Office 2003 Updates for Excel KB978474 + Outlook KB979771 won'tinstall

[Peter]

Hello,

the Office 2003 Updates of March 2010 for Excel KB978474 + Outlook
KB979771 won't install.

Seems I'm not the only one to whom that happens.
No suggestions I found helped. The updates simply say the installation
failed.

KB949074 was NOT installed, so I tried THAT first - fails too.

Common to all is that installation trundles endlessly, until it
finally says it would be preparing - only to fail a few seconds later.

I'm completely clueless.

 

[Harriette]

Hello,

the Office 2003 Updates of March 2010 for Excel KB978474 + Outlook
KB979771 won't install.

Seems I'm not the only one to whom that happens.
No suggestions I found helped. The updates simply say the installation
failed.

KB949074 was NOT installed, so I tried THAT first - fails too.

Common to all is that installation trundles endlessly, until it
finally says it would be preparing - only to fail a few seconds later.

I'm completely clueless.

.

 

[Harriette]

Hello,

the Office 2003 Updates of March 2010 for Excel KB978474 + Outlook
KB979771 won't install.

Seems I'm not the only one to whom that happens.
No suggestions I found helped. The updates simply say the installation
failed.

KB949074 was NOT installed, so I tried THAT first - fails too.

Common to all is that installation trundles endlessly, until it
finally says it would be preparing - only to fail a few seconds later.

I'm completely clueless.

Hi Peter, misery loves company. I posted an almost identical problem in the Office Updates discussion group and have not gotten an answer either.

The worst part is that I now have more than my fair share of downloaded
updates waiting to be installed and I can't remove them. I hoped that if I
cleared them away I could start over. Not so. Anyone know how to remove
downloads that will not install? (They do not appear in Add Remove programs
because they were not fully installed)

 

[LD55ZRA]

Do you get prompts something like "Updates are ready to be installed" or
something like that in your system tray? If so then clearly the updates are
cached in your SoftwareDistribution folder that is here:

<C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution>

You can empty the entire folder and a fresh one will be re-created when you
reboot.

You should also turn off your Automatic Updates so that they don't get
installed without your knowledge. If you are really interested in updates
then in your Security Center you could change the automatic updates to 2nd
or 3rd items:

Item 2: Download updates for me but let me choose when to install

Item 3: Notify me but don't automatically download or install them.

Personally, I have not bothered with these useless updates since SP3 was
released. These keep coming month after month but I don't see any evidence
that they are making my system any secure than it actually is.

If you need help to clear your Software Distribution folder then please let
me know and I will advise you further. Because this is a windows issue (not
a Microsoft Office problem) I don't want to complicate the issues here.

hth

 

[Peter]

Haven't been able to install ANY update for Office 2003 that was
released since then.
Message: "Update couldn't be installed".

Googled the whole internet - none of the possible causes / solutions
mentioned there
worked for me. The updates are not stuck as with some other users,
they are downloaded
and installation fails.

Really desperate now ...

P.

 

[chasd60]

Hello,

the Office 2003 Updates of March 2010 for Excel KB978474 + Outlook
KB979771 won't install.

Seems I'm not the only one to whom that happens.
No suggestions I found helped. The updates simply say the installation
failed.

KB949074 was NOT installed, so I tried THAT first - fails too.

Common to all is that installation trundles endlessly, until it
finally says it would be preparing - only to fail a few seconds later.

I'm completely clueless.

I found this on another forum and it worked well for me on 3 differen
PC's

-HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\OptionalComponents\MSFS.

Only when I gave the group 'Everyone' full permissions on folder
IMAIL, MAPI and MSFS did the update succeed. Now run the .exe for th
file. Hope this helps someone.