office products I can't get to run

[Ed]

I recently switched operating systems from ME to Windows
2K. Ever since the switchover, I have not been able to
open any of the office products. What is going on? Even
when I try to reinstall from the original CD I get an
error message. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Gyorgy Moldova [MCP, MVP]]

what error message do you get?

Thx,
G.

 

[William Plummer]

I just went through this. I couldn't reinstall MS Office 2K, I couldn't
even go back to Office 95 (basis of the license). It wouldn't even
uninstall. So, I bit the bullet and called the MS service number with my
credit card in hand. Although it took a full hour, most of which was on
hold or waiting for my computer to reboot as part of the procedure, in the
end they didn't charge because I was allowed one free "Installation
Incident" resolution.

The answer was to download and reinstall the Windows Installer program!
Then, I was able to reinstall Office 2K SR-1 from the CD.

They explained that as updates are installed and the registry updated to
match, it becomes impossible to go back to the base version. Reinstalling
the Installer wipes out the history and lets you start over! Good to know.

 

[Ed]

It is a popup that says "This patch package could not be
opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you
can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify
that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package."
As soon as I hit OK it disappears and nothing further
happens.

After the switchover I loaded MS Publisher from disc 2 of
the two disc set with no problems, but I can not get Word,
Excel, Access, and Outlook to work properly.