Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

A couple of days ago, I started getting this error message

Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Sometimes it will pop up twice, sometimes 3 times.

I did a search on this phrase and found articles on Lotus Notes and
Mail Merge. I have never used Notes. I have never used Mail Merge on
this PC.

I'm running Office 2007 on Win XP. I believe I have all the latest
updates.

 

[Terry Farrell]

See
http://blogs.technet.com/wordonenot...r-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx

 

[Danny]

Thanks for the link - I'm having the same problem. I tried to make the registry change described in the article, but did not have Wordpad at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio
\Applets\Wordpa

Have you seen anything else that helped with this problem?

 

[Matthew]

The cause of this error, for myself, has had nothing to do with Wordpad. When opening an Office '07 file in Office '03, with the compatibility pack installed on the system, this error is cropping up. The '07 files would open fine up to a couple days ago, so all the right software is on the machine.

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

See
http://blogs.technet.com/wordonenot...r-cannot-load-word-for-windows-6-0-files.aspx

This article asks me to make a Registry change. I'd really rather not
do that. Is there any other fix?

This article says it may be caused by a security update. I suggest
MSFT needs to send out another update to fix the update. And then
actually do a little testing BEFORE they ship the updates. This is the
second time in a year or so that an update broke something that I know
of.

The error only seems to happen when I open a .doc document. I'm
running Office 2007.

 

[Jay Freedman]

This article asks me to make a Registry change. I'd really rather not
do that. Is there any other fix?

This article says it may be caused by a security update. I suggest
MSFT needs to send out another update to fix the update. And then
actually do a little testing BEFORE they ship the updates. This is the
second time in a year or so that an update broke something that I know
of.

The error only seems to happen when I open a .doc document. I'm
running Office 2007.

Sam, did you read the KnowledgeBase article linked from that page? This
isn't an error, it's deliberate; Microsoft wants to prevent you from using
the old WordPad converter because it isn't secure. The registry change is
intended for administrators who consider using the converter more important
than closing the security hole, at least temporarily. Also, because it's a
deliberate change, there is never going to be "another fix" for the security
update.

But your problem is a bit different from what the articles describe. You're
trying to open a .doc file in Word 2007, which should have nothing to do
with WordPad or the old converter. What's happened is that Windows has
associated the .doc extension with WordPad instead of Word. If the security
patch hadn't been applied, the document would have opened in WordPad (which
can also read the .doc format), and you would have been complaining about
that instead. ;-)

Run the winword /r command as described in
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see if that
fixes the problem.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

Sam, did you read the KnowledgeBase article linked from that page?
Nope.

This
isn't an error, it's deliberate; Microsoft wants to prevent you from using
the old WordPad converter because it isn't secure. The registry change is
intended for administrators who consider using the converter more important
than closing the security hole, at least temporarily. Also, because it's a
deliberate change, there is never going to be "another fix" for the security
update.

But your problem is a bit different from what the articles describe. You're
trying to open a .doc file in Word 2007, which should have nothing to do
with WordPad or the old converter. What's happened is that Windows has
associated the .doc extension with WordPad instead of Word. If the security
patch hadn't been applied, the document would have opened in WordPad (which
can also read the .doc format), and you would have been complaining about
that instead. ;-)

I pretty sure the .doc extension is associated with Word. If I
double-click a .doc file, it opens in Word, always has. I just tested
it again.

Run the winword /r command as described in
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see if that
fixes the problem.

Do I need to close Word (all open docs) first?

Do you still think I need to do this even though .doc files are
already associated with Word?

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

Sam, did you read the KnowledgeBase article linked from that page? This
isn't an error, it's deliberate; Microsoft wants to prevent you from using
the old WordPad converter because it isn't secure. The registry change is
intended for administrators who consider using the converter more important
than closing the security hole, at least temporarily. Also, because it's a
deliberate change, there is never going to be "another fix" for the security
update.

But your problem is a bit different from what the articles describe. You're
trying to open a .doc file in Word 2007, which should have nothing to do
with WordPad or the old converter. What's happened is that Windows has
associated the .doc extension with WordPad instead of Word. If the security
patch hadn't been applied, the document would have opened in WordPad (which
can also read the .doc format), and you would have been complaining about
that instead. ;-)

Run the winword /r command as described in
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ReRegisterWord.htm and see if that
fixes the problem.

PS: If this is "deliberate", then the left hand doesn't know what
right hand is doing. When the error pops up, there's a help button,
which says nothing about security or Notepad or anything else useful:

This message can appear if:

* The converter was not properly registered.

* The converter was inadvertently deleted without removing the
registry information.

* The converter support files are corrupt.

* The converter installation was removed and the uninstall tool did
not finish clearing the registry settings.

* The hard disk is damaged where the converter files were stored.

Usually, reinstalling the converter will overcome this problem. If the
converter reports that it is already installed, first uninstall it so
that the setup program can remove the files and registry settings.

If removing and reinstalling the converter is not successful, there
may be a problem with a resource on the computer (for example, an
executable file that is needed to properly register the converters on
the computer has failed or stopped running). In this case, it is best
to turn off the computer and start over.



I particularly like the last suggestion. I would only change it to
"turn the computer off and throw it out the window".

 

[Jay Freedman]

I pretty sure the .doc extension is associated with Word. If I
double-click a .doc file, it opens in Word, always has. I just tested
it again.

OK, maybe I'm wrong about the association -- but if so, I don't understand
how the WordPad converter could get involved in the process. I still think
reregistering Word is worth a try; it's quick, and at worst it won't have
any effect.

Do I need to close Word (all open docs) first?

Yes, close all open documents and shut down Word. Then run the command from
the Start > Run box or from a command prompt window.

Do you still think I need to do this even though .doc files are
already associated with Word?

It can't hurt, and it might help.


--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

OK, maybe I'm wrong about the association -- but if so, I don't understand
how the WordPad converter could get involved in the process. I still think
reregistering Word is worth a try; it's quick, and at worst it won't have
any effect.


Yes, close all open documents and shut down Word. Then run the command from
the Start > Run box or from a command prompt window.


It can't hurt, and it might help.

OK. I ran "winword /r" from the DOS box. It took about 30 seconds to
do something. I then tried opening a .doc document. The first 2 I
tried opened without any problems. The third one got the same error.

It didn't happen every time before. I thought it was intermittent, but
apparently it is just certain documents. I now have 2-3 that do not
get the error and 2-3 that do. That is consistent.

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

OK, maybe I'm wrong about the association -- but if so, I don't understand
how the WordPad converter could get involved in the process. I still think
reregistering Word is worth a try; it's quick, and at worst it won't have
any effect.


Yes, close all open documents and shut down Word. Then run the command from
the Start > Run box or from a command prompt window.


It can't hurt, and it might help.

PS: We have two PCs in the office connected by a P2P LAN. I have a
laptop and my admin has a workstation. They have identical software
installed and run the same auto-update facility installed and
maintained by the company that procides tech support.

I just copied one of the documents that fails on my PC to the
workstation and opened it in Word there. No error.

 

[Bob]

I am also getting the above error message when I try to run mail merge from full Outlook to word label document for my Christmas cards. Hope we can find a fix before I have to hand address them.
Bob

 

[Sesquipedalian Sam]

I am also getting the above error message when I try to run mail merge from full Outlook to word label document for my Christmas cards. Hope we can find a fix before I have to hand address them.
Bob

Several articles mentioned this being a problem with mail merge, which
I never use. If I recall correctly, they recommended reinstalling the
converter.




I know you really didn't want to send cards to all those ghoofy
relatices anyway. Now you have a good excuse. ;-)

 

[Flip]

Hello,
Removing the patch from the software did it for us sofar, it's KB973904.
Just have to await if it comes back with new updates.
Flip

 

[InfinitiDC]

Thanks for the advice.
However, I did not have wordpad in the subdirectory-any other
suggestions?

 

[Derek]

Bob, I'm having the exact same problems with my Christmas cards using outlook mailmerge. Have you found a way round the problem, or did you end up doing them by hand?

 

[OK!]

I am running Windows XP and don't have WordPad in that location. What should I do?

 

[wheat]

We're having it with our ERP app, Datatel Colleague, which launches Word (we're running 2007 on WinXP) during certain processes.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

See the Known Issues section of http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904 and
change the 1 to 0

--
Hope this helps,

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Please reply only to the newsgroups unless you wish to obtain my services on
a paid professional basis.

 

[Derek]

I tried to edit the registry as described under 973904 but there is not a \wordpad directory under applets.