Rebuilding my system from 22H2 'version upgrade' - No MS Office now  

I've had my trusty (although "older") PC for quite a while as you can see when I say I've continued "upgrading" (as I thought wise) from Windows 7 Pro through the Windows 10 Pro free upgrade and then all 15 of the following 'upgrades' until this past weekend's "adventures" with Windows 10 Pro ver. 22H2 'version upgrade' was allowed to occur (sorta like a bad storm occurs, IMHO...)
So after this version upgrade was installed, I got a message that I was required to reboot... But when it came back up again, I now find that I no longer have my trusty old MS Office 2010 Professional Plus software that I bought WAY back when Office 2010 was 'brand new'. I'd probably also better say that this is a 3-PC license that cost me BIG TIME (>$750 back then), and while I HAVE tried out Office 2013 Pro and Office 2016 Pro on two of my other PCs (which I gave the first to my daughter-in-law, and which had the Office 2013 installation on it... and the second to my wife who wanted the Office 2016 software). But in 'assessing' these versions I found I just preferred Office 2010, which is arguably because I've used it for so long, and let's just say it politely: "I'm older than most of you all out there" , and "damned set in my ways".
But it now appears I cannot re-install what WAS working on this PC just prior to the 22H2 upgrade, because apparently MS doesn't 'like' it being activated once again after all these years. Simply put, they will not allow me to activate this software no matter what I try. I've done about everything I can think of, but even though this 3 PC license has been used ONLY once (on THIS PC), activation is just not happening... And thinking I was "just SO smart", I did a full backup of this installation of Windows 10 just one day prior to allowing the 22H2 upgrade to happen, and I'm about to try to restore from this backup which I made by using the 'old Windows 7 backup' app found inside of Windows 10 AND which also makes a 'system image', all of which is stored on a 4 TB USB 3.0 external disk I use SOLELY for my backups. I guess this is my last gasp effort to try to 'resurrect' Office 2010 but it occurs to me - if they are so intent on 'killing' my old Office 2010, WILL I actually get it back by restoring from the backup, or (if I must) restore the whole darned thing from the system image on the external disk? Restoring from the image just takes me back to the earlier version of Windows, right? So what happens if/when I install this 'upgrade' again? Frankly, I'm not so trusting of "The Boys from Redmond" any more... and all I want is to get my old Office installation back. But so far I've spent WELL over 8 or more hours over two days trying everything I could think of, even attempting to re-install Office directly from the DVD disk that I bought from Microsoft back in - like - uh .. 2011 or something ...(talk about time-consuming! DAMN!) But this is all the 'activation' thing at Microsoft and nothing else, so - am I gonna get this back by restoring from backup or am I just being 'forced' to go buy a newer version of Office?
Not nice, boys.. Office 2010 WAS working, why can't I continue to use it?

You may try to download it first from here, and se if it works.

Microsoft Office 2010 (64-bit) Download

Office 2010 Download
Office 2010 is no longer supported, but you can still install and use it as long as you have an Office 2010 installation disc and a product key for it.

Thanks for the suggestion but I've done this already... and no joy.. But since I am seemingly wasting time now, I guess I have to make a decision: if I want to stay with MS Office, then they're forcing me to buy something newer and I just have to "get over myself" and learn to live with Office 2019 (found a version that's "only" $200...) OR - forego Office entirely. But I am certain about one thing... I refuse to 'subscribe' to Office 365 for $99/yr especially since 'retirement' means I don't really need it... Gonna try one last thing and it it fails, then I'm thinking I'll say good bye to Office and just move on. OpenOffice is capable enough for me.

ColoradoKid said:

I've had my trusty (although "older") PC for quite a while as you can see when I say I've continued "upgrading" (as I thought wise) from Windows 7 Pro through the Windows 10 Pro free upgrade and then all 15 of the following 'upgrades' until this past weekend's "adventures" with Windows 10 Pro ver. 22H2 'version upgrade' was allowed to occur (sorta like a bad storm occurs, IMHO...)
So after this version upgrade was installed, I got a message that I was required to reboot... But when it came back up again, I now find that I no longer have my trusty old MS Office 2010 Professional Plus software that I bought WAY back when Office 2010 was 'brand new'. I'd probably also better say that this is a 3-PC license that cost me BIG TIME (>$750 back then), and while I HAVE tried out Office 2013 Pro and Office 2016 Pro on two of my other PCs (which I gave the first to my daughter-in-law, and which had the Office 2013 installation on it... and the second to my wife who wanted the Office 2016 software). But in 'assessing' these versions I found I just preferred Office 2010, which is arguably because I've used it for so long, and let's just say it politely: "I'm older than most of you all out there" , and "damned set in my ways".
But it now appears I cannot re-install what WAS working on this PC just prior to the 22H2 upgrade, because apparently MS doesn't 'like' it being activated once again after all these years. Simply put, they will not allow me to activate this software no matter what I try. I've done about everything I can think of, but even though this 3 PC license has been used ONLY once (on THIS PC), activation is just not happening... And thinking I was "just SO smart", I did a full backup of this installation of Windows 10 just one day prior to allowing the 22H2 upgrade to happen, and I'm about to try to restore from this backup which I made by using the 'old Windows 7 backup' app found inside of Windows 10 AND which also makes a 'system image', all of which is stored on a 4 TB USB 3.0 external disk I use SOLELY for my backups. I guess this is my last gasp effort to try to 'resurrect' Office 2010 but it occurs to me - if they are so intent on 'killing' my old Office 2010, WILL I actually get it back by restoring from the backup, or (if I must) restore the whole darned thing from the system image on the external disk? Restoring from the image just takes me back to the earlier version of Windows, right? So what happens if/when I install this 'upgrade' again? Frankly, I'm not so trusting of "The Boys from Redmond" any more... and all I want is to get my old Office installation back. But so far I've spent WELL over 8 or more hours over two days trying everything I could think of, even attempting to re-install Office directly from the DVD disk that I bought from Microsoft back in - like - uh .. 2011 or something ...(talk about time-consuming! DAMN!) But this is all the 'activation' thing at Microsoft and nothing else, so - am I gonna get this back by restoring from backup or am I just being 'forced' to go buy a newer version of Office?
Not nice, boys.. Office 2010 WAS working, why can't I continue to use it?

So how exactly does it not activate? Error message?

Have you tried by phone?
Note on that page:

Important: When you select the option to activate Office by telephone, you might receive this error: Telephone activation is no longer supported for your product. To activate Office by telephone, you can call the numbers for your specific country/region listed in this article.

That leads to here:

Making a long story short... I have now determined why I cannot activate MS Office 2010... Nor ANY of my multiple licenses of MS Office by any means...
A bit of 'investigation' has revealed that a "former employee" (obviously 'disgruntled' is likely the term) had been installing Office on several PCs he was charged with 'servicing' and (seemingly) pocketing the costs, "under the table"...
So now I find that all eleven of my licenses have been 'disabled' by Microsoft and thus cannot be re-activated.
Since this is the first year that I have not had an "IT team" at hand, this is what I believe I've determined after a fairly involved 'investigation' over the past several days. Retirement has its rewards... and also a few disappointments.
So I will buy yet another license of Office and since this will no longer be in the software 'cache' but in my home, I'm going to presume that once I do a full 'clean' install of 22H2 and install the new version, I feel pretty certain this will no longer be a problem, and I've just wasted some of all of your time... Lessons learned...

So what you are stating is that you had Enterprise licenses and blaming someone else for this issue. Why pay for a license for something that you spend more on in the long run instead of going for the monthly cost. I pay only $70 a year for the full Office package and never worry about it going out of date.