The company I work for has a site license for Office 2000. My department does quite a few office installs/reinstalls. The copies of office I burn don't last very long because they get scratched to all hell.

I have our corporate serial number memorized, but it's a pain for the other guys to type it in every single time they install. Is there a way to make our serial key automatically fill in the fields when the installer starts up?

Why don't you copy the contents of the CD to a folder on your domain, one that only you and other admins can access, and install from there? You'll have to check, but I know you can install 2k without entering a cd key by creating an unattended ini file... That feature probably exists in Office 2k as well.

This link should cover you question:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q284273&

Be sure to read through it first, and then make your decision on how to deploy it across your network.

The other options is to buy a copy of ghost and do the install once and never worry about it..

Install Office 2000 (2K) without inputting a product key – How To make a CD that automatically fills in your product ID follow the steps below:

Copy the contents of your Office 2000 CD to a folder on your Hard Drive

In the root directory will be a SETUP.INI file, edit this file

Find the [OPTIONS] section, add a line PIDKEY=(your product key no dashes)

Now burn the contents onto a blank CD. Windows will now install without the need for you to insert the product key.

It's best to make your Office an administrative install off the network AND THEN MAKE SURE NO ONE HAS ANY OFFICE CD'S EXCEPT FOR A BURNED COPY OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE INSTALL! HEED MY WORDS!

Plus if you install it from the network (as mentioned in the link) you can centrally manage the patches and push out updates via Active Directory and/or scripting. You can also install on demand without needing the CD all the time.