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Windows Installer launches when opening Word or Excel

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Branlon

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May 25, 2000
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Under Windows 2000Pro, every time I open Word 2000 or Excel 2000, the Windows Installer launches and re-installs the app before opening it. Any hints??
Ran the "Repair Office" utility but no fix.
 
I had the same problem, which I solved by uninstalling Office 2000, then reinstalling from scratch. There may be a less brute-force method, but this worked.
 
I'm having the same problem. I had to reinstall Windows2000 and Microsoft Office last week. Now whenever I open ANY office program Windows installer launches and re-installs the app. as if it had never been used before. Is there some obscure setting I've missed or will I have to use Neddy's "brute-force" method. tomco22
tbrashier@vectormachinery.com
 
Would rather not re-install again. But yes, this problem occurs only on the system where W2KPro was re-installed, not freshly. So there's an Office2000 setting somewhere that needs to be fixed.
 
ATTENTION!
ATTENTION!
ATTENTION!

I solved this problem! I went to: First I updated to IE 5.5 (when I re-installed it loaded 5.0). Then I loaded the Windows 2000 SR-1 patch. There is an SR-2 available now but I loaded SR-1 because I had the disk on hand & didn't have to download. Now everything works fine.
tomco22
tbrashier@vectormachinery.com
 
Thanks Tomco22...
Just downloaded and installed Win2KPro SR2, but still everytime Word2000 or Excel2000 is opened, the Windows Installer launches and "configures" Office 2000 Small Business Edition. No problems once opened.
Anybody else have suggestions?
 
Hi,
I had a similar problem when I had Office97 installed on C:\ and Office2000 on D:Removing Office97 solved problem.

Do you have any Office97 apps still installed?
 
Just double-checked to see if any Office97 apps were still installed, or even ANY old MS apps that could be problematic. None found. But something is still causing the Windows Installer to launch every time I load Word 2000 or Excel 2000, but not Outlook 2000.
 
I can see that this is an old post but I am having the same problem... not sure what to do. The windows installer comes up and I have to insert the Office 2000 Premium disk everytime I open Outlook. Any ideas? I have Win 2000 with all the updates for both Windows and Office.

Dawn
 
Could be that your running another application that is overwriting or corrupting one of the DLLs/files needed to run MS Office. MS Office self repair feature will kick off and repair files if it thinks they are corrupted. "Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one
can go."
 
I was having the same problem in my environment. I realized that I was installing Office 2000 either logged in as myself (I have Admin privleges) to the domain or logged in as Administrator to the domain. The resolution was to:

(1) Cleanly deinstall Office2000 (Remove directory. You may not need to remove Registry entries but if you are familiar on how to do this then do it. But not necessary)
(2) Login as Administrator to the Local Domain (Not the Network domain). Install Office 2000
(3) After restarting your computer, log backin as Administrato to the Local Domain and open up word, excel, powerpoint, access (or any other programs you selected). These programs need to be opened up once. Then you can exit.
(4) Now login as a User to the Network Domain and try opening up these programs to see if you have the same results with the Windows Installer starting
(5) For Outlook2000 you may need the CD (Or maybe not, not sure). Outlook 2000 needs to be setup for each user that logs into the Workstation.

Please let me know if these suggestions help.

Regards
 
My old Win2KPro machine, that runs the Office Installer every time Word or Excel is loaded, has been "retired". The Office "Repair Utility" offers no help on this situation. The problem is too annoying and apparently requires a re-format and re-load of both Win2K and Office 2000. But until all its other apps and settings have been migrated to a new machine, the box will have to live in retirement with the problem.
 
Whoa Zoey, your 5-step suggestion looks promicing. If I can find time, I'll try it today and post the results here. Thanks.
 
My fingers are crossed Dawn. Good luck. Let me know if this works. If it does not I will research it more. I'm assuming that maybe you did install Office2000 while logged into the Network Domain versus Logging in as Administrator to the LOCAL DOMAIN? If that is the case it should work.
 
Yes login as "Administrator" but as you know there are 2 domains. The Network Domain and the Local Domain. When you get the login screen you will see the "Domain". You need to click the down arrow and choose the local computer domain. You need to know what the Administrator password is. You can go into "Local Users and Groups" and reset the Administrator password here. And then login as Administrator and try running the office2000 install.
 
Yes, problem fixed. Zoey, you're the man with the solution.
But it's not necessary to delete the folders after the un-install. In fact, if you have other MS Office apps installed like Visio or FrontPage, definitely don't delete the Office folders.
In my case, after re-installing, re-booting, and then logging-in as a user, not only was the problem fixed, but my user Outlook profile was found unchanged.
Thanks for your help.
 
Good going Branlon. Happy I could help. I would not have known this without experiencing the same problem in my environment.

Good point about not having to remove the directory. I did not have those apps like visio installed so it was not a problem for me but hey, if you don't have to remove the directory that is cool.
 
Ok, I am logged in as "Dawn" (who is an administrator) and I am having the problem still even after lots of trial and error troubleshooting and reinstalling Office. Then I log in as administrator and it works fine. I did install under Dawn and Dawn is an administrator, could this make a difference? This is just my personal computer on a home network. Should I delete the Dawn account and just use the admistrator account?

Dawn
 
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