Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual

Appendix A. Installing Project

Installing Project 2010 should be comfortingly familiar if you’ve installed other Microsoft programs. Moreover, the procedure is the same whether your computer runs Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. If you’re installing from scratch, you barely have to tell the wizard anything.

When an earlier version of Project exists on your computer, you have the option to upgrade the previous version or keep it in addition to installing Project 2010. Installing multiple versions of Project may be the better solution. (If you already have a 32-bit version installed, the other versions you install must also be 32-bit). Not only can you use your old favorite features, but you can also open Project files created with versions prior to Project 1998. Upgrading means that the new version overwrites the earlier one, so you may lose beloved but discontinued features like the Visio WBS Chart Wizard, which disappeared in Project 2007.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to install Project 2010 Standard or Professional from a CD or a hard drive. In the Project 2010 installation, custom options are kept out of the way unless you need them. But you’ll learn how to find and use them to choose what you want to install, and where.

After installation, you must activate Project so Microsoft can verify that your copy is legal. Unactivated, Project runs only 25 times and then only with limited features. Activation is quick and doesn’t divulge any of your personal information. ...