Microsoft Knowledge Base

MXL5: No User or Product ID with Excel for Mac 15-Digit Patch
Last reviewed: September 12, 1996
Article ID: Q151525
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS

After a successful installation of the 15-digit patch for Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, you will see the following items related to the registration of your product:

  • When you start Microsoft Excel, the splash screen will say that the product is licensed to "Unknown User" and that it is an "Uninstalled Version"

    -and-

  • When you click "About Microsoft Excel" on the Apple menu, you will see the same information listed in the previous item, and your Product ID number will be an invalid number. For example, the Product ID may be "00-065-0500-xxxxxxxx" (without the quotation marks).

RESOLUTION

There is no way to modify this information once you have installed the 15- digit patch, and if you rerun the patch, you will have the same results. But, you can still use your Product Identification number from your original installation of Microsoft Excel. If you did not write down this number, the only way to get it back would be to do a new installation.

NOTE: If you installed Microsoft Excel as a component of Microsoft Office, you can get your correct Product Identification number from either Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or the Office Manager, assuming you also installed these components.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Having an incorrect User ID or Product ID number will not seriously affect your ability to use Microsoft Excel. There are two places that use the User ID: headers and footers, and the Summary Info dialog box. On the Header/Footer tab of Page Setup, there is a dropdown box that contains a list of precreated headers and footers. Two of these use the User ID; therefore, if you have the 15-digit patch installed, you may see, for example, the following header 

   Prepared by Unknown User 5/20/96
and these precreated headers and footers cannot be modified.

In the Summary Info dialog box, there is a field for "Author", which also gets its information from the User ID. If you have the 15-digit patch installed, you may see the following in the "Author" field: 

   Unknown User
NOTE: the User ID can be changed so that it shows correctly in both headers and footers and in the Summary Info dialog box, "Author" field, but not in either the startup splash screen or the "About Microsoft Excel" window. To modify the User ID, follow these steps:

  1. Click Options on the Tools menu, and click the General tab.

  2. Enter the correct name in the "User Name:" edit box, and then click OK.

KBCategory: kbusage kbprb kbsetup
KBSubcategory: xlmac

Additional reference words: 5.00 5.00a



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Last reviewed: September 12, 1996
©1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Legal Notices.