Unable to open macro storage under Win XP (Word 97 running on Windows XP)

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Hi. I’ve read the earlier posts about not being able to open the VB editor, but this is a slightly different problem.

I’m testing Word 97 on a pc running Windows XP. When I press Alt+F11 to open the VBE, I get an error message “Could not open macro storage”. The VBE opens, but doesn’t show anything at all in the Project Explorer window.

When I go through Tools, Macros, I see a list of macros, but the Edit button is grayed out. If I click Run for any of the macros, nothing happens.

I’m a Win XP newbie, so I’m wondering where to look for restrictions on VBA. I have full rights to the Program Files and Windows folders and subfolders. We haven’t set any Software Restrictions. VBA is indeed installed.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I might look at?

By the way, upgrading from Word 97 isn’t an option right now…

Thanks.

Bob

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Perhaps these MSKB articles will help:

OFF97: Errors Starting Visual Basic Editor

PRB: Error Messages When Editing, Running, or Recording VBA Macros in Office 97 Application on Windows 2000 (I know, it’s not Windows XP, but still…)

WD97: How Word for Windows Uses Temporary Files.

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Most likely the problem involves the user permissions associated with the MSForms.exd file. Hans is right on with Q264743.

One other problem you are going to encounter is the non-functioning Spell Check engine. Word 97 requires R/W access to several Spell Engine registry keys for all users; later versions of Word do not. Check out Q257643

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Thanks, Hans and Kevin. This is just what I was looking for.

Bob

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Here’s what I did, in case anyone else runs across this problem.

Following the MSKB articles, I made sure users had permission to the Clsid, TypeLib and Interface keys in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Also made sure they had permissions to the Windows folder and subfolders, and to the Program Files folder and subfolders.

There was no MSForms.exd file on the Win XP pc, so I copied it from another pc and put it in a folder I created, settings/myusername/local settings/temp/VBE. There was no regtlib.exe file on the Win XP, so I copied one into system32 and used it to register MSForms.exd.

None of this worked.

On a hunch, I checked the locations of Msvbvm50.dll and Msvbvm60.dll. They were present in system32 and registered. I moved them to system and registered them there – and the problem was resolved.

I realize I probably had to include the other steps, but I wish I had tried moving those files first!

Bob

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