Good Grief! 2008 Update Process Too Painful

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Good grief! I have never had product updates from any manufacturer of any software I have ever used in 25 years of Mac-ing that were written as shoddily and behaved as poorly as MS Office 2008's!

But, sticking to the point for now, here are my questions:

1) If I remove then reinstall Office 2008, what is removed and what is preserved? I've read lots of threads, but nothing definitive emerges that assures me before I do it.

2) How can I do a custom install and still assure the updates will take? Do I really have to install the whole dang mess so that updates will work, even if I don't want or need or care to waste the disk space on foreign language proofing tools or MS Messenger?

Thank you for your responses.

- Kevin
(I'm trying real hard to maintain my cool, here, but I'm not doing so well, coz this is SO frustrating)

Here's some additional background:

After hours of reading threads on the various forums and after MANY failures of all attempts to update to my Office 2008*, I guess I must now resort to re-installing and praying that will resolve it. I tried a custom install of just the 2008 apps on top of my existing install, but still get the same error. Seems I must remove then re-install the entire thing, then pray some more, coz apparently even that was not good enough to resolve some users' issues. Thanks, MS!

So, what is removed and what is preserved during a remove and reinstall? If I back up my MAIN IDENTITY folder then replace the new one after reinstall, will that preserve my stuff? Will it reintroduce the "can't find software to update" bogus message that hasn't been fixed in over a year of complaints and user update hassles? (can you tell I'm really OVER this nonsense? I have REAL work to do, here!!!)

BTW, the ability to do custom installs is provided for users like me. I hardly ever do a standard install, coz there are almost always things I don't want in the offered package.** So, yes, I did not install all the languages. Some have said this was an issue, but I really don't WANT Dutch and German and French proofing tools. Do I really need to remove Office and do a COMPLETE install? Coz I really don't want MS Messenger, either. Will not opting for these squash any hope of ever installing updates in the future? Really? The various thread posters have been pulling my leg, right?

Is it just me, or are there other users who think this is absolutely inexcusable that we who have paid dearly for this software must jump thru burning hoops just to get their stuff to work as it's supposed to? And don't even ask me what I think the cost/benefit of Office 2008 is.

Writing software as major as an Office suite is extremely complicated. I know. And the number of variations and iterations of user environments out there is astronomical. But if small companies can make products that work in these same environments, then the Goliath certainly can. Four years in the making and one year of fixing and there are still a shocking number of crappy things going on - and I don't just mean the update processes that refuse to work if their feelings are hurt. I don't have these issues applying updates to Office 2007 on the PCs I manage (although I did have a Vista update issue slap me upside the face, which was pleasant).

I am really hopeful I can find the Holy Grail of ensuring updates that work. So, I appreciate you wading thru my expressed frustration as I deal with this and appeal for your sympathy - AND HELP!

- Kevin
</end rant>

 

[CyberTaz]

Have you checked the info here & on the related pages?

http://www.entourage.mvps.org/error/not_found.html

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

Thanks, Bob...

I did try many of the various items on different pages. On that page particularly, I did not try modifying the installer, since I'd rather this work correctly from Microsoft. Nor did I try running the install from the command line.

Last, I did not try trashing my Office folder and reinstalling, since that, and running the REMOVE OFFICE program, is the crux of my current question.

I may just bail on this whole thing and run a modified installer. But why this is still an issue is really bogus, yes?

Thank you for your reply. Any comments about remove/reinstall?

- Kevin

 

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

Okay, I just tried to of the more desparate workarounds - and both still failed with the exact same "a version of software required to install was not found" message.

I first tried running the installer from terminal and terminal reported the error!

I then modified the installer by changing the "found_valid_version" handler per the suggestion, saved everything and ran the modified installer and got the exact same error!!!!!!!

The ONLY thing I haven't done that's been suggested is remove and reinstall, and I have questions about how to do that which I still need answered. (see first post above)

More frustrated THAN EVER !! (yes, i'm shouting - sorry)

- Kevin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

More frustrated THAN EVER !! (yes, i'm shouting - sorry)

Out of curiosity, have you moved Office, installed it on a different
partition or used any application that removes localizations??
(especially the later).
I'd be interested to know,


Corentin

 

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

Out of curiosity, have you moved Office, installed it on a different

partition or used any application that removes localizations??
(especially the later).
I'd be interested to know,


Corentin

No. No. And sort of. I have manually removed language files wherever I found them to regain lost disk space. In Office 2008's case, I never installed them.

Can a custom install not install the proofing tools and still mung up the subsequent updates? Does that mean one should never custom install MS Office?

- Kevin

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

No. No. And sort of. I have manually removed language files wherever I
found them to regain lost disk space.

FYI, that's fairly dangerous for some application that do not like to
see resources gone missing.

In Office 2008's case, I never
installed them.

The installation process installs some localized resources.
If you remove them, the updater doesn't recognize the checksums on the
apps anymore and the update fails.

Can a custom install not install the proofing tools and still mung up
the subsequent updates? Does that mean one should never custom install
MS Office?

No, I'm not talking about proofing tools or anything you could custom
install. I'm talking about the .lproj inside the application resources.
Some utilities offer to remove these for you (and it is not a good idea
in many many cases).

Corentin

 

[Diane Ross]

See the Dos and Don'ts for a good install

<http://tinyurl.com/6cmyyc>

Check List to troubleshoot your install

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/install_08.html#checklist>

I'm off to try the updater myself and will report back.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

See the Dos and Don'ts for a good install

Though I finally ahd a shot at isntalling it myself on some of the Mac
here and it failed as well.
The Mac had perfectly clean Office install and no issue I could detect.
Clearly, the updater is getting on my nerves!!!!!!!!!

Corentin

 

[Diane Ross]

I'm off to try the updater myself and will report back.

Installed with no problems. I logged out/in with Shift key down to disable
all startup items. Installed from updater I downloaded from Mactopia.
Restarted and had no problems.

You can verify you are updated by checking under About Entourage or any
Office application "About" window.

How to Verify Office Files Were Modified

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/error/verify.html>

 

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

NONE of my questions were answered that I posted, but I finally got the updates to take by trashing my Applications > Microsoft Office 2008 folder and reinstalling a STANDARD install - NO CUSTOMIZATION!

After two hiccups installing 12.1.0 where I received two error msgs stating " 'Microsoft Office 2008 Update' doesn't understand the <<event sysodisA>> message." id did take and I moved on to the 12.1.7 update. It worked, but I have more installed than I wanted.

 

[Diane Ross]

After two hiccups installing 12.1.0 where I received two error msgs stating "
'Microsoft Office 2008 Update' doesn't understand the <<event sysodisA>>
message." id did take and I moved on to the 12.1.7 update. It worked, but I
have more installed than I wanted.

You got that error because you didn't read the directions to quit all
applications before updating.

I provided links that answered all your questions.

 

[NewAccountCozOldOneFailed]

You got that error because you didn't read the directions to quit all
applications before updating.

You're right - although 1) the other app was Safari (non-MS app), coz I continued to do research on my issues while the installer/updaters did their thing; 2) the error message was behind the installer's own window - unacceptably poor programming to allow this to happen. When this happens, how many users would think to move the installer window out of the way to check for other windows/msgs? That's the job of the programmer, not the user.

I provided links that answered all your questions.

I asked other questions I did not find answered in the links I read through, two especially important to me:
1) Does 'Remove Office' delete my user files? If I were to guess, I would say Yes. That's what I would want, if I chose to remove office. If it does not, or does not offer the user a choice, then that's MS shouldn't call it 'Remove'.

2) How can I customize my install of Office and not break future updates? I simply gave up on the hope of leaning my install and simply did a standard install, including all the stuff I don't want to waste space or cycles on.

Again, I found no answers to those questions - and still haven't. I simply gave up and quit fighting my assimilation into the Borg: take what they give you; standard install.

But thank you for your willingness to help, Diane. My posts may help others with my same issues and frustrations.

- Kevin

 

[Diane Ross]

You're right - although 1) the other app was Safari (non-MS app), coz I
continued to do research on my issues while the installer/updaters did their
thing; 2) the error message was behind the installer's own window -
unacceptably poor programming to allow this to happen. When this happens, how
many users would think to move the installer window out of the way to check
for other windows/msgs? That's the job of the programmer, not the user.

When other applications are open they can be damaged. Mostly has to do with
font issues. It's just good practice to quit ALL applications before running
a major updater.

This error happened because Leopard made a change in scripts that could be
run in installers just days before the updater was released. It was too late
for Microsoft to "fix" the change.

I asked other questions I did not find answered in the links I read through,
two especially important to me:
1) Does 'Remove Office' delete my user files? If I were to guess, I would say
Yes. That's what I would want, if I chose to remove office. If it does not, or
does not offer the user a choice, then that's MS shouldn't call it 'Remove'.

"Remove Office" is not supposed to remove your user files. However with all
processes like updates and removals, it's best to have backups.

Your data is stored in the Microsoft User Data folder in Documents. This is
not supposed to be touched by any process, but as you know $#@! happens.

I was working in iMove and tried to save a project. iMovie crashed and my
data was gone...poof! Never to be seen again. I even checked in the
invisible folder called 'lost & found' where files are supposed to go when
your system crashes.

2) How can I customize my install of Office and not break future updates? I
simply gave up on the hope of leaning my install and simply did a standard
install, including all the stuff I don't want to waste space or cycles on.

The amount of space you are saving is miniscule. You can customize Office
and not have problems. It's the modifying of the system that removes files
in Office that's the problem.