Reinstall/Repair Office Installation after Fresh Reinstall of XP

[ModernDriver]

Problem occured after removal of windows XP Hotfixes that were burdening the
system. Removed the Hotfixes, Windows XP (SP2) damaged, only recovery was a
completely new installation of XP from the update disc. After installation,
all Office Programs failed to function; could not access the help tab in any
office program to pull down the detect and repair option. Could not
reinstall the Office Suite (XP Standard), a full version; issued error 1608:
could not find a qualifying product message, even though I have the disc and
it was not an upgrade. Old version of Office not found in the uninstall menu
to remove and start over. All avenues to reinstall/repair failed, Microsoft
did not consider this possibility and it appears, outside of wiping my hard
disk out and starting over, AGAIN, with all the countless reboots that there
is no way to recover from a reinstallation of the OS with MS Office
recognizing the reinstall. Suggestions, other than reformatting the hard
disk/C: partition where XP and Office lay?

 

[ModernDriver]

Additional information to the corrupted MS Office (Standard) Suite.
I just downloaded and installed all Hotfixes for Service Pack 1 and the
Service Pack 2 itself. Duplicate problem; I cannot repair the damaged
installation, because upon program launch (word, excel, etc.) the opening
screen says "uninstalled version" and "unknown user." I am the owner of the
disc! I paid for it! It's an original with the Hologram and everything! So
I cannot even access the detect and repair option before the program gives
three error messages asking that the program be installed. There is a
corruption in the registry somewhere, it is my guess. My next move will be
to manually delete the OfficeUpdate11 folder and Microsoft Office Folders,
sending them to the recycle bin. I will then subsequently sweep the registry
with a ASOv2.0 cleaner, then attempt a clean reinstall. I have no other
choice left except to reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows XP yet
again, and spend another eight hours yet again downloading the updates.
It is hoped that in the future Microsoft software engineers will install
a feature that saves the registered uses the pure frustration and anger that
results because of the need for a reinstall (regardless of the reason). You
would think that, since MS-DOS 1.0 that Microsoft would have a complete,
finished product that is actually totally ready for the market, and does not
need continuual updating, "Hotfixes" and "the latest updates."
All emotions aside, I simply want the programs that I paid for to work as
they were originally installed. A corrupted windows installation, which is
not the fault of the user (not in this case), should be recoverable by the
same user without having to corrupt every other program in the registry.
System Restore was not able to help me in this respect, since the Windows XP
installation was corrupted so badly (by the removal of the hotfixes) that I
could not even get to the point of activating it.
Microsoft should put detect and repair programs/utilities on the CD or
downloaded package so they are accessible when the target program is not, or
is damaged and will not even allow the user to get to the detect and repair
option. This is a basic consideration that would restore my faith in
Microsoft, for now I am leaning towards a Macintosh system, or possibly Unix
or Xenix, or an operating system/office suite that can take care of itself
without continual maintenance.
Programmers, please take note. At this point, I still need help to get
my MS Office suite off the system entirely so that I can reinstall it (I
cannot since, as I mentioned, it is not showing up in the populated list of
"add/remove programs", but yet is still resident in the Program Files folder)
or provide me with a way to detect and repair the installation without having
to launch the program. I have the MS Office original, master disc with the
Product Key, but so far nothing is working.