Weird SP2/Office 97 install problem

[XS11E]

This is probably not the right place to post but I don't know if the
problem is Office 97 or SP2, I do know it's NOT Windows XP!

When SP2 came out, I stuck in my new hard drive, partitioned,
formatted, installed XP and then the SP2 that I'd downloaded from MSFT.

Started installing hardware, then software and got error installing
Office 97???? I select the custom install and all the HTML options and
got an error that a HTML thingy couldn't be integrated into the
registry. Tried several times, even tried in safe mode, same error.

I removed SP2, Office installed with no error, re-installed SP2 and all
is fine....

WTF?

 

[Guest]

Maybe Office 97 isnt compatible with SP2. Ever thought
about getting a new versions their have been a few that
have come out since '97. Office 2003 is the latest.
Wonder why you still have Office '97 when it seems like
you like to keep up with the latest OS's.

 

[Ken Blake]

In (e-mail address removed)

Maybe Office 97 isnt compatible with SP2.

I don't know for sure about all components of Office 97, but Word
97 works fine on my wife's machine running XP SP2. There's little
reason to suspect the other components won't work just as well.

 

[XS11E]

Maybe Office 97 isnt compatible with SP2. Ever thought
about getting a new versions their have been a few that
have come out since '97. Office 2003 is the latest.
Wonder why you still have Office '97 when it seems like
you like to keep up with the latest OS's.

I've Office XP, Office 2000, etc. I very much dislike them all, Office
97 is the very last version that works for me and the very last version
I'll ever have, next will be Open Office or Star Office, they need only
a couple of tweaks to work for me, I keep hoping maybe the next
version....

 

[XS11E]

In (e-mail address removed)



I don't know for sure about all components of Office 97, but Word
97 works fine on my wife's machine running XP SP2. There's little
reason to suspect the other components won't work just as well.

Ken, it works absolutely great *IF* I install it before I install SP2,
it fails to install if I select the HTML options and have SP2
installed.

I posted the procedure I went through, I'd run SP2 RC1 and SP2 RC2 and
had no problem with Office978 but I installed it before installing the
service pack. When SP2 became final, I installed XP on a blank HD,
upgraded to SP2 and then tried to install Office and it gave me the
constant failures. Remove SP2, install Office97 = OK. Re-install SP2,
Office97 works perfectly.

It's only the install that fails and only if I have SP2 installed and
only if I select the HTML options.

Again, what's happening??

 

[CS]

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 12:29:14 -0700,

Why don't you ask for his address and send him a money order for $300
so he can upgrade to the latest version since you think he ought to
keep up?

Not everyone can afford to or needs to keep up.

 

[XS11E]

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 12:29:14 -0700,

Why don't you ask for his address and send him a money order for
$300 so he can upgrade to the latest version since you think he
ought to keep up?

Not everyone can afford to or needs to keep up.

Or wants to. I have Office XP and Office 2000 and very much dislike
them. Office97 works, I like it and I'd like to keep it.

Windows 2000 is looking better and better to me....

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Ken, it works absolutely great *IF* I install it before I
install SP2,
it fails to install if I select the HTML options and have SP2
installed.

I posted the procedure I went through, I'd run SP2 RC1 and SP2
RC2 and
had no problem with Office978 but I installed it before
installing the
service pack. When SP2 became final, I installed XP on a blank
HD,
upgraded to SP2 and then tried to install Office and it gave me
the
constant failures. Remove SP2, install Office97 = OK.
Re-install
SP2, Office97 works perfectly.

It's only the install that fails and only if I have SP2
installed and
only if I select the HTML options.

Again, what's happening??

Sorry, I don't know. Have you tried an Office newsgroup?

 

[XS11E]

Sorry, I don't know. Have you tried an Office newsgroup?

Yes, also the online support. Haven't heard from either yet.

I have to post the question in an SP2 group but I've been busy removing
Office, removing all the files, removing all the registry entries and
then removing SP2, installing Office97, installing all the updates and
then re-installing SP2.

Of course if I ever do a clean install again I'll know to install
Office97 and update it before adding SP2 but that means I can't
slipstream SP2 into my XP CD...

There has to be some simple change in SP2 that causes this and there
should be an easy work around???

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

Ken, it works absolutely great *IF* I install it before I
install SP2, it fails to install if I select the HTML options
and have SP2 installed.

[/QUOTE]

Think on some of the obnox things Office 97's installer tries to do:
- foist a C:\My Documents "system" folder on the PC
- drop an "install IE 3.00" icon on the desktop
- install the FastFind thing

Office 97 was an early phase in HTML awareness for Office; Outlook
wasn't yet doing HTML "messages", for a start. It also predated
Windows Scripting Host, but it did start Visual Basic for
Applications, as far as I can recall.

My guess is, it's intruding into system territory in some way, e.g.
perhaps trying to write to Windows subtree of parts of registry that
it is supposed to avoid. Given the primitive nature of Office 97 HTML
awareness (and a general distrust of Office/script/HTML integration),
I'd most likely have deselected any "web" stuff in any case, other
than the ability of Word to edit .htm files.

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

Windows 2000 is looking better and better to me....

Why? It will share most of XP's holes, but is less likely to have
them fixed... and eventually, the fixes will dry up altogether, just
as they have for Win98 and IE 5.5

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Tech Support: The guys who follow the
'Parade of New Products' with a shovel.

 

[Guest]

All sounds not so cool - But where are you guys getting SP2 from in the
first place?



Think on some of the obnox things Office 97's installer tries to do:
- foist a C:\My Documents "system" folder on the PC
- drop an "install IE 3.00" icon on the desktop
- install the FastFind thing

Office 97 was an early phase in HTML awareness for Office; Outlook
wasn't yet doing HTML "messages", for a start. It also predated
Windows Scripting Host, but it did start Visual Basic for
Applications, as far as I can recall.

My guess is, it's intruding into system territory in some way, e.g.
perhaps trying to write to Windows subtree of parts of registry that
it is supposed to avoid. Given the primitive nature of Office 97 HTML
awareness (and a general distrust of Office/script/HTML integration),
I'd most likely have deselected any "web" stuff in any case, other
than the ability of Word to edit .htm files.

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

[/QUOTE]

 

[Dick Kistler]

All sounds not so cool - But where are you guys getting SP2 from in the
first place?

Would you believe, SP2 R'US

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&DisplayLang=en

Dick Kistler

 

[XS11E]

Why? It will share most of XP's holes, but is less likely to have
them fixed... and eventually, the fixes will dry up altogether, just
as they have for Win98 and IE 5.5

Because it works, because it doesn't have all the excess baggage I
don't want, need or use. Because there ARE no holes in ANY OS that
can't be plugged or avoided by proper setup and intelligent use.

 

[XS11E]

Think on some of the obnox things Office 97's installer tries to
do:
- foist a C:\My Documents "system" folder on the PC
- drop an "install IE 3.00" icon on the desktop
- install the FastFind thing[/QUOTE]

??? Doesn't do any of those things???? Of course I use the custom
install and only install what I want/need/use.

My guess is, it's intruding into system territory in some way,
e.g. perhaps trying to write to Windows subtree of parts of
registry that it is supposed to avoid.

MSFT doesn't know, either, but the problem seems to be the .ocx file.

Given the primitive nature
of Office 97 HTML awareness (and a general distrust of
Office/script/HTML integration), I'd most likely have deselected
any "web" stuff in any case, other than the ability of Word to
edit .htm files.

The "web stuff" IS the ability to edit HTML files and that's what
refused to install. The easy workaround is to install Office97, then
install SP2. I'd have never encountered the problem if I hadn't
changed harddrive and decided to do a clean install, followed by
installing SP2, followed by installing all my software.

 

[XS11E]

Well, there's no firewall in Win2000,

Nor is there a useable firewall in Windows XP, therefore I use a
hardware firewall and a software firewall and disable the XP one.

And no, the usual risk avoidance and management can't hide from
broken services that the OS *insists* on waving to the world.

Such as?

SP2 represents a long-needed fundamental shift away from waving
inappropriate services at the Internet, so as I see it, XP SP2
comes closer to what you want than Win2000 ever will.
Nope.

At present, individual patches are as available for Win2000 as XP,
but Win2000 will never have the fundamental overhaul that SP2
represents.

Nor is it needed. SP2 represents primarily some security fixes for the
clueless, none of which are needed by users who RTFM.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

??? Doesn't do any of those things????

You can't avoid the first, and if you have NTFS permissions that don't
allow a dir to be created off root, or the user data shell folder to
be redirected there, then that could be the hassle.

Same with "Upgrade to IE 3!" icon; no way to stop that. This was in
the age when MS was leveraging desktop placement advantage to kill
Netscape, so no suprise there.

Of course I use the custom
install and only install what I want/need/use.

Of the three, only the Fast Find thing can be avoided.

MSFT doesn't know, either, but the problem seems to be the .ocx file.

Well, that smells ActiceX, which MS's new-found SP2 clue means is no
longer allowed to do whatever it wants.

The "web stuff" IS the ability to edit HTML files and that's what
refused to install. The easy workaround is to install Office97, then
install SP2. I'd have never encountered the problem if I hadn't
changed harddrive and decided to do a clean install, followed by
installing SP2, followed by installing all my software.

Nasty. Have you checked whether Word's ability to edit HTML is OK,
even if Setup gets hissy fits about not being allowed to drop an .OCX?

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

Because it works,

I wouldn't call allowing RPC attacks within minutes of Internet
connection "working", myself. This time round, there are patches for
this, and the LSASS hole that creates the same opportunities - but you
can't patch anything south of Win2000 SP2, so you'd be in trouble if
you had the original Win2000 as considered fit to ship in 2000.

Out the box, Win2000 is exactly as broken as XP.

Because there ARE no holes in ANY OS that can't be plugged
or avoided by proper setup and intelligent use.

Well, there's no firewall in Win2000, so if you intent leaving those
sort of holes open, you'd better add a 3rd-party solution. And no,
the usual risk avoidance and management can't hide from broken
services that the OS *insists* on waving to the world.

SP2 represents a long-needed fundamental shift away from waving
inappropriate services at the Internet, so as I see it, XP SP2 comes
closer to what you want than Win2000 ever will.

At present, individual patches are as available for Win2000 as XP, but
Win2000 will never have the fundamental overhaul that SP2 represents.

-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Reality is that which, when you stop believing
in it, does not go away (PKD)

 

[XS11E]

You can't avoid the first,

Some how I have as no such folder has been created in Windows98,
Windows2k or WindowsXP.

Same with "Upgrade to IE 3!" icon; no way to stop that.

No such icon has been created in Windows98, Windows2k or WindowsXP.
Sorry, along with the C:\My Documents "system" folder the Upgrade to
IE3 icon doesn't exist???

Of the three, only the Fast Find thing can be avoided.

Along with the first two. Are you sure you're not thinking of Office
95?

Well, that smells ActiceX, which MS's new-found SP2 clue means is
no longer allowed to do whatever it wants.

Yup, that's probably it.

Nasty. Have you checked whether Word's ability to edit HTML is
OK, even if Setup gets hissy fits about not being allowed to drop
an .OCX?

Sure, works fine since the .OCX file IS installed by installing
Office97 and all upgrades prior to installing SP2, that seems to take
care of everything. The only problem is that I can't slipstream SP2
into an XP CD but I can live with that.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

Some how I have as no such folder has been created in Windows98,
Windows2k or WindowsXP.

Ah - then one or both of the following apply:
- I was thinking of Office 95, not Office 97
- it won't create if the shell folder already exists

It's a problem one sees mainly on Win95, that otherwise lacks the "My
Documents" shell folder. Unlike Win98, where you can rt-click the "My
Documents" icon and change Properties so some other path is used, in
Win95 you have to Regedit your way out of this.

No such icon has been created in Windows98, Windows2k or WindowsXP.
Sorry, along with the C:\My Documents "system" folder the Upgrade to
IE3 icon doesn't exist???

I reckon I'm thinking MS Office 95 again (just been setting that up on
a "new" i486DX4-100 for someone).

Are you sure you're not thinking of Office 95?

No, I'm sure you are right there

Sure, works fine since the .OCX file IS installed by installing
Office97 and all upgrades prior to installing SP2

No, what I meant was; install SP2, install Office 97, suffer the
"can't install .OCX", then test Word's ability to HTML, hopefully
finding this works fine anyway

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Who is General Failure and
why is he reading my disk?