Problem with updating Office 2000

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I want to add one or two features to Office 2000 which I omitted when I first installed it. When I insert Disc 1 of my Office 2000 Professional set, I get the Microsoft sound, but no action. If I use thr Run box, enter D:setup.exe and press Enter, I get the following message:-
“Windows Installer
Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing product, use the Add/Remove Program on the Control Panel.”
If I then go to the Control Panel, double-click on Add/Remove Programs, select Microsoft Office Professional and select either Add/Remove or Install, I get the same Windows Installer message as above. My language is becoming unprintable!
Seriously, I cannot see what is going wrong. On my previous PC I was able to make changes to the installation by inserting the CD-Rom, and proceeding from the opening screen. Alternatively, I could go to the Add/Remove Programs button in the Control Panel and proceed from there. Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?

Howard Merkin

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Thank you, Ian, for your suggestion. I should have mentioned, however, that I am using Windows 98 as my OS, and haven’t committed any of the mysterious operations that the article suggests as the reason. I agree that the message is identical, but I cannot see any application of the article to my problem. I would welcome any other ideas

regards, Howard

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do you have user profiles in windows98?

while the KB specifically mentions NT, if you are using profiles in win98, it could be the cause. the steps to correct would be different however.

one thing to always keep in mind is that the kb’s may mention a specific program but often do apply to others, sometimes word for word, other times it’s not so easy.

If you are using profiles, this would qualify as “not so easy to copy the steps” to win98 OS.

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Mary,

Yes, I do have profiles on my stand-alone PC. There is my main profile, called ‘Howard’, one for my wife, called ‘Evelyn’, which gives her access to her mail box and the internet, with her own Favourites, and a general purpose one called ‘Merkin’ (our surname, which we use for playing games which require a low resolution screen). The one which is used most of the time is Howard, and this is where I am trying to make changes to Office. The only use my wife males of Office is Outlook, since I think it is easier to use than Outlook Express.

Having detailed these profiles, I am still unable to see how KB 228666 helps, particularly since its third step is to double-click the entry for Office 2000, which gets me back to my original problem.

You may get some ideas from my separate reply to JamesB’s message.

Regards, Howard.

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James

Thank you for your reply to my latest posting. I have carried out a search for office*.txt files, and have found about 16 in my C:WindowsTemp folder. The latest two are Office 2000 Professional Setup (033).txt and Office Professional Setup (033)_MsiExec.txt. The first one appears to have no error messages – it appears to be checking the versions of the various msi files, and telling me that it has succeeded. It terminates ‘Sucessfully launched MsiExec….’.

The ….._MsiExec.txt file simply prints out the familiar error message ‘ Another version of this product is already installed…. It finishes with a piece of (I assume) hex code as follows :- {00010409-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7}. If this conveys anything, I shall be delighted to know what it is! Looking back at earlier versions of the file, the code is unchanged.

I have printed out the KB article 238413 about the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, but have not yet downloaded it. I shall await your response to this posting before I do this and try to run it.

Regards, Howard

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That long number is a productid for the Installer, it should match the one found in the registry here: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice9.0CommonGeneralInstallProductID.

If you would like to verify/check this:
Go to Start-Run. Enter “regedit”, without the quotes, and click ok.
Then navigate on the left to the key above, and look on the right for the value.

In your last message, you mentioned you use profiles, these are often the cause of confusion with the installer, but alas, each profile solution can be different. A couple of questions, if you know…

When you originally installed Office, were profiles enabled? If so, do you know which one you were using?
Have you added/deleted/removed any profiles, since Office was installed?
When you log in, do you log in under a profile, or do you hit the cancel button (or Escape key)?

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James

You are quite right. The number shown in the _MsiExec.txt file is exactly the same as the value shown as the InstallProductID in the Registry.

The answers to your three questions are, as best as I can recall :-

When I first installed Office, profiles were not enabled. I installed ‘Howard’ when I found that it was the only way to get Internet Explorer to remember my password. This would have been a few weeks after I set up my PC from scratch after a major crash.

2. I have added two other profiles, ‘Evelyn’ and ‘Merkin’ since that time. I do not think that I have deleted any.

3. I always log in under a profile – I didn’t know that you could do otherwise!

I have now downloaded msicu.exe, but I have not tried to run it yet. I have read through the Q238413 file, and think that I understand it. Do I now run the program, shut my eyes and hope for the best, or does something that I have told you about my profiles affect the action that I should take?

Regards, Howard

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Yes, profiles tend to mess up installer settings. I would go ahead and try the program you downloaded.

After you run it, first, try to do an Office Repair; then, if that is successful, try adding the features you want.

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James

Success! I ran the CleanUp utility, and then Repair. I was then able to amend the Word and Outlook features as I had wanted.

Many thanks for the trouble that you have taken to get me straight.

Regards, Howard

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Great! I’m glad it all worked out

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Howard,
I’ve had to deal with a bunch of Windows Installer errors, and I can tell you they can be very difficult to deal with.
A little history (basic) of what it does will help. The installer is a separate program that is used to install the various parts of Office, it is not actually a part of Office. This is important, since one of the first steps is to determine whether you have an Installer error, or an Office error. From the symptoms you describe, my guess is an Installer error.

Two things you can do, and I would do the first one first, and post any findings if you can.

1. Do a search of your hard drive(s) for office*.txt, looking for some files named “Office 2000 SR-1 Premium Setup(0001).txt” or similar (The name depends on the version of Office being installed). The files will each have a different number in the brackets, with the latest having the highest number. You should have 2 files with the same number, one having the letters MSI in the text (for Microsoft Installer). These are text files that log the progress of an install or change to the office software. Open both, and read through them, looking for any error messages. The MSI is usually short, and I suspect the one that will have your error. The other one is longer, and it will take a bit of reading. If you find any errors, you can post them, to see if they help us out. It is worth noting that these “may” give us better info than the error message you received during the install.

2. You can run the OFF2000: Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. Please, please read the whole page before jumping in to using it. The program at that page does NOT remove the installer, just the settings for it. These settings are what tells the installer what you have already installed, and where things are installed (for the most part, it has other functions, but those are its main ones). If you run it, follow the instructions, then, run Office Repair again, and see if it works. If it does, then you can go ahead and try removing/adding the features you were trying to add/remove before.

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