11.3.3 update won't apply to a certain machine

[Todd]

Greetings,

We have one MacBook Pro which will not accept the 11.3.3 update, even
after removing and reinstalling Office 2004 (by dragging the Microsoft
Office 2004 folder and AutoUpdate application to the trash), and then
attempting the update again. The error is (paraphrasing) "The installer
can't find an appropriate version of software to update." My
understanding is the 11.3.3 updater is a comprehensive rollup update,
and can apply to any version of Office 2004. Is there a particular file
the installer looks for to check for an appropriate version? (We worked
around this issue by copying an updated installation from another
machine to the afflicted machine, but we would like to know for future
reference.)

- Todd R

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Todd,

dragging the Microsoft Office folder to the trash does *not* mean removing
Office. To do that, you will need to use the Remove Office tool that can
normally be found in the Microsoft Office folder, under Additional
Tools>Remove Office. Since you no longer have that folder on your hard disk,
you will need to run the tool from the Office installer CD. After you've
done that, re-install Office and see if the 11.3.3 update works now. Also,
to be completely sure, check that you downloaded the right update; if you
have accidentally downloaded the update for a different language (like the
German version of Microsoft Office), the updater won't install. Better yet,
use the Microsoft AutoUpdate application that should be in your Applications
folder to make it download the latest updates for you.

Greetings,

We have one MacBook Pro which will not accept the 11.3.3 update, even
after removing and reinstalling Office 2004 (by dragging the Microsoft
Office 2004 folder and AutoUpdate application to the trash), and then
attempting the update again. The error is (paraphrasing) "The installer
can't find an appropriate version of software to update." My
understanding is the 11.3.3 updater is a comprehensive rollup update,
and can apply to any version of Office 2004. Is there a particular file
the installer looks for to check for an appropriate version? (We worked
around this issue by copying an updated installation from another
machine to the afflicted machine, but we would like to know for future
reference.)

- Todd R

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***

 

[Todd]

Thanks Michel, for the quick reply.

I confess I'd forgotten about the Remove Office tool; we'll give that a
shot next time. (Though I have opinions about the implementation of
Office that requires such a tool; since it installs via drag-and-drop,
it should handle reinstallation the same way.) We definitely have the
right version of the update; the same updater has successfully updated
many installations here. Because we have many machines to update, we
prefer to download the updater once and have users grab it from a file
server, rather than have a bunch running independent AutoUpdate
downloads.

Thanks again for your assistance!

dragging the Microsoft Office folder to the trash does *not* mean removing
Office. To do that, you will need to use the Remove Office tool that can
normally be found in the Microsoft Office folder, under Additional
Tools>Remove Office. Since you no longer have that folder on your hard disk,
you will need to run the tool from the Office installer CD. After you've
done that, re-install Office and see if the 11.3.3 update works now. Also,
to be completely sure, check that you downloaded the right update; if you
have accidentally downloaded the update for a different language (like the
German version of Microsoft Office), the updater won't install. Better yet,
use the Microsoft AutoUpdate application that should be in your Applications
folder to make it download the latest updates for you.

- Todd R

 

[JE McGimpsey]

since it installs via drag-and-drop,
it should handle reinstallation the same way.

That would be counter to how any other Mac application behaves.

Preferences are never deleted or overwritten by dragging application
folders to the trash.

The reason to run Remove Office is that the most likely source of
conflict is corrupt or otherwise incompatible preferences. You could
manually delete them from the

~:Libraryreference:Microsoft

folder (where ~ is your home folder) rather than running the app, with
very likely as much success.

 

[Diane Ross]

We have one MacBook Pro which will not accept the 11.3.3 update, even
after removing and reinstalling Office 2004 (by dragging the Microsoft
Office 2004 folder and AutoUpdate application to the trash), and then
attempting the update again.

Some Entourage users have found that running the Apple combo updater again,
will fix odd problems like this. Download the combo updater from Apple and
run it again rather than using Software Update. Doing so overwrites
potentially problem-causing files.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update
(PPC)
<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11795&cat
=1&platform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8PPC.dmg>



Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update
(Intel)

<http://wsidecar.apple.com/cgi-bin/nph-reg3rdpty2.pl/product=11797&
cat=1&platform=osx&method=sa/MacOSXUpdCombo10.4.8Intel.dmg>


--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>