Expert: Scottgem - 12/23/2003

Question
I have recently had to reload Windows (2000) and Office (2000). Now, when I try to bring up an office application I get a message from Windows Installer 'Preparing To Install', followed by 'Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 2000 Premium', after which the application starts. Everything works OK after that, but this is a nuisance, and I'd like to know what to do to get rid of it.

I am running Windows 2000, with Office 2000, on a Vaio 300MHz Intel Celeron processor with 256MB memory and a 6GB hard disk (228 MB available.

Hopefully,

Dev Lee Shant


Answer
If you find a way let me know, I have the same problem. The following is from the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
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When I start Word 2000, why does it sometimes "install and configure" my system again?

When you start Word 2000 after you run an earlier version of Word on the same system, you receive the following message:

Windows Installer

Preparing to install...
followed by a message similar to the following:

Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
This problem occurs when the version of Word that you are using changes the "current version" key for Word in the Windows Registry. Later versions of Word "re-register" themselves, so that when a document is opened outside of Word, the operating system knows which application the file belongs to.

When Word 2000 is started, it detects that the "current version" setting is not set to Word 2000, and the Setup program runs to reset the registry settings.

This functionality is by design, and there is no workaround to prevent this from occurring.
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There may be a registry setting you can fix, but I don't know what it is.

Hope this helps,
Scott<>