old versions of Microsoft Office don't work in Windows 10 20h2

[Sergiaws]

I needed to use a computer with Win10 20h2. I wanted to open a word document and I have portable versions of Office 2003 and 2007. I tried with both versions, but both Offices give me an error and none opened the document. Someone know how to use old versions of Office again? I remember that these portables worked in Windows 10 19h2, but in 20h2 even Windows Deffender detects Office 2007 portable as a virus.

[DanR20]

Does Office 2003 have Service Pack 3? I just updated to 21HI and the Office 2003 installation is still working wonderfully but the trick that I found was to not install SP3 but use a fresh install only. The one update is Office 2007 compatibility pack with SP3 and all the security patches.

On the message boards those having problems with Office 2003 and Win10 all seem to have SP3 installed so that's why I tried using it out of the box only and it's never been a problem. Of course there's no security patches either so I wouldn't recommend downloading and opening unknown/untrusted files. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by DanR20

[UCyborg]

Office 2003 with SP3 works as far as I can tell on Win10 20H2.

But MS never made those suites portable. Normally, both 2003 and 2007 versions require activation as well unless it was installed with volume license product key or we're talking about hacked Office, latter sounds like exactly what OP has.

Edited May 31, 2021 by UCyborg