Office XP won't work after recovery

I had to do a recovery after a crash which mainly affected Internet
Explorer. My software, including Office XP was factory installed (HP) and I
did not receive the disc or documentation. I am now told to activate Office
when I try to use it, but I don't have, and never had the secret number
needed to do so. What can I do, short of buying a new copy of Office?

TIA for info.

e ?xact same problem here !!!! i've managed to re install windows and some
other programs. all the files are on the system it just won't let me
register/install them properly

"Kokomo Kid" wrote:

I had to do a recovery after a crash which mainly affected Internet
Explorer. My software, including Office XP was factory installed HP) and I
did not receive the disc or documentation. I am now told to activate Office
when I try to use it, but I don't have, and never had the secret number
needed to do so. What can I do, short of buying a new copy of Office?

TIA for info.