Office Keeps Re-Installing When I Try To Open Word, Excel...etc.

Sorry to here that you gave up Bob. I too have wasted a fair amount of time on this problem.

Microsoft should investigate these problems more seriously and provide solutions. I never understood the rationale behind denying the owner and user of a computer and its software full access rights (fair rights of use?). Something to do with "licensing" and paranoia over copyright I suppose.

Microsoft should issue a registry resetting tool giving full access rights to the administrators group to all registry entries.

To be honest I have given up, I don't have the time to try and fix something that Microsoft feel that they don't have an obligation to fix after charging their customers such high prices for what has in my case turned out to be almost unusable software. So I have un-installed office and have moved to Openoffice which is working really well with no hassles and it comes free with free updates. I suspect microsoft will come to their senses just before they go out of business like so many before them.

Bob

This problem appears to be a registry permissions problem. Office changes access permissions to certain registry folders to prevent changes by the PC user, administrators and system. Different versions of Office do this in different ways. The result is that after several version of Office are installed, the software can no longer access the registry to configure and hence repeats configuration each time it starts. Office 2003 seems to be the worst culprit. Microsoft should have fixed this.

Repairing the registry or attempting to reset permissions will not work because access to Office folders are blocked for changes.

The only solution that I have found that works is to do the following:

• Remove all versions of Office. If this is not possible try System Restore to restore to a previous date without Office. As a last resort use the Microsoft Office Removal Tools (or Fixits). Be warned these can mess up your OS.
• Disable or remove any AV software. If you have .Net installed, remove it.
• Reboot the machine into Windows 7 (or Vista) and perform a repair install. To do this insert the Windows DVD, make sure it matches the version you have installed and have your license key ready. Start install and when you get the screen to choose upgrade or new install, choose upgrade. Windows should install itself over the existing installation keeping all programs and files intact. However you will loose any Windows updates. These will have to be reinstalled later.
• Machine will reboot into Windows, enter your license key and reactivate.
• Proceed to install the version of Office you want, plus reinstall your AV software and .Net.

This should fix the problem

Unfortunately, installation and configuration issues may be difficult to troubleshoot. :-(

However, note that uninstalling and reinstalling Office usually is pointless (because registry entries and customized files won’t be overwritten anyway). Instead, try removing old installations completely; for instructions on how to do this, see the following Knowledge Base article:

How do I uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if I cannot uninstall it from Control Panel?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

After you’ve done that, try reinstalling Office.

You mention products that are supposed to “clean” your computer. I’d advise against using such products, as they may cause more trouble than they resolve.

Stefan Blom

Microsoft Word MVP

"bobsmith65" wrote:

I have done as you have suggested and it has not made any difference, I have also uninstalled Office some 5 times now, using the control panel, also the Microsoft fix it options. I have run both CCleaner and PC Optimizer to ensure the registory has been cleaned . The last time just an couple of hours ago seems to stopped in install but this has been replaced by the please wait whilst configuring box appearing before starting when Excel starts I get a message box pop up saying "Stdole32.tlb" with one option which is "OK" once I click on the ok option it takes ages to load including a large blue box popping up saying "configuration progress" this stays for several minutes before excel starts.

It really is begining to wear me down, I would have thought Microsoft would have a smiple fix as every time I search the internet for an answer I am not alone with this problem