# Windows Installer problem starting w Office 2007 trial download **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 30, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678 "2007-12-30T05:08:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/1 "2007-12-30T05:08:04Z")
I have XP and Office 2000 and downloaded Office 2007 trial version because I needed temporary use of Powerpoint. I whinced when I downloaded it knowing that something somewhere would probably end up corrupted. Sure enough, now every time I open Word, Outlook, and Excel, the Windows Installer kicks in, starts running, comes up with an error message, and stops. I have to cancel out of it about 3 times, then things work fine. This also happens every time I send or receive an email in Outlook. Is there an easy fix? I tried a registry clean up utility. No help. I uninstalled the Office 2007 trial but the problem is still there. Otherwise, the machine is old and I’ve about had it. Maybe I should just get a new machine about a year earlier than I had planned. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/2 "2007-12-30T06:25:40Z")
Well, [this KB article](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q265194) sounds quite a bit like what’s happening to you. There are a few options listed… according to [Annoyances.org](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article08-103), the registry delete fix should work okay. YMMV, IANoLongerAMicrosoftSupportTech AndEvenIfIWasIWouldn’tBeAbleToGiveProfessionalAdviceOverAWebforumForOfficeProducts 'CauseThere’sASeparateDept.ForThat. Which reminds me, you get 2 free calls to tech support with a retail copy of WinXP, and IIRC we didn’t turn away people with OEM copies. According to my XP manual, the US number is (425) 635-7222. (Canadian is (905) 568-4494). Not that I’m suggesting you need to call them, but I figured I’d take the opportunity to remind everyone that they have that option. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/3 "2007-12-30T06:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=Nanoda] Well, [this KB article](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q265194) sounds quite a bit like what’s happening to you. There are a few options listed… according to [Annoyances.org](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article08-103), the registry delete fix should work okay. YMMV, IANoLongerAMicrosoftSupportTech AndEvenIfIWasIWouldn’tBeAbleToGiveProfessionalAdviceOverAWebforumForOfficeProducts 'CauseThere’sASeparateDept.ForThat. Which reminds me, you get 2 free calls to tech support with a retail copy of WinXP, and IIRC we didn’t turn away people with OEM copies. According to my XP manual, the US number is (425) 635-7222. (Canadian is (905) 568-4494). Not that I’m suggesting you need to call them, but I figured I’d take the opportunity to remind everyone that they have that option. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I haven’t read what you linked to yet, but I should state I have no discs for Office 2000 as it was a Dell install. I may have the XP discs somewhere. I’ll read it tomorrow. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/4 "2008-01-03T07:05:01Z")
Thank you for the help but unfortunately, none of the proffered solutions worked. There was one option for the Windows Installer Clean-up Utility, but since it says I may have to re-install certain applications after running the utility, I opted against it since I don’t have the installation discs for any of Office 2000. Any other suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Otherwise, It’s about time to retire this old machine. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/5 "2008-01-03T08:31:21Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] Thank you for the help but unfortunately, none of the proffered solutions worked. There was one option for the Windows Installer Clean-up Utility, but since it says I may have to re-install certain applications after running the utility, I opted against it since I don’t have the installation discs for any of Office 2000. Any other suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Otherwise, It’s about time to retire this old machine. [/QUOTE] I have used this utility for this problem and did not need to reinstall anything afterwards, but even if you did, you should have .cab files somewhere on the PC to re-install from. It’s worth checking into. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/6 "2008-01-03T08:45:00Z")
Do you have a small hard drive (partition) that would include the original installation files from Dell? It would have your copy of Windows on it, plus whatever came with your machine. Or perhaps a folder somewhere in the C drive? ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/7 "2008-01-03T14:27:50Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Do you have a small hard drive (partition) that would include the original installation files from Dell? It would have your copy of Windows on it, plus whatever came with your machine. Or perhaps a folder somewhere in the C drive? [/QUOTE] I have no idea and I don’t know how to find out. Where can I look? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/8 "2008-01-03T15:23:01Z")
Go to “My Computer” and see if you have a hard disk drive that is not the C drive (CD Rom drives have different icons). Or, look to see if there’s a folder called “Dell” on the C drive, or something that looks like it might contain your computer’s setup files (it would not be called “Windows” or “Program Files” or “Documents and Settings”). If you see such a drive or folder, you can poke around in there to see if you can find the installation files for Office 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-installer-problem-starting-w-office-2007-trial-download/431678/9 "2008-01-03T15:33:06Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Go to “My Computer” and see if you have a hard disk drive that is not the C drive (CD Rom drives have different icons). Or, look to see if there’s a folder called “Dell” on the C drive, or something that looks like it might contain your computer’s setup files (it would not be called “Windows” or “Program Files” or “Documents and Settings”). If you see such a drive or folder, you can poke around in there to see if you can find the installation files for Office 2000. [/QUOTE] No extra drive and there is a Dell folder but nothing on C: I can find that resembles office 2000 ☹