Microsoft Office 2010 activation failed 0xc004f074

A friend's Microsoft Office Professional 2010 install just started throwing this error:

microsoft office activation failed 0xc004f074

Does anyone know what causes this and how to fix it? Google shows that others have had the problem, but it's not clear how to fix it. I've already done a "repair" but that didn't make any difference.

Also, there's no hard copy for the license key. Can you recommend a program to recover the key from the Windows 7 computer? If I can recover the key I'll try to uninstall/reinstall.

Is this Office Pro 2010 on a stand alone computer or is it part of a company system computer?. As there is no activation code available where did this Office Pro 2010 come from.

Ranger4 said:

Is this Office Pro 2010 on a stand alone computer or is it part of a company system computer?. As there is no activation code available where did this Office Pro 2010 come from.

It's a standalone HP computer. I was told by my friend's roommate that it was bought retail with Office Professional pre-installed, but I need to get more information. There's no installation DVD, but the installation files are on the PC. If I can recover the key I can uninstall and reinstall. I will know immediately when I try to reinstall if the key is accepted. If it's not accepted when can be done? It has supposedly been working for a long time, so why would it stop?

Victek said:

Ranger4 said:

Is this Office Pro 2010 on a stand alone computer or is it part of a company system computer?. As there is no activation code available where did this Office Pro 2010 come from.

It's a standalone HP computer. I was told by my friend's roommate that it was bought retail with Office Professional pre-installed, but I need to get more information. There's no installation DVD, but the installation files are on the PC. If I can recover the key I can uninstall and reinstall. I will know immediately when I try to reinstall if the key is accepted. If it's not accepted when can be done? It has supposedly been working for a long time, so why would it stop?

Too find your key on Windows, i would suggest using SIW
Download SIW (System Info) - MajorGeeks
Portable Apps - SIW Download

The problem you are going to face is that, this type of Office is an OEM Install, meaning that you're not going to be able to reuse the key to reactivate.


Do you know if your friends machine is 32 or 64 bit?


It may have stopped due to corruption in the registry or even file corruption from a bad shutdown.

Windows Sniper said:

Too find your key on Windows, i would suggest using SIW
Download SIW (System Info) - MajorGeeks
Portable Apps - SIW Download

The problem you are going to face is that, this type of Office is an OEM Install, meaning that you're not going to be able to reuse the key to reactivate.

Do you know if your friends machine is 32 or 64 bit?

It may have stopped due to corruption in the registry or even file corruption from a bad shutdown.

To be clear you're saying that even if I can recover the key I will not be able to activate Office if I uninstall/reinstall?

I'm not sure if the OS is 32 or 64 bit at the moment, but what difference does it make?

What recourse does the customer have in this circumstance?

Victek said:

Windows Sniper said:

Too find your key on Windows, i would suggest using SIW
Download SIW (System Info) - MajorGeeks
Portable Apps - SIW Download

The problem you are going to face is that, this type of Office is an OEM Install, meaning that you're not going to be able to reuse the key to reactivate.

Do you know if your friends machine is 32 or 64 bit?

It may have stopped due to corruption in the registry or even file corruption from a bad shutdown.

To be clear you're saying that even if I can recover the key I will not be able to activate Office if I uninstall/reinstall?

I'm not sure if it's 32 or 64 bit at the moment, but what difference does it make?

What recourse does the customer have in this circumstance?

If it was a Pre-installed application provided by the manufacturor it will, in most cases, be a use once activation key, or OEM. So even if you can get it, it will most likely not work.

The reason i ask is because you should be able to run the automatic activation script predeployed by Office.

You will need to type this in CMD.

Where InstallDIR is your installation directory, I.E c:\program files...

[INSTALLDIR]\microsoft\office14\OSPP.vbs /act

It will then re-attempt to activate office with the preinstalled key, it will also give you an output to tell you if the key is past it's activation limit or expired (which happens with a trial)

The only recourse technically available is to contact your system provider (PCWorld, HP or whomever) and ask them if they can provide you with a new key, or phone MS and ask them to reactivate your key.

Windows Sniper said:

If it was a Pre-installed application provided by the manufacturor it will, in most cases, be a use once activation key, or OEM. So even if you can get it, it will most likely not work.

The reason i ask is because you should be able to run the automatic activation script predeployed by Office.

You will need to type this in CMD.

Where InstallDIR is your installation directory, I.E c:\program files...

[INSTALLDIR]\microsoft\office14\OSPP.vbs /act

It will then re-attempt to activate office with the preinstalled key, it will also give you an output to tell you if the key is past it's activation limit or expired (which happens with a trial)

The only recourse technically available is to contact your system provider (PCWorld, HP or whomever) and ask them if they can provide you with a new key, or phone MS and ask them to reactivate your key.

Thanks for the details. If I understand correctly I would not want to uninstall/reinstall - instead I should run the activation script and see if that works ( ? )

If I need to contact MS do you know if there's a specific number for software support in the USA?

Victek said:

Thanks for the details. If I understand correctly I would not want to uninstall/reinstall - instead I should run the activation script and see if that works ( ? )

If I need to contact MS do you know if there's a specific number for software support in the USA?

The script would be your best bet at activation yes.

Unfortunately i'm in the UK so my support number is completely different to yours. Try running a google search for MS US Support number.

Windows Sniper said:

The script would be your best bet at activation yes.

Unfortunately i'm in the UK so my support number is completely different to yours. Try running a google search for MS US Support number.

OK thanks! I'll give it a go and post back when I learn something.

Victek, have a look here, it explains how to activate by phone

Active Office 2010 by Phone » Get OEM Office Software 's Blog