3 Product Keys?

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I bought a refurbished IBM computer recently.
From time to time it asks for a 25 digit product key, and tells me I can do that later.

The computer has 2 product keys on the side -

the first is
Microsoft XP Professional

and right next to that is a product key for
Microsoft XP Pro Refurbished PC

these product keys are not identical.

Microsoft accepted the product key for MS XP Pro Refurbished PC.

So I thought I was all set and inserted the installation disk for
Office Home and Student 2007
- this has yet another product key, which the Installation Wizard accepted.

So now I'm sailing, right? Except that when I try to open word,
it asks for a 25-digit product key. It tells me I can do that later if I want.

I entered all 3 product keys (separately) and it won't accept any of them.

What to do, please?

Your copy of Microsoft Office should also have another 25 digit key of it's own.

Failing that there is always Open Office which is free
http://www.openoffice.org/

To find the product key go to Run in your start menu, type in regedit, this will open the registry
editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
The correct key should be listed under ProductId, write the number down in case the numbers
on your PC are wrong

My GUESS would be that if the office installer accepted the office key, and later it is asking for the key again but now not accepting it --- possibly after you did some windows / microsoft updates? The key has already been used to activate in the past, or blacklisted.

If you believe the key is legit, you can call microsoft - they should be able to get you going.

There is usually a phone number where they key validity sticker is - or in the dialog asking you for the key.

Ok, one possibility with the office issue -- if office or part of office was already installed before you installed the student version, it may be that part of it (outlook) is a different type -- for example, maybe they had office OEM, retail or corp installed.

What might work, but you have to be careful -- is to un-install all the office stuff you can find - hopefully you would find more that one thing when you go to control panel - add remove programs. Then, with no trace of office under the start menu, if you were to re-install the student version, I would think it should accept the number and everything should be OK.

The reason I say be careful is I am not sure what happens with the fact that you already entered the license number. I am not sure if you are able to revoke it before your un-install or if you are ok to re-use it. You need to find that out first I think.