'please wait while windows configures...' message on vista machine

[Glen]

Every time I launch Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel, or Access (The whole
office 2007 suite except for Outlook) I get the message, "please wait while
windows configures microsoft office enterprise 2007" In Outlook I get the
same message anytime I send or receive an email. I find tons of posts about
this problem and no solutions. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling,
using the 'install clean up' tool, repairing, office diagnostics... nothing
fixes this. Now the file associations aren't even working. A .doc file
isn't even associated with Word anymore.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

 

[Eric A.]

There are many reasons this issue can happen, so your problem may not be
related to others that you have found.

It should be noted that the windows installer cleanup utility should not be
used with Office 2007 due to it's multi MSI architecture.


Please try this.

Uninstall office through add/remove programs.
Follow the steps listed in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928218/en-us to
completly remove any orphaned reg keys and files.

Reinstall office.

 

[Glen]

This process didn't help. All the problems I had before still exist. Any
other options?

 

[Glen]

This process didn't help. All the same problems still exist. Any other ideas?

 

[Eric A.]

Hmm..

That is strange indeed.

I would maybe run through the same process again but delete these entire
keys.

hklm\software\microsoft\office
hkcu\software\microsoft\office

When it tries to reconfigure, if you look in the eventvwr are you seeing
anything?

 

[Glen]

Still no improvement. Now the file associations for the office applications
are gone. Further, when launching Excel in addition to the 'please wait
while Windows configures...' message I also get an information box that reads
"stdole.tlb".

All the applications work fine once they work past the 'Please wait...'
installation message, but the configure process adds a lot of time to the
launch and is extra annoying when it pops up whenver I send or receive an
email.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Eric A.]

When it tries to reconfigure, if you look in the eventvwr are you seeing
anything?

You may want to open a case with MS at 800-936-4900.

 

[jabloomf1230]

Try deleting the existing shortcuts to all the Office 2007 programs and
then create new ones on the desktop manually. This sometimes works and
gets rid of the idiotic "configuring" message.

Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution to the file association
issue, since those file types are associated with MS Office 2003 and
earlier versions. Office 2007 has associations that end in an "x", like
docx. You can open every Office 2003 and older file with the Office 2007
programs and save them with the new file type, but that could be very
time consuming.

MS has really dropped the ball on this problem. What's even more
interesting is that there are numerous suggestions online as how to fix
this problem, but none of them work for everybody and most don't work
for anybody.

JB

 

[Alphabool]

I had a similar problem with Office 2007 when installing over Office 2003,
and it turned out to be a problem with the registry. Try downloading the free
CCleaner at http://ccleaner.com/download, and run the registry cleaner. There
should be a fair number of issues, I fixed them all. This banished the
configuration screen for good!

I'm quite confident that this solution will work for other users since there
is no machine-specific problem - CCleaner should find the culprit.

Good luck with this irritating bug.

 

[Alphabool]

Every time I launch Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel, or Access (The whole
office2007suite except for Outlook) I get the message, "please wait while
windowsconfigures microsoft officeenterprise2007" In Outlook I get the
same message anytime I send or receive an email. I find tons of posts about
this problem and no solutions. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling,
using the 'install clean up' tool, repairing, office diagnostics... nothing
fixes this. Now the file associations aren't even working. A .doc file
isn't even associated with Word anymore.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

I had a similar problem with Office 2007 when installing over Office
2003, and it turned out to be a problem with the registry. Try
downloading the free CCleaner at http://ccleaner.com/download, and run
the registry cleaner. There should be a fair number of issues, I fixed
them all. This banished the configuration screen for good!

I'm quite confident that this solution will work for other users since
there is no machine-specific problem - CCleaner should find the
culprit.

Good luck with this irritating bug.

 

[diamondgeo]

Every time I launch Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel, or Access (The wholeoffice2007suite except for Outlook) I get the message, "pleasewaitwhilewindowsconfiguresmicrosoftofficeenterprise2007"  In Outlook I get the
same message anytime I send or receive an email.  I find tons of posts about
this problem and no solutions.  I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling,
using the 'install clean up' tool, repairing,officediagnostics... nothing
fixes this.  Now the file associations aren't even working.  A .doc file
isn't even associated with Word anymore.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

Here is the ABSOLUTELY GARUNTEED Solution to this problem:
1. Un-Install the complete Microsoft Office
2. Use CCleaner to clean up the mess Microsoft is too lazy to un-
install. Clean Files, System and Registry with CCleaner.
3. Go Here: www.OpenOffice.org
4. Download and Install the latest version of OpenOffice for FREE
(don't let this fool you it is just as full-featured as Microsoft
Office without all the BLOAT).
5. Repackage and sell Microsoft Office on E-Bay
6. Use the proceeds of the sale to make a donation to OpenOffice.org
(You WILL want to do this because of the no-worries product you now
have in place of Microsoft Office.
7. Write a nasty letter to Microsoft and tell them to shove their
products up their NOSE but do not tell the the replacement you have
found - They will try to BUY it!
8. Keep your new office apps updated because they are being improved
monthly and there is never a cost to you.
9. Smile - Don't worry, Be Happy

 

[Doc Pirkle]

Every time I launch Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel, or Access (The
wholeoffice2007suite except for Outlook) I get the message,
"pleasewaitwhilewindowsconfiguresmicrosoftofficeenterprise2007" In Outlook
I get the
same message anytime I send or receive an email. I find tons of posts
about
this problem and no solutions. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling,
using the 'install clean up' tool, repairing,officediagnostics... nothing
fixes this. Now the file associations aren't even working. A .doc file
isn't even associated with Word anymore.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

Here is the ABSOLUTELY GARUNTEED Solution to this problem:
1. Un-Install the complete Microsoft Office
2. Use CCleaner to clean up the mess Microsoft is too lazy to un-
install. Clean Files, System and Registry with CCleaner.
3. Go Here: www.OpenOffice.org
4. Download and Install the latest version of OpenOffice for FREE
(don't let this fool you it is just as full-featured as Microsoft
Office without all the BLOAT).
5. Repackage and sell Microsoft Office on E-Bay
6. Use the proceeds of the sale to make a donation to OpenOffice.org
(You WILL want to do this because of the no-worries product you now
have in place of Microsoft Office.
7. Write a nasty letter to Microsoft and tell them to shove their
products up their NOSE but do not tell the the replacement you have
found - They will try to BUY it!
8. Keep your new office apps updated because they are being improved
monthly and there is never a cost to you.
9. Smile - Don't worry, Be Happy

While that solution will work, it doesn't fix the problem for those of us
wanting to use MS Office. I'm having the same
problem and I suspect Vista is the culprit as it happened to Acrobat Pro
until I uninstalled it waiting for a fix. If I'm patient,
the problem will resolve so I can go to work. It's more of a hinderance than
anything else. I'm sure Microsoft is aware
of this and I've even been online with Tech Support to no avail. They say
uninstall office and reinstall it. Hell, if you do that
enough times, you have to start dealing with Bopal, India and explain why
you installed it so many times Microsoft should
have a policy like Adobe, whereas you can 'deactivate' your product until
you activate it again.

I've tried Open Office, however, I just don't like using open source
software due to it's vulnerbilities. It would be very easy for
some crackpot to insert some code that will do harm or even snoop on your
system. I wouldn't use Open Office unless it
wasn't open source. Then I would use it. Until then, I'll have to stick
with Microshit.

 

[gap001]

I've tried Open Office, however, I just don't like using open source
software due to it's vulnerbilities. It would be very easy for
some crackpot to insert some code that will do harm or even snoop on your
system. I wouldn't use Open Office unless it
wasn't open source. Then I would use it. Until then, I'll have to stick
with Microshit.

What make u so sure MicroShit won't stick some shit in their software?
With Open Source softwares, you can actually look at the original source
code and determine if contains suspicious "code". Because of that, Open
source softwares are the most secure and hack-free softwares. It however,
may contain bugs, but you shouldn't confuse bug with "hacking code".
Microshit softwares as the matter of fact, deliberately contains shitty,
secret code, bugs that make it work only with Microshit or whatever Microshit
wanted. That's why I called Microshit.

Use Open Source my friend, there is no secret in it.

 

[Tony Rony]

I would like to "chime-in" to this post. I am having the IDENTICAL symptoms
reported by Glen after installing MS Office Pro Enterprise Edition 2003 on a
Vista Home Premium system. My system has had all publicly-released Windows
updates applied up to, but not including Vista SP1.

Although I've not tried any of the solutions mentioned in this thread, I
have observed other things that I'd like to add and I'd like to mention the
limited success I've had with my own attempts to fix this.

As I said, I have not tried de-installing and re-installing because the
posts in this thread tell me that will not work. My Office 2003 install was
done under a user account. I considered de-installing and then re-installing
under my Vista Admin account (vice my usual user account), but I've not tried
that yet.

Just as Glen said, each time I try to launch one of the applications in the
Office 2003 suite (I didn't try Outlook, though), the Windows installer
starts and displays the message, ‘Please wait while Windows configures
Microsoft Office ...,’ etc. After a progress bar advances for 10 seconds or
so, the Office application I tried to open eventually appears as you would
have expected. I should add this: This problem also occurs after starting my
system and logging into my user account; without my doing anything
whatsoever, the Windows installer starts shortly after my desktop appears.
When it's done with whatever it's doing (in about 10 seconds), the Windows
installer window simply closes.

However, I have noted the following additional info:
• Opening a file with the appropriate filename extension (.doc, .ppt,
..xls) DOES launch the appropriate application properly, meaning the extra
Windows installer gyrations do not occur.

• Using the Start button selections under Start / Programs / Microsoft
Office / <application name> will cause the extra Windows installer step.

• Use Explorer and go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11. Then
double-click any of the application executables (EXCEL.EXE, WINWORD.EXE,
POWERPNT.EXE, etc.). The appropriate application WILL launch properly.

My fix? It's not a solution ... Just a work-around. I've created shortcuts
that point to the executables in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11.
This helps a great deal, but as I said, it's not a full-blown solution.

I hope we can find out more about this. Good luck, folks.

Tony

 

[Tony Rony]

I fixed it!!! More below ...

[I didn't quote the whole message. Look above for my previous post from
"Tony Rony" for a full description of this issue along with other
observations I made.]

SUMMARY: If my situation is typical, then users with Vista Home Premium
should install Office Pro Enterprise Edition 2003 using their Administrator
account. I believe that installation of the various service packs and
updates should be performed via Microsoft Update, not via the service pack
CDs that may be included with your purchase of Office. There are some
caveats, though. A fuller explanation of my experience follows.

After submitting my first post on this problem (above), I observed another
anomaly with my installation of Office 2003. I should add that this annoying
interruption ("Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office ...")
would also occur whenever I used the question mark icon on the title bar that
can be used for context-sensitive help with some dialog boxes. Merely
clicking the question mark would start the Windows installer in the same way
it did when trying to launch any Office 2003 application from the Start /
Programs / Microsoft Office menu.

DETAILS: Here's a full explanation of how I fixed this Office 2003 problem
on my Vista Home Premium system; my initial installation was accomplished
using a user account and SP1 and SP2 were installed via the CDs included with
my Office 2003 package. SP3 and the remaining updates were installed via
Microsoft Update.

To fix my initial installation, first I tried the installation repair tool
from Control Panel (Programs), but that did nothing. When the installation
repair tool from Control Panel had no effect, I used my user account to
de-install Office and then I re-installed it using my Administrator account.
However, after the installation completed, I was extremely disappointed to
see that the darn message kept re-appearing: "Please wait while Windows
configures Microsoft Office ...". In fact, although I didn't count, I felt
the installer may have been in a loop as this message window repeatedly
closed and re-appeared approximately a half dozen times with just a brief
pause between each occurrence. I waited patiently to see if it would stop.
I cannot be sure whether it was actually completely finished or if I caught
it between one of the pauses, but I took the opportunity during one of the
pauses to check for updates via Microsoft Update instead of using the two
service pack CDs that were packaged with my Office software.

Note: When I installed Office 2003 the first time using my user account, I
also used the two service pack CDs that were included with my Office
software. However, when I re-installed using my Administrator account, I
suspected a better version of these service packs might be available online
and this is why I ran the updates via Microsoft Update instead of using the
two CDs. I realize that choosing Microsoft Update to install the service
packs and updates may not have had an impact, but this was the method I used.

I should add that I had to run Microsoft Update twice to catch all the
applicable updates; three Service Packs were found and installed, followed by
eight (8) regular updates.

After the updates, I rebooted and logged in with my user account. DAMN!
There it goes again! I didn’t count this time either, but the “Please wait
while Windows configures Microsoft Office ..." message repeatedly appeared.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity (probably just two minutes, or
so), I interrupted the process by clicking Cancel.

To be sure things are stable, I logged off and rebooted a couple of times,
but to my surprise and joy, the problem seems to be totally fixed. The
annoying message no longer appears after logging on and I can now launch the
Office 2003 applications as you’d usually do from the Start menu. I’ve not
yet seen any circumstance under which the problem has re-surfaced.

Good luck, all. I hope this works for you.

 

[Tami]

For me, this problem only occurs for microsoft users with a "limited" access
user account. The administrator account is fine. Does this mean all 5 users
on my computer have to have administrative privileges to use Microsoft
Office? Not an acceptable solution in my opinion. Has anyone else
experienced this?

 

[Rick Payton]

I had this problem on an Acer laptop with Vista. It includes Acer Edata
Security Manager which has an `outlook add-in`. Changing the following
registry key;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\OAddin.Addin]
"FriendlyName"="eDataSecurity Outlook Add-in"
"Description"="Acer eDataSecurity Management eDataSecurity Outlook Add-in"
"CommandLineSafe"=dword:00000000
"LoadBehavior"=dword:00000000

Stopped the issue.

 

[Clarita Maia]

I went to that exact same key and found out that Abbyy Finereader had an addin with a value called LoadBehaviuor set to 3 as all the other Microsoft addins. So I set it to 9 (as Microsoft´s VBA supplement in the same key) and the issue also stopped. And my computer is a generic desktop.

 

[Sue]

Hi!

I am having this same problem but only with Word. I have uninstalled and
re-installed as well as having Office 'repair' itself. For some reason, it
doesn't happen with all Word files either.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Sue