. If there are problems with this process, customers can contact Microsoft technical support.” A later communication from Microsoft’s PR department added “No, the customer cannot transfer the license from one PC to another PC.”

So it seems like “upgrading” to Office 2013 will downgrade your license to be equivalent to an OEM one, the same is true for new buyers of retail Office 2013. However the situation remains a little unclear and Turner is still waiting for more precise answers to his queries about various circumstances when you might need to re-install Office.

When we looked at the latest Office release it was noticed that Microsoft had been a bit stingy and whereas with the 2010 edition there were 3-user home licenses available, the 2013 edition only had single-user home versions on offer. Meanwhile there are many other office productivity suites available, several of them for free, including the excellent LibreOffice 4.0 launched last week.

Office 2013 retail is “permanently assigned” to a single computer

 

Office 2013 retail is “permanently assigned” to a single computer

Here's an update to the policy, which Microsoft probably made after reading this thread (because TPU is tops on their list *Smile ):

Office News Blog

 

How to recover lost Microsoft Office 2013 Product Key after Windows 10 Reset PC

Although the Windows Lost Product Key question has been asked before, this is slightly different.
I did 'Reset this PC' from Windows 10 Recovery without taking a backup of the system or files. All my files were safe but the Licensed Microsoft Office 2013 was removed. I have unfortunately misplaced the MS Office 2013 Student and Home product box. I have also checked with Windows Helpdesk if any of my emails are associated with the MS Office and the Microsoft Account; sadly, none are.

I read that that the 'Reset' cleans the registry and removes the apps. I am thinking of two ways to try and find the key

1. Use all the Free Key finders around then buy a paid one if they don't work
   
2. Use Recuva or a similar tool to try and recover the deleted old Windows Registry files
   

Has anyone faced a similar issue or can you think of an alternate way to try and get the Key?