Disable Office v.X network serial number check

Apr 06, '02 02:24:23PM

Contributed by: Anonymous

Despite the title, this isn't a tip about software piracy. I run MS Word on my Tibook and on my desktop G4. One great advantage of OSX is that, once launched, you just leave your apps running until you need them. With virtual memory and lots of RAM, there is little reason not to.

However, if I leave the same serial number install of MS Word running on both machines then Microsoft believes that I am a pirate and insists on deactivating one of the running programs. They do this by an illegal and unauthorized use of the bandwidth on my network.

Read the rest of the article for an AppleScript that disables this check...

[Editor's note: I debated a while before deciding to publish this hint, but the presence of the network serial number check does make it harder to use Office if you have two machines -- even if you never break the terms of the license agreement regarding simultaneous use. I do not condone nor support software piracy, but I do believe that I should be able to use the software as I wish within the terms of the agreement. In addition, this hack has been published on many of the other Mac sites, so this isn't new information...]

Create the following AppleScript:

try
set theConfirmation to (do shell script ¬
"/sbin/ipfw add 0 deny tcp from any to any 3464" password ¬
"MyPassword" with administrator privileges)
set theConfirmation to (do shell script ¬
"/sbin/ipfw add 0 deny udp from any to any 2222" password ¬
"MyPassword" with administrator privileges)
on error
beep
end try
Obviously, "MyPassword" has to be your password.

The best uses of the script are:
  1. Make it a compiled script and then run it via Script menu as needed.
  2. Make it a "run only" and "don't show startup screen" script, and then add it to your startup items.
Repeat: I don't condone software piracy and I only use this script as I described above.

Comments (38)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20020406142423494