"dlandsman" <dlandsman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0C14C876-72F1-4914-989B-B26A22EFF940@microsoft.com...
> I have just set up a dual boot environment in order to test Win7. I will
> have to install Office on my new Win7 partition.
>
> Can I activate the same copy of office on two different boot environments
> if
> they are running on the same physical HW? That is, does the license
> recognize the physical HW or the boot environment.
>
> If I cannot use/activiate in both environments without getting a new
> license, which is really not acceptable, do I have to de-activate my copy
> on
> XP and re-install on Win7? (Big hassle, by the way, because the whole
> point
> is to enable easy migration and have a backstop until I am sure my new
> environment is stable. I do not want to 'upgrade" because I want a clean
> registry.)

If you have a retail version of the software and only have it installed one
time then you possibly can install it into the Win 7 partition and activate
it. Retail versions allow the installation on a primary device, your Win XP
install, and a "portable" device, the Win 7 install, for the exclusive use
of the primary user of the primary device. (My paraphrasing. While it is
technically not a portable device I don't think the Microsoft install cops
will come checking.

If it is an OEM version it can only be installed on the original computer
(it can't be transferred to a different computer but can be used in a
different operating system on the original computer) in one partition at a
time. If it is an enterprise version it is the same as OEM.

Of course you do realize that the Win 7 beta partition will, in all
probability, have to be dumped and rebuilt when Win 7 is released as a final
version and you desire to install it.