I was setting up Microsoft Hosted Exchange for a client and everything was working well, I had setup a new laptop with Exchange email I then attempted to setup the same Exchange email on a new desktop.  The client had purchased a retail version of Office 2007 so I uninstalled the OEM Office, installed the retail version of Office and proceeded to setup exactly the same settings that were working on the laptop.

It did not work, I get an error stating that Outlook can not communicate with the Exchange server, hmmm strange, I then tried Office 2010 beta, got the same error.  So I did a factory restore, removed the OEM Office, installed retail Office 2007 and it did not work again - same error.

This was when I began to get frustrated as the above took up alot of time and I quoted a fix price for the setup of this client.

The only other option was to do a factory restore again and try the OEM version of Office and see if it connected with our Hosted Exchange Solution.

And it worked Outlook Synced with the Exchange server, so I began to get happier, so I thought to myself I will just put the retail license into the OEM Office and activate it.  That did not work (I thought it might not but hey, it was worth giving it a try).

Then I thought I will get a 60 day trial from Microsoft and then change the License key in the registry, I then follow Microsofts labyrinth site attempting to locate this ellusive 60day Office OEM Trial key.  I finally get to a correct page then it states.

"To obtain a Trial Activation Key, please select the product from the below list and click on 'Get Key'"



The salt in the wound is that there was nothing below that statement, nothing to click on.

So, I have been foiled by Microsoft.

To solve the issue it looks like the client is going to have to pay for an OEM license even though they have paid for a retail one.

So, there are 3 possible options, if you have had any experience any of these I would love to hear some suggestions from you.

1, Get the retail Office license working with Exchange
2, Change the license key in the registry so it accepts the retail version
3, Install Open Office (this is a joke, customer requires Exchange support).