# Office XP lost product key



## bigpink (Jul 16, 2004)

I purchased a Dell 8200 in 2002 with Windows XP and Office XP, etc. installed by Dell. Recently I had a complete system failure and have had to reinstall my software. I need to reinstall Office XP but have misplaced the product activation key. I have the disk I received from Dell with the machine but no product activation key. There is no Office XP on my machine so I can't use keyfinder to recover the hidden key. 
1. Do I have any options beyond purchasing a new copy of Office XP?
2. I have all of "my document files", etc. reinstalled. If I have to pourchase the 2004 edition of Office XP will they be compatible with my Office 2002 Word and Excel files?
Any help available wopuld be great. Thanks in advance!


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## greyknight17 (Jul 1, 2004)

Unless Dell will help you out in this situation, I think you might have to buy another one. I would try looking at this Microsoft Site. You can probably replace it.

You should have no problems using newer versions to read/write older versions. But I would try the replacement method first.


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