Migrating Office 2011 to a new Mac

[danielk123]

Hi,

Please move this post to the correct section if it's not in the right place... I hope someone can assist me here.

I'm attempting to move the Office 2011 license from an old Mac to a new one. I have followed these instructions: https://cwl.cc/2012/02/easy-way-to-move-microsoft-office-2011-mac.html as we do not have the key to hand but sadly it is not working.

Does anyone have any idea how we can achieve this move? After following the steps in the link above, all we get is is the activate key page when loading up any Office program.

Is there a way to extract the key from the old Mac?

Cheers.

 

[pm-r]

Is there a way to extract the key from the old Mac?

Not from what I've read here and other similar forums, but I don't know about any "hack sites",

As far as I know, one needs the registration serial key even when cloning to a new replacement drive from what I've read.

Try Apple's Pages.app or some of the MS Office replacement apps instead maybe???

PS: Did you notice or do as one commenter mentioned at that site?:

Mark Brooks
THANK YOU, WORKED A TREAT, EVERYTHING WENT AS DESCRIBED. Needed to authenticate each of the changes each time, but not an issue. Great tip

- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums Daniel.

Unfortunately, without the product key your copy of MS Office will be unuseable on the new machine. I do not know of any software that can extract the key from your old Mac as the key is encrypted during the initial installation of Office.

You might want to consider using a third party Office suite instead. Open Office and Libre Office are generally good choices since both are free. There is also Softmaker Office which is almost identical to MS Office but it is not free. However, they do have a trial version you can test with for 30 days.

There is also Pages, Keynote, and Numbers which are free from Apple but may not be compatible depending on your needs. As a reminder, MS Office 2011 is no longer supported by MS and will only continue to work with your Mac for the next year. After macOS Mojave, MS Office 2011 will no longer work as it is a 32 bit app. Apple is phasing out all 32 bit apps.

 

[chscag]

PS: Did you notice or do as one commenter mentioned at that site?:

It appears that bit of trickery works for some and not others. The OP can certainly give it a try first.

We tell folks not to lose their product keys or original packaging. MS Office 2011 came packaged on a CD with the product key included in the package sleeve. I still have mine (but I never throw anything away)

 

[pm-r]

It appears that bit of trickery works for some and not others. The OP can certainly give it a try first.

One thing to check as I recall, the installed path MUST BE as follows: Macintosh HD\Applications\Microsoft Office 2011

Also, maybe try giving MS Customer Support a call and they just might be able to help you with your problem.

Many sights suggest the same thing and some had success if you want to check some of them:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...rom+an+old+Mac+to+a+new+one&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8






- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

Also, maybe try giving MS Customer Support a call and they just might be able to help you with your problem.

LOL, that would be like calling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and telling them that you can't pay your taxes this year because you're broke.

 

[pm-r]

LOL, that would be like calling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and telling them that you can't pay your taxes this year because you're broke.

One never knows until they try.





- Patrick
======

 

[harryb2448]

One does know Patrick.

Microsoft Aus. would not even discuss a Windows 7 Ultimate install problem I had because I purchased the software from Microsoft Singapore whilst in that country.

 

[Cr00zng]

LOL, that would be like calling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and telling them that you can't pay your taxes this year because you're broke.

Actually, calling MS with licensing issue isn't that bad. Back in the days when I was in IT and attended IT conferences, MS had gave me Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit version DVD when it first came out. Since I new that the DVD includes the 64-bit version of the same, I've installed that and of course the license key did not work. The error message had a phone number that I called, explained the circumstances, got a 64-bit license key and activated my installation with no problem. The whole thing didn't take longer than ten minutes...

Back to the subject at hand...

Daniel, do you have access to the old system/drive? You could try copying the following file:

FROM: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist
TO: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist

Just make sure that the date of the file do not change. Since this file is encrypted, there's no product key finder apps out there, at least to my knowledge.

Microsoft will not help you. Support for MS Office 2011 ended on October 10, 2017 and as such, not even security patches are available for this version....

 

[Cr00zng]

As a reminder, MS Office 2011 is no longer supported by MS and will only continue to work with your Mac for the next year. After macOS Mojave, MS Office 2011 will no longer work as it is a 32 bit app. Apple is phasing out all 32 bit apps.

Thanks for the reminder...

My "old" late 2013 MacBook may not even be supported by macOS Mojave and even if it does, there's an option for not updating. How long Apple provides security patches for macOS that one or to generation back?

 

[pm-r]

You could try copying the following file:

Code:
FROM: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist
TO: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist

Hmmm…??? I don't think that's going to move anything very far.





- Patrick
======

 

[Cr00zng]

Hmmm…??? I don't think that's going to move anything very far.





- Patrick
======

Maybe not, but what's there to loose at this point?

I've checked my version of MS Office 2011 and the "...plist" file can be copied without changing the installation date on the same machine, but did not test on others. I know people who did this and they made it work...

 

[pm-r]

Maybe not, but what's there to loose at this point?

A waste of time from the file's directory path that was provided — they were exactly the same!!! So it ain't going nowhere I'd say.





- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

A waste of time from the file's directory path that was provided — they were exactly the same!!! So it ain't going nowhere I'd say.

- Patrick
======

Obviously Patrick, member "Cr00zng" is referring to two different Macs.. old and new as the OP has asked.

 

[pm-r]

Obviously Patrick, member "Cr00zng" is referring to two different Macs.. old and new as the OP has asked.

Oh right, thanks Charlie. I guess I missed that fact.

But I'd doubt if that would help if a CCC clone doesn't even help or work. But one never knows eh…???

I think MS uses a buried drive ID with their registered installs. And it will be encoded like the registration number for sure.

I'd still suggest a phone call to MS support. Hey, they might even get an old disgruntled IRS support person that could help them out. ;-)





- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

I think MS uses a buried drive ID with their registered installs. And it will be encoded like the registration number for sure.

Quite right. That could be a show stopper even when copying the plist files from one Mac to the other. If MS Office detects hardware changes, it will display the activation wizard. I'm not sure if the activation wizard asks for the product id but I think it does.

When I moved MS Office 2011 from my 2013 iMac to my now 2017 iMac, the activation wizard did pop up and I believe I had to enter the product id. However, my copy of MS Office 2011 is the 3x install version so I'm not sure if it was just activating a second copy or transferring the first. I had completely removed everything from the 2013 iMac as per Apple's instructions before I gave it to my Son.

 

[danielk123]

It appears that bit of trickery works for some and not others. The OP can certainly give it a try first.

We tell folks not to lose their product keys or original packaging. MS Office 2011 came packaged on a CD with the product key included in the package sleeve. I still have mine (but I never throw anything away)

Hi, thanks for your comment, I have indeed authenticated the files, when you move the files onto the new machine it asks you to authenticate using the username/password for the computer so really it's more to just authorise moving system files I assume...

- - - Updated - - -

One thing to check as I recall, the installed path MUST BE as follows: Macintosh HD\Applications\Microsoft Office 2011

Also, maybe try giving MS Customer Support a call and they just might be able to help you with your problem.

Many sights suggest the same thing and some had success if you want to check some of them:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...rom+an+old+Mac+to+a+new+one&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8






- Patrick
======

Hi, thanks for your comment, I have indeed tried the method most of them state.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually, calling MS with licensing issue isn't that bad. Back in the days when I was in IT and attended IT conferences, MS had gave me Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit version DVD when it first came out. Since I new that the DVD includes the 64-bit version of the same, I've installed that and of course the license key did not work. The error message had a phone number that I called, explained the circumstances, got a 64-bit license key and activated my installation with no problem. The whole thing didn't take longer than ten minutes...

Back to the subject at hand...

Daniel, do you have access to the old system/drive? You could try copying the following file:

FROM: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist
TO: /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist

Just make sure that the date of the file do not change. Since this file is encrypted, there's no product key finder apps out there, at least to my knowledge.

Microsoft will not help you. Support for MS Office 2011 ended on October 10, 2017 and as such, not even security patches are available for this version....

Hi, thanks for your comment, yes this is the method I've tried.

 

[danielk123]

Hi all,

Thanks for your input. From what I can gather there's no genuine way aside from moving the files over and that seems to be hit or miss... I would attempt to use a 3rd party software but the job involves a work enviroment, I personally would be happy to try them in my own set up but I wouldn't feel comfortable using tools like those in a work enviroment, it's not worth the risk for me if anything goes wrong. Rather tell them to purchase Office again!!

I will contact Ms for assistance and see if they can help at all.

Once again, thanks for all your input.

 

[danielk123]

Spoke to MS and they'#ve said if you don't have the license then you're on your own. Expected!

 

[chscag]

Spoke to MS and they'#ve said if you don't have the license then you're on your own. Expected!

So what's new? Like I said above, it's like calling the IRS. ;D