My laptop came with Office pre-installed but I have this banner showing up every time I open it, is there a way to disable it for good?

Xero@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 62 points –

Turning off all connected experiences doesn't work.

51

You are viewing a single comment

Looks like whoever you bought your laptop from installed a pirated or non registered legit copy. Short of buying a real license, there is no legal way to get rid of the banner that I am aware of.

I believe it’s common practice for Windows laptops to come preinstalled with Office 365 now. I don’t think it’s pirated. It’s just not licensed like you said.

OP, I’d recommend just using LibreOffice. It works fine for most situations.

You're correct that it often comes pre-installed, but the banner on those say "Office has not been activated" not "The license isn't genuine"

I bought it from a legit store though, it's not second-hand or something

The Office that comes pre-installed is often just a trial, and you need to buy a license or a Microsoft 365 subscription to use it. LibreOffice is a good free alternative, if you don't specifically need the Microsoft applications, and it will read and write MS Office files.

when I open any Office app, the only thing that pops up is that banner, there's nothing that mentions a trial version though

You say it was a reputable store. But you have no license for office and a warning about it being an illegitimate copy installed.

I would be taking it back to the 'legit' store and asking questions.

Unless you specifically paid extra for a license of ms office, this is just the trial crap bloatware they include with new PCs. You still have to pay for it if you want to use. I’ve heard you can get really cheap activation keys from certain “cd key” sites.

If you go to the "about" section, it will give you more detail. Or, if you brought it from a reputable shop, bring it back to them and ask them why it says this.

If you happen to have a .edu email address, most schools tie it to a license and you can use the school credentials as a license. Ymmv.

do you have a receipt? does the receipt show that it includes office? if it does, take it back to the store.