Replaced Mainboard & Office Re-Activation Fails

[Charles]

I had my notebook mainboard replaced because of a faulty LAN connector. Now
when I start Office XP Professional the Activation Wizard comes up. I enter
the original Office XP CD, click Next and the Wizard seems to work a bit,
but then disappears. Office XP is still in limited mode.

I have been doing some research and have noticed that the Activation Wizard
tries to run the file "proret.msi" on the CD. The interesting is that when I
start that file manually I get the message "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". I have also noticed that I get the same message
when I go to "Add or Remove Programs" in the "Control Panel" section and
click on "Change" for "Office XP Professional". So basically, I am unable to
run the Install utility on Office XP. My thinking is that if I fix this
problem, the activation wizard may actually work.

Through Google and MS Knowledge sites I have been pointed to a file called
msicuu2.exe that supposedly may repair the installer problem, but I am
unable to download it from the Microsoft site. It is referenced everywhere,
but cannot be downloaded.

Another approach that was suggested is to go into the registry and delete
the Office XP installation entry, so that Windows thinks Office XP is not
installed, and that will allow a new installation. But I do not want to go
that route, with all the Service Packs and updates installed over the past
two years, I foresee only more problems.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Charles

 

[CelesteNorm]

Charles,

I was able to go to this URL
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301 and download
the msicuu2.msi file.


Good luck!

Norm

 

[Charles]

Thanks, the download became available eventually. I ran the utility and
re-installed Office.

Thanks.
Charles