Office Auto Update / Office XP / Windows XP Home

[Kevin L. Bass]

Dear Sir or Madam:

When running automatic update it progresses to 53% (at
first I thought it
was 40%) and I get the following error:

"The Office Update Catalog cannot be displayed"

"The Office Update site is currently experiencing some
technical
difficulties and is unable to check for updates."

This is the error message I get on my IE status bar right
before the above
error page appears:

"Opening page
http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/error.aspx?
Code=3&Error='s_dicStrings'
is null or not an object..."

Maybe that can shed some light on the problem. Just some
additional
information. When uninstalling Office XP and
reinstalling and running
automatic update for the first time I got two (2) script
error dialogs. I
should have debugged so I could provide further
information but I selected
"NO" to both.

 

[Susan Ramlet]

Hi, Kevin,

See if any of these suggestions helps:

1. Deleting IE Cache.

In cases where the temporary Internet explorer cache folder is running out
of allotted space, you may be not be able to download the Office Update
control. You can free up space by deleting the Temporary Internet Files
cache using the "Delete Files" button in the "General" tab under "Tools |
Internet options" menu.

2. Check IE's security settings.

Ensure that your IE browser allows / prompts registering of signed Active X
controls. Follow the steps below to add http://office.microsoft.com to the
list of Trusted Sites so that the Office Update ActiveX control can load
successfully.

1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options and then click the
Security tab.
2. In the list of Web content zones, click the Trusted sites icon.
3. Click Sites.
4. Clear the Require Server verification (https) for all sites in this
zone check box .
5. In the Add this Website to the zone box, enter the Internet address
http://office.microsoft.com.
6. Click Add.
7. Click OK, and then click OK again.

3. Deleting Office Update detection folder.

Also try deleting the C:\Program Files\OfficeUpdate11 folder which contains
the detection catalog and downloaded patch files used by the site.


4. Deleting ActiveX control.

The Office Update ActiveX control can get into a bad state in certain
conditions and should be reinstalled. First close IE. Then delete the file
c:\Windows\opuc.dll for Windows 9X and Windows XP and c:\Winnt\opuc.dll for
Windows 2000.

Try going back to http://office.microsoft.com/OfficeUpdate/ to perform
detection again. If it still fails, follow the steps below.


5. Temporarily turn off Personal Firewall, Download Manager, Pop-up
blockers and Web Acceleration products

If there are Personal Firewall, Download Manager, Pop-up blockers, or Web
Accelerator products installed, temporarily turn off these products and try
detection again. Popular products include:

· Get Right (Download Manager)
· Download Accelerator
· Zone Labs (Personal Firewall)
· Norton Personal Firewall
· McAfee Personal firewall

 

[Hans-Dieter Dolling]

Hi Susan,

I think *this* is the soulution of the problem:

1. Check the version of your windows installer %windir%\sytem32\msiexec.exe
the version must 2.0 or later.
The best is to download the latest and then install it.

2. Read and do what Brain has written:

=========================================================
I think you'll find this will be the answer.

The essence of the problem is probably that the registry still has the
installer entries for Office XP as originally installed. What you need to do
is delete the first of those registry items
to fool the system into thinking that Office XP is not installed. When you
then install it again, it should keep all of the original settings.

Click Start/Run then type Regedit and click OK.

1) Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products and locate the product name
(in the right hand panel) There is an entry for every product called
ProductName.
2) Rename the product id key (the long string of numbers in the left-hand
panel) to something starting with an underscore (in case anything goes wrong
and you need to reinstate it).
3) Reinstall the product and download/install the updates.

There should be no need to reboot the PC.

Brian
=======================================================
The original message is in microsoft.public.office.setup

I hope this is helpfull, but you'll do it on your own risk.

Dieter
PS: Sorry for my plain english.

 

[xfile]

Hi:

Thanks for the tip. I went on to check my installer version at stated
location and version is: 2.0.2600.1106 I don't know if this version is
right.

I also went to the location for product id key and this is what I found in
my registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\9040111900063D11C8EF10054038389C

ProductName is: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003

I am not sure if this is the registry you said is to be renamed and then
re-install the office.

Also for Susan:

I un-install Office 2003 and then re-install it including removing Office11
Update folder - nothing is changed. Update wizard stopped at 53%

Does anyone know what is the program checking or running at 53%? I figured,
if we know what is it running or checking at that point, we may have a
better chance to pin-point the issue.

 

[Hans-Dieter Dolling]

Hi xfile,

at first, what I describe works for Win2K and OfficeXP. I dosn't have Office
2003,
so I can't speak for this Office version.

Thanks for the tip. I went on to check my installer version at stated
location and version is: 2.0.2600.1106 I don't know if this version is
right.

My version of WindowsInstaller under Win2k is 2.0.2600.1183.
But your Installer seems to be a new one. I believe your OS is WinXP ?

I also went to the location for product id key and this is what I found in
my registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\9040111900063D11C8EF10054038389C

ProductName is: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003

I am not sure if this is the registry you said is to be renamed and then
re-install the office.

I think this is the right ID-Key. If Office 2003 has a repair feature at
setup you can try this step-by-step:
1. Rename the ID-Key to _9040111900063D11C8EF10054038389C
2. Insert the Office CD and start the repair feature from the CD-Setup
3. Got to Office-Online and try to upate (the CD must be inserted during
update)

You will do this all by your own risk.

Good luck
Dieter

 

[xfile]

Ok, thanks.

Hi xfile,

at first, what I describe works for Win2K and OfficeXP. I dosn't have Office
2003,
so I can't speak for this Office version.


My version of WindowsInstaller under Win2k is 2.0.2600.1183.
But your Installer seems to be a new one. I believe your OS is WinXP ?


I think this is the right ID-Key. If Office 2003 has a repair feature at
setup you can try this step-by-step:
1. Rename the ID-Key to _9040111900063D11C8EF10054038389C
2. Insert the Office CD and start the repair feature from the CD-Setup
3. Got to Office-Online and try to upate (the CD must be inserted during
update)

You will do this all by your own risk.

Good luck
Dieter