Office 2010 activation on Windows 11; recent info or likely issues?

Fishmill · Nov 30, 2023

Hello everyone:

First post here and hope you can help.

I will be doing a major PC overhaul within 2 weeks and trying to anticipate issues around Office 2010 activation.

I have a totally legit 3 license retail package of Office 2010 Home and Student in original DVD form; SKU 79G-02144; purchased from B and H circa 2013. I also have the associated EXE files that are 600 plus GB in size as well as service packs 1 and 2. Both 32 bit and 64 bit.

I have a single PC household and have used only 1 of those 3 licenses and it's now fully activated on Win 10 Pro.

I have never installed Windows 11 before either, but will be using the latest version of 23H2. Professional edition. Clean install, using either standard USB stick method from Media Creation Tool. Or maybe using Rufus installer.

I've done hours of research and am led to believe I will likely be refused Office 2010 online activation and will be forced to phone activation via 866-421-7141, which is still a published number on the MS website.

Supposedly, that number will give you a long code (54 characters in 9 segments) to enter at the keyboard and if you respond correctly, it will lead to immediate activation.

How to Activate Microsoft Office 2010: Online and By Phone

I gather that 2010 works fine, but I can't find recent info on the activation process. I'm not sure if that phone number leads to a robot or an actual human.

Is that likely what I will be faced with as of December 2023?

Any snares or complications I need to know about regarding Office 2010 activation?

OAT · Nov 30, 2023

Hello & welcome to the forum.
It looks like you have done your homework.

Of course, you will have to make sure to install the 64 bit version of Office 2010.
I must ask; I paid about 30 bucks for Office 2021 Pro, wouldn't that be easier?

Fishmill · Nov 30, 2023

OAT:

Thanks for the reply.

Re: 64 bit. I was grazing MS Office site in the last few days and still saw recommendations for 32 bit, saying something to the effect that 32 bit may be more compatible with certain unnamed applications/websites/whatever.

I have no idea how accurate that is and was a bit surprised to read that.

I have 32 bit Office 2010 installed for the last 10 years without issues. I don't do anything remarkable or complicated with Office.....some macros and conditional formatting in Excel; ordinary Word user.

64 bit could work fine. Dunno. Maybe has advantages in my use case. Dunno. Or could introduce complications. Dunno.

Re Office 2021. I'll buy Home and Student 2021 as a last resort, if 2010 activation is simply not possible...which remains to be seen thus my post. It's 150 at MS web site; 110 at Amazon; lower elsewhere.

I see more than a fair share of complaining about the download and activation process for 2021 as well.....but I won't be concerned with that until and unless I can't get 2010 going.

I refuse anything subscription-based, so 365 is a no-go.

neemobeer · Nov 30, 2023

Office 2010 went end of life in 2020, activation services may not even be available anymore.

Bree · Nov 30, 2023

Fishmill said:
I've done hours of research and am led to believe I will likely be refused Office 2010 online activation and will be forced to phone activation....

I installed Office Pro 2010 in Windows 11 22H2 back in May this year, it activated online.

Fishmill · Nov 30, 2023

Bree said:
I installed Office Pro 2010 in Windows 11 22H2 back in May this year, it activated online.

Good to see you in this thread, Bree. I well recall you from years back on 10 forum.

Yeah, I remain confused. Doesn't surprise me that different people have different results. I may have zero problems or I may be in major trouble.

I'd like to know about activation on 23 H2, but recent info on Office 2010 activation is not plentiful.

What would you have done if you had been refused with your May online activation?

Bree · Nov 30, 2023

Fishmill said:
Good to see you in this thread, Bree. I well recall you from years back on 10 forum.

Thanks, been here since the first Insider build of 11 in June 2021. I'm on 7 and 8 Forums too - but they're a bit quiet these days :wink:

I don't see a 'Fishmill' on 10F, do you go by another name there?

Fishmill said:
Yeah, I remain confused. Doesn't surprise me that different people have different results. I may have zero problems or I may be in major trouble.

I'd like to know about activation on 23 H2, but recent info on Office 2010 activation is not plentiful.

What would you have done if you had been refused with your May online activation?

22H2 and 23H2 are basically the same thing and both have all the new features now. The step from 22H2 to 23H2 is done by a small enablement package that does little more than change the build shown in Winver from 22621, 22H2 up to 22635, 23H2. It should make no difference to any activations.

I suppose I would have tried the automated phone activation. It should still work, it did when I needed to activate an install of Windows 7 in a VM last year.

Fishmill · Nov 30, 2023

Bree said:
I don't see a 'Fishmill' on 10F, do you go by another name there?

I suppose I would have tried the automated phone activation. It should still work, it did when I needed to activate an install of Windows 7 in a VM last year.

I haven't been on 10 forums in several years, and that was under another name.

I hope to get recent info on Office 2010 activation hell, if any. If not, I'll be the guinea pig and try to report later.

My new hardware supposedly arrives next Thursday from Amazon if it survives the Xmas crush. Sprang (sprung?) for a 13600K for 270 Yankee dollars. Resistance was futile, but I have not upgraded since 2016 so I humor myself with "I need it" even though the 6600K machine is still flawless.

Bree · Nov 30, 2023

Fishmill said:
Resistance was futile, but I have not upgraded since 2016 so I humor myself with "I need it" even though the 6600K machine is still flawless.

I know that feeling - just look at my growing collection of laptops. I can resist anything except temptation. :lmao:

You know that there are workaround to install Window 11 on unsupported devices? 11 will run on almost anything, no matter how low its specs.

Fishmill · Nov 30, 2023

Bree said:
You know that there are workaround to install Window 11 on unsupported devices? 11 will run on almost anything, no matter how low its specs.

Yes, I am aware of that..........problem is I am quite reluctant to seriously fiddle with my primary PC. I haven't done a Windows install since 2016 and haven't had any need to.

For practical purposes, I have exactly one computer of any type and I don't want to risk the possible downtime if it is unavailable for whatever reason, so I don't volunteer for issues....even if believed to be unlikely. I can live easily live with hours of downtime but several days would be a major problem. I do keep Macrium backups, but heart rate increases every time I start a restore.

I say "for practical purposes" because I do in fact have an antique i5-2500 Windows 7 PC in the closet. I keep it purely for those hours when my primary PC is unavailable. That hasn't happened since my 2016 move to a 6600K. The only reason I would even start it up would be to order replacement parts online for my primary machine....which has refused to fail.

I'm not anxious about the Windows 11 install, but do dread the software installs and configs to follow---mostly surrounding the first few hours of getting online, activated, and with Office installed and Firefox sobered up.

I'll probably first try Rufus 4.3. I've got a USB stick made with most of the Rufus customizations authorized.....privacy, local account, etc.

Dru2 · Dec 4, 2023

OAT said:
Of course, you will have to make sure to install the 64 bit version of Office 2010.

FYI, you do NOT have to install the 64-bit version of Office products. In fact, in some instances Microsoft recommends you stick with 32-bit for compatibly with certain add-ins ... Choose between the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Office - Microsoft Support

For Office 365, the default install is 64-bit, but you can choose 32bit if you like. Point is you can run Office 32-bit on a 64bit exclusive OS

That said, on my system I run the 64-bit version of Office 365 because I don't use many plug-ins, or any plug-in that's 32-bit exclusive.

Just FYI

MisterEd · Dec 4, 2023

I just activated Office Professional 2010 (32-bit) over the Internet. Note this is an very old computer (2006) with Windows 10 Pro (32-bit). The computer only has a 32-bit CPU so 32-bit Windows and Office were required.

Berton · Dec 4, 2023

I have Office 2000 on a Win11 Notebook and Office 2013 on a Win11 Desktop, no issues with them but I did a custom install to leave out the Office 2000 Outlook as I don't need it and I had seen issues mentioned about its age.

Bree · Dec 4, 2023

MisterEd said:
I just activated Office Professional 2010 (32-bit) over the Internet. Note this is an very old computer (2006) with Windows 10 Pro (32-bit). The computer only has a 32-bit CPU so 32-bit Windows and Office were required.

If you turn on 'Receive updates for other Microsoft products' you should get SP2 through Windows Update, I did when I installed Office 2010 earlier this year.

MisterEd · Dec 4, 2023

Bree said:
If you turn on 'Receive updates for other Microsoft products' you should get SP2 through Windows Update, I did when I installed Office 2010 earlier this year.

View attachment 80006 View attachment 80008

I have SP2: officesp2010-kb2687455-fullfile-x86-en-us.exe. I haven't got around to installing it.

Bree · Dec 4, 2023

MisterEd said:
I have SP2: officesp2010-kb2687455-fullfile-x86-en-us.exe. I haven't got around to installing it.

As I said, Windows Update would be quite happy to do it for you :wink:

ProgEngi · Dec 5, 2023

Installed Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 64-bit, Project, and Visio on W11 23H2 (Local Account)

After installation of each of above on pop-up window selected Install Updates that opened Edge offering Skype for Business installation and Signing with Microsoft Account

Manually Updated

Opened Word – File > Help found already activated checked Project and Visio and found already activated too

Folks – don’t know why all had to activate via phone call?

Try3 · Dec 5, 2023

Fishmill said:
I will likely be refused Office 2010 online activation

I recently installed Office 2007 in Windows 11 and I was able to do a simple online activation.
So I expect you'll be able to do the same.

OAT said:
you will have to make sure to install the 64 bit version of Office 2010

I disagree with OAT.
I see no reason why you would be constrained to install the 64 bit version.
You might choose to install the x64 version but I think you can choose 32 bit or 64 bit as you desire.

Best of luck,
Denis

Scott · Dec 5, 2023

Try3 said:
I recently installed Office 2007 in Windows 11 and I was able to do a simple online activation.

Same here. I just clean installed 23H2 on 11/28 and Office 2007 activated just fine. Windows update found lots of security updates for it.

Berton · Dec 5, 2023

Try3 said:
see no reason why you would be constrained to install the 64 bit version.
You might choose to install the x64 version but I think you can choose 32 bit or 64 bit as you desire.

I have computers with the 64-bit version of Office 2013 installed and a 64-bit Notebook with 32-bit Office 2000 installed. The main take-aways with Office is that Office 2007 changed the file formats signified by the x on the extension of the file names. Office 2000, 2002/XP and 2003 require a Compatibility Pack installed so as to read the Office 2007 and later format. Office 2010 was the first to offer either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. The 64-bit versions of Windows can run the 32-bit versions, signified by the Program Files (x86) folder in C:\. The 32-bit version of Windows cannot run 64-bit programs. Windows 11 is 64-bit only but can run 32-bit programs. The first 64-bit version of Windows was XP Pro. Last I know was all versions of Office could work with files from 97 and later.