Fun fact: The VLK key shows "MAK Count" as 0, meaning that no further activations are possible. But as I mentioned in another comment on the previous video, the phone activation service is very forgiving with older Microsoft software (think anything before Windows 7) and oftentimes lets you activate pirated or leaked keys or even keys of leaked Windows beta versions, whereas the online activation (which for Office 2010 btw should still work on Windows 7 and newer) is not forgiving at all and does not allow such shenanigans. That's most likely why you were able to activate your copy but others were not as lucky as seen on ebay, most likely because they tried the online activation on their Windows 7 or 10 machines.
The funniest thing is that Microsoft doesn't care about pirated copies. They know that 9/10 people have pirated windows 10 activation keys or pirated the whole os. They mostly get their money out of office 365 and companies which won't be using parated copies of software or operating systems. That's why they gave a free windows 10 update in 2015 to anyone that had windows 7 or up
@Raissa I SDIT Al Amanah True, but the activation does not work unless you install certain updates that fix the TLS connection to the activation servers. This is not needed though on windows 7 and newer.
Side note, MSDN is sort of still around - it’s called Visual Studio Subscription now, I think, but the services are pretty much the same as they’ve ever been.
Third-party software isn't needed here. just use cmd cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus for windows slmgr /dlv It may be so :)
@@Kamil-DIY Yup. My Arma 2 key was stolen in a similar way and was banned. I tried contacting the developer, but they were not helpful. I’m refusing to buy any games from them again😂
I have a personal Office story : I found someone selling Office 2016 online ‘new’ for only $60. So I purchased it, waited 3 weeks, and got nothing but a slip of paper in the mail. The paper said to text a number and I would be sent a product key. I texted the number, they sent the key, and it worked. Strange how i had to text him. He could have just written the key on the paper. And by the way, this listing was on Amazon. Crazy. EDIT: I went back to my orders to post a link to it, and found that the page on Amazon got taken down.
I know of sellers on Mercadolibre (dot)com who sell keys for Windows, Office and Steam games and once you make the purchase they give you their WhatsApp contact, you text them and they text you back your working key :p easiest cheapest way! They send a random slip of paper just to fulfill the requirements of the website. Most of them even send you back a new key if yours is deactivated within the 30 day period the website offers for guaranty.
I suspect that the "retail" key type here has the same *technical* meaning as it normally does for retail keys and is what the MSDN/Technet subscribers received even though the Pro Plus version was never sold in retail channels.
In fact, Microsoft should potentially rename the Retail key listing for MSDN/TechNet keys as Developer, Subscription or Evaluation keys to prevent pirates from using these keys.
TechNet keys were often listed as "retail" even though they really weren't. I still have an old TechNet key for Office 2010, I'll check it with the program and see what it returns.
Just ran my TechNet keys for Professional Plus 2010 through the PID checker and it returns the same results as yours. That pretty much confirms the source of that key.
Microsoft also had a university program (mostly oriented for CS students, at least at my school) which produced the same results. Technically those copies were sold/retail for non commercial use but would show up as retail TechNet/MSDN as well. I believe the program was part of MSDN in some convoluted fashion.
@@Alexlfm I remember it as MSDNAA or MSDN Academic Alliance... but I think it got renamed to DreamSpark at some point.. then renamed again but I don't remember what. Quite a convoluted history lol. There was also at least one third party academic software licensing vendor (e5 I think is the one I'm thinking of?) that offered certain (think, non-technical) Microsoft software at discount or free, but I believe those really were genuine honest to goodness retail keys, if I recall...
One of the theories I heard about the digital key listings (ones that send you the key via message or email, and not a physical bootleg copy) is that they are purchased using stolen cards or gift cards, often as a result of something like a common tech support scam, and they are essentially using the keys as a money laundering scheme. So the keys themselves may originally be valid, but could be blocked anytime if they are identified as such.
Not saying it doesn't happen with other types of software but AFAIK that's only really a major issue with game keys. Even then it's only an issue on certain marketplaces. Didn't think about the support scam angle tho, I'm sure thats stupidly common too
I think, the detection of the key as Microsoft Office Professional Plus Retail is quite simple. The program does not check Microsoft's servers (look, even the author's name is a nickname). The key/serial or whatever detection algorithm has been published, reversed and or leaked long time ago. This program just uses it the good way - and tells what it sees and can extract from the serial number. There is a part responsible for product type, another for license type etc. Other programs use it the bad way - that is, there are key generators and activators. Probably your Professional Plus Retail key is the result of such a key generator. The installer checks whether the serial corresponds to the distribution channel for which it was generated, as well for the product type. Whereas Microsoft did not release any Professional Plus Retail products, probably it is blocked in all of the official setup programs. P.S. This is IMHO. I am just a youtube user as you all.
I think it would be very hard to bruteforce or keygen the key. I suppose M$ uses some public-private key encryption/signing for some key info. So it's very unlikely to be a keygen. Most probably just stolen/leaked keys. As for this tool, yeah, guys reversed checking algorithms. In fact, tools may even use some part of M$ files gathered from different OS, Office and VS versions. I remember there is a file which has a description of all valid keys or so for verification. And the library is used for all versions since Office 2010 and Windows 8 as far as I remember.
Pro Plus does have retail keys if you work for a company or go to a school who offers buying office pro at a discount to use while using at the company / school. The key gets blacklisted when you leave.
@@JeffreyPiatt Its against the terms to keep using Office Home Use Program after you leave that company but in my experience they key doesn't stop working. I have an Office 2010 key I bought for $10 as part of the Office HUP from a company I left in 2013 and the key is still valid in 2021. I think this is part of the reason Microsoft moved to a subscription model for Office HUP because now they can shut off your access when you leave your employer.
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus appears to be the most pirated version of Office 2010 that's commonly being passed off as the Standard version of Professional.
As for why they picked 2010 out of all the versions, it's simple really. It's the last good office version ever for basic uses. It's extremely lightweight, supposed to be easy to install, and the best of all it works in every single windows version from XP to W10 and beyond.
Yeah, I think it and Office 2007 really are the only 2 versions of Office that support Windows XP and also support the more modern XML based Office files. The reason they go for 2010 is probably just because it's better... Another reason could also be because it's rather easy to find a working key. Microsoft is no longer actively banning keys that are illegally floating about...
@@Unused-b4j by that I mean any future windows update. Office 2010 works on the first edition of Windows 10, all the way up to latest patch. It refuses to break itself.
Pros and cons of Office Pro 2010 for future reference: + Very good office program intercompatibility + Last version to be compatible with Windows XP and up + Very good performance + Has every feature you'd possibly need + No annoying kerning issues + Much easier to use than earlier versions + Much more polished over 2007 + Choice of 32 and 64 bit editions + Last Office edition to come on a physical disk The only two issues are: - It's gotten a little expensive for a legitimate copy - Can't read newer office formats (I think)
One reason people might use 2010 is Office 2013 was horrible on the eyes. All menus were in all caps and everything was bright white on white with very little color contrast. I wouldn't be surprised if it caused cancer.
@@EnigmaticLucas I use Office 2007 on my personal Windows 10 computer. Guy at work was using 2010 until the IT guy found out a few weeks ago and forced him to upgrade lol
An Asian consumer perspective who looks at a genuine piece of software and it's price would say "Overpriced Repaints", and would just buy lower-budgeted bootleg software instead.
MS is heavily going to service as a subscription model, so installed versions with a KEY are pretty much a thing of the past. If you want a local office suite installation, you have to use a competitor such as LibreOffice. It is actually legal to download and install it. It does not require product activation.
Funny, not even a week ago I bought a new old stock copy of Windows 95 off eBay. I was very paranoid of buying a bootleg copy and was as cautious as a non-techie can be. Thanks for your tips at the end, I'll definitely use them going forward.
Bootleg software pirates should be treated the "They Live Bubblegum Scene" treatment where their personalities are disguised as Middle Eastern Extremists. (5:08)
According to a youtuber who called microsoft support, the support technician claimed that if a key is successfully activated, it will not be deactivated even if it's added to a blacklist after activation. Only keys that were never used to activate are disabled from being used to activate. So if someone gets scammed and the key works, it'll continue working. Still wrong though
hey MJD! If you read this, I am a huge fan of your channel. Thank you for giving us some happiness and entertainment during these dark times. I have a question for you that you could do for a video: Can you make a video about Games for Windows Live or about the evolution of the Steam client? Thank You Micheal and stay safe!
When it comes to Pro Plus 2010 you can get retail keys different ways like getting an office pro plus 2010 for student/educational use and also through the Microsoft store HUP from your employer. I have actually gotten Pro plus 2010 through those both and they where not a volume license
Microsoft HUP used be a pretty great deal: If your employer had a volume license, you could buy a legit copy of Office Pro Plus (Win) or Office Home & Biz (Mac) from Microsoft for $10-15. That's probably how a Retail ProPlus key came to be. In 2020, Microsoft changed the HUP offer to be 30% off a 365 subscription - 5X the price (versus owning via old HUP), and you have to pay again next year.
proplus (yes, proplus, not pro) actually does have the retail version as well as retail keys despite Microsoft kept claiming it only got volume licensing all the time, and yet the only way I know to get that very variation (retailed proplus) is by subscribing to the visual studio subscription (formerly MSDN).
The post you found didn't quite explain Microsoft HUP (Home Use Program) correctly. It's for employees of companies that use volume licenses at work, but you had the ability to buy a copy for home use for $10, or at least that's how much it cost me when I did it years ago. It's kind of a weird hybrid of a VLK and retail, because the employee of the company that had VLK still had to pay for it, just at a highly discounted rate.
i remember looking into the VLK at some point and found that you can actually convert the licenses back and fourth from within Windows itself using the CMD prompt and a few commands, can also install/change license keys this way as well.
I bought what I assumed to be a genuine copy of Windows XP Professional (32-bit) off eBay (albeit a home-made but semi-professional bootleg) and it turned out to be the infamous pre-activated "Maher's Digital World" version.
Office Professional Plus was available for purchase at my college's bookstore for like $49.99. It's easy to imagine hundreds of these copies coming from places like that.
I don’t know about the USA, but Office professional plus 2010 was sold to students at a discount in Ireland and the U.K. by software4students which is a Microsoft education reseller. I know this because I was college student at the time and purchased professional plus. Licensed for use on two machines. I still use it to this day. Came in sealed packaging with genuine 32/64bit discs and product key.
Volume:MAK keys have a limited amount of times you can install that. If you see the MAK Count line, it says 0 meaning you can't reuse that key anymore. Then you have Volume:GVLK Which is Generic Volume License Key which for people who got them from eBaty, Microsoft blocked a lot of them. That's what most sellers on eBay did or still tries to sell when they sell a key to you.
The best identifier to see if these are bootlegs is to check the back of the box. I saw one on eBay was bootleg because the back of it had messy grammar, which Microsoft doesn’t have. For example, i will make a sentence with their errors. “Features:word,powerpoint,excel” As you can see the capitalization and spaces are missing! Easy way to tell if it is genuine or not.
Its intresting that the not working Key is using "office 14" on the cd name and in the program. If i remember right they used "office 14" before it was finally called Office 2010. Is it for a pre-release beta of office? Weird...
The Office Home Use Program prior to 2019 sold $10 standalone copies of Office Pro Plus. My copy of Office 2010 purchased through HUP a decade ago shows up as Proplus retail.
Hi You should have a look at say the other bootlegs 2007 Blue edition 2010 Blue Edition Also all of the all in one usb or portable which is one large exe file that sits in the toolbar - i trialed one out of curiosity, but noticed that at times the entire office / excel will just close and quit - not what you really want then doing large volume of work regards George
8:17 As i was saying on the two previous video and on twitter I HAVE A BACK UP OF THE DOWNLOADED SETUP INSTALLER FROM BACK WHEN THEY WHERE STILL AVAILABLE for the professionnal edition do you want them ?
One super small nitpick that others probably mentioend: the small print you point out at 6:23 only applies to the Home and Student edition. If you look at the top of the table, you'll see an asterisk next to the Home and Student entry. Home and Business, Professional, and Pro Plus are all useable in commercial settings.
Office 2010 Pro Plus IS available in a retail form, because I own it! I can look at the DVD later today and verify that it’s not a VLK, but I’ve owned it since 2010 🤷♂️
I managed to snag what seemed like an unlimited VLK for Outlook 2003… it came with a copy of Windows Server 2003 SBE I procured for a client at one point. It covered as many copies of Outlook as you could want to deploy on your shiny new Small Business network. But just Outlook. Edit: Still the best damn version of Office they've released to date, I swear.
In the situation where the key is valid, and you just need to know what type it is, you can use ospp.vbs /dstatus to get license info The script ships as part of office itself and should be in program files somewhere. For windows you can use slmgr.vbs /dlv to get similar info
Guys, ways back in 2010 or so I used to sell bootleg windows 7, office 07 and 2010 on ebay, I bought them from dhgate and the sellers told me the keys where from msdn, most worked for ages, some did get blicklisted quick though, used to be able to buy just the keys for like 20 cents a pop and sell them on ebay for as many dollars back in the day. The bootleg office cooys cost about 15usd and sold for around 90.
I own a legit, boxed, not-for-resale copy of Office 2010 Professional Plus that I obtained from a Microsoft employee shortly before Office 2010's release. I ran the product key through the PID checker and it gave me the exact same output as the RTM_ProPlus_Retail key that you tried in the video (only the product ID and advanced ID are different). Hopefully that will shed some light as to a possible source of your Office 2010 bootleg key.
Theory: the reason the product key shows as “ProPlusRetail” is because it’s been blacklisted, it won’t work on Pro Plus because there’s no retail version of Pro Plus, and it won’t work on a retail version because of the same thing, so Microsoft reserved ProPlus retail for blacklisted keys that can’t activate anything, don’t know if this is true but it seems like it would make sense.
I'm guessing and theorizing that the bootleg copies that have the same image on eBay were made or liquidated around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in a country of unknown origin, because many retailers either closed or had restrictions related to the pandemic, which probably limited the sales of any non-gaming computer software (either Windows, macOS or Linux), including Microsoft Office. (6:44)
The Retail Key is either a Technet or MSDN. Plus your right microsoft blacklists the key if they see the technet or MSDN keys being used too much. It has happened to me when I used my key about 30 times.
The ltPERP key could have been a Home Use Program key or a MSDN key as suggested. HUP keys for 2010 were probably sold for like $10 (2017 was $10, 2019 bumped the price to $15 I think). It's possible hackers compromised a company participating in HUP and used e-mail accounts belonging to the company domain to purchase a number of cheap HUP keys. Not sure how it was done in 2010 but in 2017 and onward I think they were digital downloads only. So the packaging would be completely bootleg.
Interesting you mention ProPlus was only for Volume License users. Many years ago I managed to get it via Software4Students which is basically a site where you'd validate that you were a student and receive discounts on Windows and Office as a result. Managed to grab Office 2010 Professional Plus fairly cheap from it. This however was download only and didn't come in a physical box or CD.
retail versions of traditionally volume licensing keys, are in fact msdn. but also, you're forgetting Click2Run, iirc it started around office 2013 days through but maybe 2010 had it too, im not sure. and yes, given the 1 computer use, thats the difference, msdn and technet and previews are marked as retail.
Hi Michael, I have had a Professional copy of Microsoft Office 2010 and I did not activate it for about 5 years and it said the same thing even though I bought it straight off of Microsoft, I have done some research and it turns out that Office 2010 has a timer on the Product keys even if you don't activate it for about 10 years. That could solve your problem! Thank you for the video!
Office 2010 ProPlus Retail is only available thru MSDN subscription, which has now been renamed to Visual Studio Subscription. I’m still able to get a copy of Office 2010 ProPlus Retail + 5 keys with my Visual Studio Subscription
Michael, two remarks: 1. MSDN subscription and product keys and downloads STILL IS A THING. It's just it doesn't cost 12k$/y 2. There were TWO pro plus generations in 2010, and one of those indeed had retail. No, I'm not mixing Pro and ProPlus. Yes, keys between these two are not exchangeable. Yes, very straightforward, I know.
Technically, MSDN turned into My VisualStudio thing. It also has subscriptions, including OS ones. So, technically, it's either MSDN successor or rework
did you try putting the key into VAMT? i think VAMT is still distributed in Windows ADK, and if i recall correctly, it can import and check Office licenses too.
Excellent video, thanks. I will compare with my genuine Win7 packaging when I find it, to see what differences there are with the fonts etc.. The boxes do look convincing at least to the untrained eye, but those formatting and grammar errors should be a dead giveaway to anyone. .. :-D
I wonder why Microsoft (8:39) labels their TechNet & MSDN copies of Office Pro Plus as "retail" despite the fact that Office Pro Plus is only available through Volume Licensing and not at any retailer store chain. (8:45)
I recall buying a cheap Windows 10 Pro key on Lazada (a popular online shopping site here in the PH) for someone. If not for the cheap price, I wouldn't have risked it lol. Well, le and behold, it worked, _and_ it was attached to the user's own MS acct meaning they could just use their acct to activate Windows 10 on their PC after a reinstall. I wonder what exactly I just bought lol. I read that it's likely volume licensing, but can you attach that kind of key to an MS acct? It's still working fine.
Fun fact: The VLK key shows "MAK Count" as 0, meaning that no further activations are possible. But as I mentioned in another comment on the previous video, the phone activation service is very forgiving with older Microsoft software (think anything before Windows 7) and oftentimes lets you activate pirated or leaked keys or even keys of leaked Windows beta versions, whereas the online activation (which for Office 2010 btw should still work on Windows 7 and newer) is not forgiving at all and does not allow such shenanigans. That's most likely why you were able to activate your copy but others were not as lucky as seen on ebay, most likely because they tried the online activation on their Windows 7 or 10 machines.
The funniest thing is that Microsoft doesn't care about pirated copies. They know that 9/10 people have pirated windows 10 activation keys or pirated the whole os. They mostly get their money out of office 365 and companies which won't be using parated copies of software or operating systems. That's why they gave a free windows 10 update in 2015 to anyone that had windows 7 or up
then why does my office 2013 key say -1 for mak count
@@1atem cant rlly pirate windows 10 now that Microsoft gives it for free now lol also windows 8.1 well ofc u can pirate keys tho
@Raissa I SDIT Al Amanah True, but the activation does not work unless you install certain updates that fix the TLS connection to the activation servers. This is not needed though on windows 7 and newer.
@@AsianFlex A quick research tells me that -1 could mean it's invalid or banned. Does it say valid above? Can you activate it?
Who needs Star Wars when you have the Bootleg Office 2010 Saga
Bootleg Office 2010: A New Fake
The Bootleg Files. (1:49)
Side note, MSDN is sort of still around - it’s called Visual Studio Subscription now, I think, but the services are pretty much the same as they’ve ever been.
Plot twist: The Ultimate PID checker steals those Serial keys.
PFFFT
U WISH
Damn it you beat me to it
Third-party software isn't needed here. just use cmd cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus
for windows slmgr /dlv
It may be so :)
Блин
@@Kamil-DIY Yup. My Arma 2 key was stolen in a similar way and was banned. I tried contacting the developer, but they were not helpful. I’m refusing to buy any games from them again😂
next episode: bootleg office 2010 comes to life and tries to kill me
Life*
Jaystation be like
@@JamesnLollify OFFICE 2010 BOOTLEG TRIES TO KILL ME (yeah, no)
@@spilt-milkie Yeah, yes
Lol
How many fonts can you use in a single title sequence?
Michael: YES.
I have a personal Office story :
I found someone selling Office 2016 online ‘new’ for only $60. So I purchased it, waited 3 weeks, and got nothing but a slip of paper in the mail. The paper said to text a number and I would be sent a product key. I texted the number, they sent the key, and it worked. Strange how i had to text him. He could have just written the key on the paper. And by the way, this listing was on Amazon. Crazy.
EDIT: I went back to my orders to post a link to it, and found that the page on Amazon got taken down.
I know of sellers on Mercadolibre (dot)com who sell keys for Windows, Office and Steam games and once you make the purchase they give you their WhatsApp contact, you text them and they text you back your working key :p easiest cheapest way! They send a random slip of paper just to fulfill the requirements of the website. Most of them even send you back a new key if yours is deactivated within the 30 day period the website offers for guaranty.
@@SeekerNami yeah I know of those. I thought it was odd that a “brand new boxed copy of Office 2016” on Amazon was a paper and text purchase.
@@SeekerNami Here in brazil its known as "Mercado Livre", and you dont know how much people sells those VLK keys
I suspect that the "retail" key type here has the same *technical* meaning as it normally does for retail keys and is what the MSDN/Technet subscribers received even though the Pro Plus version was never sold in retail channels.
Yes, I just checked my old TechNet keys for Office Professional Plus 2010 and they return the same results. They were always treated as retail keys.
In fact, Microsoft should potentially rename the Retail key listing for MSDN/TechNet keys as Developer, Subscription or Evaluation keys to prevent pirates from using these keys.
TechNet keys were often listed as "retail" even though they really weren't. I still have an old TechNet key for Office 2010, I'll check it with the program and see what it returns.
Just ran my TechNet keys for Professional Plus 2010 through the PID checker and it returns the same results as yours. That pretty much confirms the source of that key.
Microsoft also had a university program (mostly oriented for CS students, at least at my school) which produced the same results. Technically those copies were sold/retail for non commercial use but would show up as retail TechNet/MSDN as well. I believe the program was part of MSDN in some convoluted fashion.
@@Alexlfm I remember it as MSDNAA or MSDN Academic Alliance... but I think it got renamed to DreamSpark at some point.. then renamed again but I don't remember what. Quite a convoluted history lol. There was also at least one third party academic software licensing vendor (e5 I think is the one I'm thinking of?) that offered certain (think, non-technical) Microsoft software at discount or free, but I believe those really were genuine honest to goodness retail keys, if I recall...
@@dregenius MSDNAA, then DreamSpark, then Microsoft Imagine, then now Microsoft Azure Dev Tools for Teaching.
In fact, many Asian countries hate DRM, limited computer installations and CD/DVD Keys altogether (9:49)
One of the theories I heard about the digital key listings (ones that send you the key via message or email, and not a physical bootleg copy) is that they are purchased using stolen cards or gift cards, often as a result of something like a common tech support scam, and they are essentially using the keys as a money laundering scheme. So the keys themselves may originally be valid, but could be blocked anytime if they are identified as such.
Not saying it doesn't happen with other types of software but AFAIK that's only really a major issue with game keys.
Even then it's only an issue on certain marketplaces.
Didn't think about the support scam angle tho, I'm sure thats stupidly common too
Next episode: Installing Office 2010 on $5 Windows 98 PC
perhaps with the use of KernelEx, Office 2010 can be installed on 98.
@@MondySpartan I guess that’s actually true. It might be a cool video to see as part of tradition :D
@BRAZO random stuff on the $5 win98 pc
I think, the detection of the key as Microsoft Office Professional Plus Retail is quite simple. The program does not check Microsoft's servers (look, even the author's name is a nickname). The key/serial or whatever detection algorithm has been published, reversed and or leaked long time ago. This program just uses it the good way - and tells what it sees and can extract from the serial number. There is a part responsible for product type, another for license type etc.
Other programs use it the bad way - that is, there are key generators and activators. Probably your Professional Plus Retail key is the result of such a key generator. The installer checks whether the serial corresponds to the distribution channel for which it was generated, as well for the product type. Whereas Microsoft did not release any Professional Plus Retail products, probably it is blocked in all of the official setup programs.
P.S. This is IMHO. I am just a youtube user as you all.
I think it would be very hard to bruteforce or keygen the key. I suppose M$ uses some public-private key encryption/signing for some key info. So it's very unlikely to be a keygen. Most probably just stolen/leaked keys.
As for this tool, yeah, guys reversed checking algorithms. In fact, tools may even use some part of M$ files gathered from different OS, Office and VS versions. I remember there is a file which has a description of all valid keys or so for verification. And the library is used for all versions since Office 2010 and Windows 8 as far as I remember.
Pro Plus does have retail keys if you work for a company or go to a school who offers buying office pro at a discount to use while using at the company / school. The key gets blacklisted when you leave.
If that the case how's the program can know about the MAK count then?
@@JeffreyPiatt Its against the terms to keep using Office Home Use Program after you leave that company but in my experience they key doesn't stop working. I have an Office 2010 key I bought for $10 as part of the Office HUP from a company I left in 2013 and the key is still valid in 2021. I think this is part of the reason Microsoft moved to a subscription model for Office HUP because now they can shut off your access when you leave your employer.
Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus appears to be the most pirated version of Office 2010 that's commonly being passed off as the Standard version of Professional.
As for why they picked 2010 out of all the versions, it's simple really. It's the last good office version ever for basic uses. It's extremely lightweight, supposed to be easy to install, and the best of all it works in every single windows version from XP to W10 and beyond.
Yeah, I think it and Office 2007 really are the only 2 versions of Office that support Windows XP and also support the more modern XML based Office files. The reason they go for 2010 is probably just because it's better...
Another reason could also be because it's rather easy to find a working key. Microsoft is no longer actively banning keys that are illegally floating about...
Can confirm. Been using a... uh... let's say always working copy of Office 2010 since... well... almost 10 years.
"Windows 10 and beyond"
But there is nothing after windows 10-
@@Unused-b4j by that I mean any future windows update. Office 2010 works on the first edition of Windows 10, all the way up to latest patch. It refuses to break itself.
Pros and cons of Office Pro 2010 for future reference:
+ Very good office program intercompatibility
+ Last version to be compatible with Windows XP and up
+ Very good performance
+ Has every feature you'd possibly need
+ No annoying kerning issues
+ Much easier to use than earlier versions
+ Much more polished over 2007
+ Choice of 32 and 64 bit editions
+ Last Office edition to come on a physical disk
The only two issues are:
- It's gotten a little expensive for a legitimate copy
- Can't read newer office formats (I think)
This has been an interesting and different series
They probably just stole the keys from Google. Not hard to do.
Hehe found another weeb friend on yt ☺️
@@realspeedghxst Hehe found another Arknights player maybe?? on yt
@@xyura_fr Sup Doktah
Volume License Keys are the weapons of choice for bootleggers, but only in Malaysia, Mainland China and the Philippines. (8:11)
why do they do this? why specifically office 2010? this is so stupid and i love it, :)
I was about to post that, Wonder why Office 2010 and not 2019 :)
A scary amount of businesses still use Office 2010 and Windows 7
One reason people might use 2010 is Office 2013 was horrible on the eyes. All menus were in all caps and everything was bright white on white with very little color contrast. I wouldn't be surprised if it caused cancer.
I want to see him with bootleg Office 2013 too
@@EnigmaticLucas I use Office 2007 on my personal Windows 10 computer. Guy at work was using 2010 until the IT guy found out a few weeks ago and forced him to upgrade lol
So trained by youtube to expect a sponsor segue when you started talking about unique passwords😂 great video!
Those non-VLK 2010 keys are probably coming from *TechNet*, not MSDN - TechNet was far more affordable when it was around.
An Asian consumer perspective who looks at a genuine piece of software and it's price would say "Overpriced Repaints", and would just buy lower-budgeted bootleg software instead.
Looking forward for more Scam Investigation aka Saftware videos! Keep up the good work!
Saftware should be the new word for questionable software bought from ebay
Counterfeit software keys in a nutshell (1:51)
MSDN is actually here they have refreshed page design
What used to be MSDN subscriptions are now known as Visual Studio subscriptions. Going to msdn.microsoft.com now redirects you to docs.microsoft.com
These MS Office videos are sooooooo epic! Please continue this bootleg stuff!
4:25 damn it was a good thing they blurred out that key because Windows 98 second edition keys are flying off the shelf right now
even tho there are free ones online? bruh
@@virtualtools_3021 that's the point
Hello MJD, it is janek2012, thanks for using my software!
You work real hard on these videos, spending money on fake things and risking your money for videos, you deserve at least 500k subs!
Thanks so much! I appreciate that!
@@MichaelMJD No Problem! :D have a great day!
MS is heavily going to service as a subscription model, so installed versions with a KEY are pretty much a thing of the past. If you want a local office suite installation, you have to use a competitor such as LibreOffice. It is actually legal to download and install it. It does not require product activation.
Funny, not even a week ago I bought a new old stock copy of Windows 95 off eBay. I was very paranoid of buying a bootleg copy and was as cautious as a non-techie can be. Thanks for your tips at the end, I'll definitely use them going forward.
As a person who does still use Office 2010 these bootlegs especially the packaging are hilarious.
I still use office 2010 too. On my windows 10 computer.
I still use Office 2007 btw :)
Bootleg software pirates should be treated the "They Live Bubblegum Scene" treatment where their personalities are disguised as Middle Eastern Extremists. (5:08)
According to a youtuber who called microsoft support, the support technician claimed that if a key is successfully activated, it will not be deactivated even if it's added to a blacklist after activation. Only keys that were never used to activate are disabled from being used to activate. So if someone gets scammed and the key works, it'll continue working. Still wrong though
hey MJD! If you read this, I am a huge fan of your channel. Thank you for giving us some happiness and entertainment during these dark times. I have a question for you that you could do for a video: Can you make a video about Games for Windows Live or about the evolution of the Steam client? Thank You Micheal and stay safe!
Thank you so much! Very interesting topics for sure, I'll have to add those to my ideas list!
When it comes to Pro Plus 2010 you can get retail keys different ways like getting an office pro plus 2010 for student/educational use and also through the Microsoft store HUP from your employer. I have actually gotten Pro plus 2010 through those both and they where not a volume license
Microsoft HUP used be a pretty great deal: If your employer had a volume license, you could buy a legit copy of Office Pro Plus (Win) or Office Home & Biz (Mac) from Microsoft for $10-15. That's probably how a Retail ProPlus key came to be. In 2020, Microsoft changed the HUP offer to be 30% off a 365 subscription - 5X the price (versus owning via old HUP), and you have to pay again next year.
Yeah I used to buy it like that, GUESS WHO BOUGHT OFFICE 2019 FOR 5$ ON EBAY MICROSOFT
offline activation meaning: just pull the ethernet card and activate-it
proplus (yes, proplus, not pro) actually does have the retail version as well as retail keys despite Microsoft kept claiming it only got volume licensing all the time, and yet the only way I know to get that very variation (retailed proplus) is by subscribing to the visual studio subscription (formerly MSDN).
The post you found didn't quite explain Microsoft HUP (Home Use Program) correctly. It's for employees of companies that use volume licenses at work, but you had the ability to buy a copy for home use for $10, or at least that's how much it cost me when I did it years ago. It's kind of a weird hybrid of a VLK and retail, because the employee of the company that had VLK still had to pay for it, just at a highly discounted rate.
These videos are amazing keep them coming Michael
i remember looking into the VLK at some point and found that you can actually convert the licenses back and fourth from within Windows itself using the CMD prompt and a few commands, can also install/change license keys this way as well.
Looks like the Microsoft Office 2010 Standard Professional didn't sell very well to some consumers. (7:22)
I bought what I assumed to be a genuine copy of Windows XP Professional (32-bit) off eBay (albeit a home-made but semi-professional bootleg) and it turned out to be the infamous pre-activated "Maher's Digital World" version.
Looks like Michael is embracing the things that shouldn't work but do for some reason theme from last time haha
If you received a sponsor from Dashlane, this video is perfect for it. I even expected a Dashlane advertisement after you said a unique password...
Office Professional Plus was available for purchase at my college's bookstore for like $49.99. It's easy to imagine hundreds of these copies coming from places like that.
I don’t know about the USA, but Office professional plus 2010 was sold to students at a discount in Ireland and the U.K. by software4students which is a Microsoft education reseller. I know this because I was college student at the time and purchased professional plus. Licensed for use on two machines. I still use it to this day. Came in sealed packaging with genuine 32/64bit discs and product key.
Volume:MAK keys have a limited amount of times you can install that. If you see the MAK Count line, it says 0 meaning you can't reuse that key anymore. Then you have Volume:GVLK Which is Generic Volume License Key which for people who got them from eBaty, Microsoft blocked a lot of them.
That's what most sellers on eBay did or still tries to sell when they sell a key to you.
The best identifier to see if these are bootlegs is to check the back of the box. I saw one on eBay was bootleg because the back of it had messy grammar, which Microsoft doesn’t have. For example, i will make a sentence with their errors.
“Features:word,powerpoint,excel”
As you can see the capitalization and spaces are missing! Easy way to tell if it is genuine or not.
Its intresting that the not working Key is using "office 14" on the cd name and in the program. If i remember right they used "office 14" before it was finally called Office 2010. Is it for a pre-release beta of office? Weird...
12:04 I was so sure this was segwaying into a DashLane sponsorship
To test if it's been blacklisted, you should try the product key on an install while the computer is offline/not connected to the internet.
Pro Plus is always VLSC. There was never a retail release of ProPlus.
The Office Home Use Program prior to 2019 sold $10 standalone copies of Office Pro Plus. My copy of Office 2010 purchased through HUP a decade ago shows up as Proplus retail.
Keep doing more of this stuff! It’s fascinating.
Yay another Michael MJD video
you are easily my favorite tech youtuber
Hi
You should have a look at say the other bootlegs
2007 Blue edition
2010 Blue Edition
Also all of the all in one usb or portable which is one large exe file that sits in the toolbar - i trialed one out of curiosity, but noticed that at times the entire office / excel will just close and quit - not what you really want then doing large volume of work
regards
George
8:17 As i was saying on the two previous video and on twitter I HAVE A BACK UP OF THE DOWNLOADED SETUP INSTALLER FROM BACK WHEN THEY WHERE STILL AVAILABLE for the professionnal edition do you want them ?
Seriously I'm trying to contact him since the first bootleg video. I tried youtube comment and even create a twitter account to contact him XD
They *did* offer Office Professional Plus 2010 retail keys, but only via MSDN. I have a bunch of them from when I was on BizSpark a few years back.
He makes me love these old computers like now i feel the beauty of the old days until now
One super small nitpick that others probably mentioend: the small print you point out at 6:23 only applies to the Home and Student edition. If you look at the top of the table, you'll see an asterisk next to the Home and Student entry. Home and Business, Professional, and Pro Plus are all useable in commercial settings.
I was going say that it sounded like home use program software. I have a copy of Office 2010 HUP.
Michael, thanks that you read my suggestion from first video.
But thats is not only one PID Checker program honestly there is atleast 3 of them. :)
Just found and reported one of these scam listings to eBay.
05:24 PID Checker version... БЛИН
yep, it is definitely version 1.2.0.606, no doubt! ;D
Thanks for the free driver update ad
Nice little series so far :)
Is there any more to this?
I don't have anything planned at the moment but I'd love to do more episodes like this!
Office 2010 Pro Plus IS available in a retail form, because I own it! I can look at the DVD later today and verify that it’s not a VLK, but I’ve owned it since 2010 🤷♂️
I managed to snag what seemed like an unlimited VLK for Outlook 2003… it came with a copy of Windows Server 2003 SBE I procured for a client at one point. It covered as many copies of Outlook as you could want to deploy on your shiny new Small Business network.
But just Outlook.
Edit: Still the best damn version of Office they've released to date, I swear.
In the situation where the key is valid, and you just need to know what type it is, you can use ospp.vbs /dstatus to get license info The script ships as part of office itself and should be in program files somewhere. For windows you can use slmgr.vbs /dlv to get similar info
Finally a worthy legendary sequel to the two earlier videos!
This will be interesting, please make more of these
You can find ISOs for Office 2010 on the-eye(dot)eu
Guys, ways back in 2010 or so I used to sell bootleg windows 7, office 07 and 2010 on ebay, I bought them from dhgate and the sellers told me the keys where from msdn, most worked for ages, some did get blicklisted quick though, used to be able to buy just the keys for like 20 cents a pop and sell them on ebay for as many dollars back in the day. The bootleg office cooys cost about 15usd and sold for around 90.
I own a legit, boxed, not-for-resale copy of Office 2010 Professional Plus that I obtained from a Microsoft employee shortly before Office 2010's release. I ran the product key through the PID checker and it gave me the exact same output as the RTM_ProPlus_Retail key that you tried in the video (only the product ID and advanced ID are different). Hopefully that will shed some light as to a possible source of your Office 2010 bootleg key.
Theory: the reason the product key shows as “ProPlusRetail” is because it’s been blacklisted, it won’t work on Pro Plus because there’s no retail version of Pro Plus, and it won’t work on a retail version because of the same thing, so Microsoft reserved ProPlus retail for blacklisted keys that can’t activate anything, don’t know if this is true but it seems like it would make sense.
You think that that pro plus retail key might be a beta key? Probably a long shot, but it's worth a shot!
HELL YEAH! ANOTHER SERIES PLEASE DO MORE
I'm guessing and theorizing that the bootleg copies that have the same image on eBay were made or liquidated around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in a country of unknown origin, because many retailers either closed or had restrictions related to the pandemic, which probably limited the sales of any non-gaming computer software (either Windows, macOS or Linux), including Microsoft Office. (6:44)
This video is cool mike! I enjoy these bootleg product reviews, please do more of these!
Thanks!
The Retail Key is either a Technet or MSDN. Plus your right microsoft blacklists the key if they see the technet or MSDN keys being used too much. It has happened to me when I used my key about 30 times.
The ltPERP key could have been a Home Use Program key or a MSDN key as suggested. HUP keys for 2010 were probably sold for like $10 (2017 was $10, 2019 bumped the price to $15 I think). It's possible hackers compromised a company participating in HUP and used e-mail accounts belonging to the company domain to purchase a number of cheap HUP keys.
Not sure how it was done in 2010 but in 2017 and onward I think they were digital downloads only. So the packaging would be completely bootleg.
Interesting you mention ProPlus was only for Volume License users. Many years ago I managed to get it via Software4Students which is basically a site where you'd validate that you were a student and receive discounts on Windows and Office as a result. Managed to grab Office 2010 Professional Plus fairly cheap from it. This however was download only and didn't come in a physical box or CD.
Did you try the heidoc office download tool? It lists all the images you can download from microsoft, and i see office 2010 professional on there...
Amazing content Michael!, you should take a look on a bootleg copy of Windows 7 or 8
You are the best youtuber ever. I love your videos. Thank you for making this channel and all the videos you made.
retail versions of traditionally volume licensing keys, are in fact msdn.
but also, you're forgetting Click2Run, iirc it started around office 2013 days through but maybe 2010 had it too, im not sure.
and yes, given the 1 computer use, thats the difference, msdn and technet and previews are marked as retail.
The lore continues
Hi Michael, I have had a Professional copy of Microsoft Office 2010 and I did not activate it for about 5 years and it said the same thing even though I bought it straight off of Microsoft, I have done some research and it turns out that Office 2010 has a timer on the Product keys even if you don't activate it for about 10 years. That could solve your problem! Thank you for the video!
Office 2010 ProPlus Retail is only available thru MSDN subscription, which has now been renamed to Visual Studio Subscription. I’m still able to get a copy of Office 2010 ProPlus Retail + 5 keys with my Visual Studio Subscription
Michael, two remarks:
1. MSDN subscription and product keys and downloads STILL IS A THING. It's just it doesn't cost 12k$/y
2. There were TWO pro plus generations in 2010, and one of those indeed had retail. No, I'm not mixing Pro and ProPlus. Yes, keys between these two are not exchangeable. Yes, very straightforward, I know.
Next episode: Making a working bootleg and selling it to bootleg makers
I thought RTM was release to manufacturers like Acer and HP for use on their computers
Technically, MSDN turned into My VisualStudio thing. It also has subscriptions, including OS ones. So, technically, it's either MSDN successor or rework
I’m not 100% sure, but I remember some office 2010 keys were ment to be entert into a Microsoft page first. Then you receive the actual key.
did you try putting the key into VAMT? i think VAMT is still distributed in Windows ADK, and if i recall correctly, it can import and check Office licenses too.
Excellent video, thanks. I will compare with my genuine Win7 packaging when I find it, to see what differences there are with the fonts etc.. The boxes do look convincing at least to the untrained eye, but those formatting and grammar errors should be a dead giveaway to anyone. .. :-D
7:00 блин is a swear word in Russian. Also means pancakes though
"Pancakes by janek2012"
another yet informative video thanks , and please make another mail time video
I wonder why Microsoft (8:39) labels their TechNet & MSDN copies of Office Pro Plus as "retail" despite the fact that Office Pro Plus is only available through Volume Licensing and not at any retailer store chain. (8:45)
I'm wondering whether that Ultimate PID Checker is stealing the keys...
Claim your: "here before 1 million views ticket"
well, I am here before 1k views
I'm before 2k
cbt
here before 300 views
Here
I used my Office 2010 install over 3 times and it worked fine (now I have an ISO image because DVD sounds are kinda creepy)
I recall buying a cheap Windows 10 Pro key on Lazada (a popular online shopping site here in the PH) for someone. If not for the cheap price, I wouldn't have risked it lol. Well, le and behold, it worked, _and_ it was attached to the user's own MS acct meaning they could just use their acct to activate Windows 10 on their PC after a reinstall.
I wonder what exactly I just bought lol. I read that it's likely volume licensing, but can you attach that kind of key to an MS acct? It's still working fine.
This Video : *exists*
Bootleg Windows/Office Installation CD Makers : *sweats*