Office Products don't open properly after XP reinstall

[Gene Goldenfeld]

I reinstalled XP Home a couple of days ago, installed all the updates and
security fixes, and then uninstalled and reinstalled NIS 2003, which had
caused an internet connection problem. Now, in trying to open the old
Word, Excel, etc. short cuts, it goes to Windows Installer and asks for the
CD the first time, then returns with a short cut error with the text, "the
patch package cannot be opened..." When I go to the application file
itself, for example Winword.exe, it goes to the installer and then I get a
Microsoft Word 9.0 error message that says: "An error occred and this
feature is no longer functioning properly. Please run Setup and select
"Repair..." to restore this function. To make matters worse, the two CDROM
drives chime and spin but the window doesn't open, either directly or by
clicking on the drive (they do work on bootup, last I checked). What do
you suggest? Which Setup and Repair is the message referring to (I don't
see one in the Office folder)? Thanks,

Gene Goldenfeld

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Gene,

This can be caused by several things, but to correct it you will need
to zap the Windows Installer entry in the Registry and reinstall
Office.

Obtain the following utility and use it to remove only the reference
to Office. Once that is complete then you'll need to reinstall Office
to point the Windows Installer to your installation CD:

MS Installer Cleanup utility for Office 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=238413

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Gene Goldenfeld]

Hi Gene,

This can be caused by several things, but to correct it you will need
to zap the Windows Installer entry in the Registry and reinstall
Office.

Obtain the following utility and use it to remove only the reference
to Office. Once that is complete then you'll need to reinstall Office
to point the Windows Installer to your installation CD:

MS Installer Cleanup utility for Office 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=238413

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

Beth,
Thanks for the idea, but unfortunately this utility does not work with
XP, only with versions of the installer earlier than 2.0. This is
mentioned in the second paragraph under More Information in that doc. One
thing I did notice, tho, was that the Msi.dll file was missing from the
Windows\System32 folder on the main hard drive. I copied the version from
my storage drive, which changed some of the error messages but not the
operation. Any other ideas? Thanks,

Gene

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Gene,

Sorry, I meant Office 2000 instead of Office XP.

Here are additional instructions if you need them:

In the Registry route to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Under this key you will find subkeys and the name of the subkeys are
GUIDs. (For example: {1080B04F-11E8-494E-9603-41168D4PF198})

You'll need to select each one and find the GUID for Office 2000. You
should find this in the right pane under "Display Name".

Once found you can copy/paste the GUID by right-clicking it and
selecting "Rename". In Rename mode, right-click again and select Copy.
You can also use the "Copy Key Name" command however that will copy
the full path and all you need is the GUID.

To paste the GUID in the Command Prompt Window (after you route to the
location of MSIZap and type: MSIZAP T), click the Control menu icon
(top left corner in the Title bar) and you'll find Paste under the
Edit menu.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Gene Goldenfeld]

Thanks, Beth! Those instructions are clear for me and the process went
quickly. Office was at the top of the list. The SR-1 is downloading as I
write. Thanks again,

Gene Goldenfeld