Installed from CD, apps in "trial" mode

[redrooffs]

I installed Office 2004 from CD but it's running in "trial" mode. Not
sure what I did wrong (I even entered the serial number). Is there
anything I can do to get out of trial mode, or should I try a
reinstall?


Thanks,

Chris

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

I installed Office 2004 from CD but it's running in "trial" mode. Not
sure what I did wrong (I even entered the serial number). Is there
anything I can do to get out of trial mode, or should I try a
reinstall?


Thanks,

Chris

You need to remove office entirely using the 'remove office' utility on the
CD (and in the Office application folder, under 'additional tools'. Running
this tool will remove all traces of the test Drive (it's the only automated
way to do this), but will leave your data in place, except for any templates
you have stored in the Office application folder, which you will have to
back up manually before running the tool.

After removing all trace of the application you will have to re-install from
the CD

 

[redrooffs]

Thanks, but that didn't work. The "Remove Office" app said it found
parts of Office 2004 and Office X (which is very odd, as this is a
brand new MacBook Pro), but after choosing to remove them the apps are
still in /Applications and still functioning in "demo" mode.

 

[redrooffs]

Did you delete the Microsoft Office folder and then run the Remove Office
tool? If you did, that causes the problem: the tool can't operate correctly
if the versions are not completely installed when it begins.

No, I left the installation as it was. I ran the Remove Office app from
the CD.

Are you logged in as the Administrator? The tool can't operate correctly if
it cannot get access to all the folders it needs.

Yes, logged in with admin privileges.

You may need to re-install the Office Test Drive and login as Administrator.

Sorry: But once this goes wrong, it's a really fiddly job to sort it out.

I'll try again and record exactly what I see:

After my hard disk is searched, I see two checkboxes:

1. "Microsoft Office X (including Test Drive)"
2. "Microsoft Office 2004 (including Test Drive"

I check them both and click the Continue button.

I get a screen with nested checkboxes:

"Remove the selected Office X system files
Preferences"

I check them both and click the Continue button.

I get another screen with nested checkboxes:

"Remove the selected Office 2004 system files
Preferences"

I check them both and click the Continue button. A confirmation screen
appears telling me that the following Office components will be
removed:

"Microsoft Office X preferences
Microsoft Office 2004 preferences"

I click the Remove button and, without any delay, receive the following
message:

"Remove Office has successfully removed the Office components you
specified. These components have been moved to the Trash.

"To finish removing Office, click Empty Trash o the Finder menu." [I do
so.]

"Remove Office has moved any files you created to the Rescued Items
folder on the Desktop." [No such folder exists.]

I click the Quit button. I confirm that the "/Applications/Microsoft
Office 2004" directory still exists. This is exactly what happened the
first time I ran Remove Office.app.


Chris

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

Did you delete the Microsoft Office folder and then run the Remove Office
tool? If you did, that causes the problem: the tool can't operate correctly
if the versions are not completely installed when it begins.

No, I left the installation as it was. I ran the Remove Office app from
the CD.

Are you logged in as the Administrator? The tool can't operate correctly if
it cannot get access to all the folders it needs.

Yes, logged in with admin privileges.

You may need to re-install the Office Test Drive and login as Administrator.

Sorry: But once this goes wrong, it's a really fiddly job to sort it out.

I'll try again and record exactly what I see:

After my hard disk is searched, I see two checkboxes:

1. "Microsoft Office X (including Test Drive)"
2. "Microsoft Office 2004 (including Test Drive"

I check them both and click the Continue button.

I get a screen with nested checkboxes:

"Remove the selected Office X system files
Preferences"

I check them both and click the Continue button.

I get another screen with nested checkboxes:

"Remove the selected Office 2004 system files
Preferences"

I check them both and click the Continue button. A confirmation screen
appears telling me that the following Office components will be
removed:

"Microsoft Office X preferences
Microsoft Office 2004 preferences"

I click the Remove button and, without any delay, receive the following
message:

"Remove Office has successfully removed the Office components you
specified. These components have been moved to the Trash.

"To finish removing Office, click Empty Trash o the Finder menu." [I do
so.]

"Remove Office has moved any files you created to the Rescued Items
folder on the Desktop." [No such folder exists.]

I click the Quit button. I confirm that the "/Applications/Microsoft
Office 2004" directory still exists. This is exactly what happened the
first time I ran Remove Office.app.


Chris

Can you check the trash and see if those preference files have been put in
there?

 

[Diane Ross]

"Remove Office has successfully removed the Office components you
specified. These components have been moved to the Trash.

Be sure to empty the Trash.

Maybe not....

A search of the Microsoft KB, found these little tidbits:

=============
And then the Remove Office application displays the message, "Remove Office
has successfully removed the Office components you specified," which is not
true. To remove Office v. X, you must delete the Microsoft Office X folder
from your hard disk, or log on as a user without administrator privileges
and then run the Remove Office application.

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Remove Office Read Me
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871017/en-us>
==============
Test Drive Is Not Removed After You Install Full Retail Product:

This issue occurs when you install Office X by using the Microsoft Office
Installer. It does not occur if you use the drag-and-drop method of
installation. The installer cannot overwrite certain files in the Microsoft
Office X folder on your hard disk if Office v. X Test Drive is already
installed.

<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815135/en-us>
==============

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[redrooffs]

I ran the Remove Office app, emptied the Trash, deleted the Office
folder (and emptied the Trash) and then used the installer from the CD.
Not only am I STILL still in "test drive" mode with Word and Excel, but
Entourage WILL NOT LET ME GET TO MY E-MAIL AND CALENDAR! It gives me a
dialog that says, "This identity cannot be opened with this version of
Entourage" and when I click on the "OK" button (the only button), it
quits.

This is turning into a disaster. Help!

 

[redrooffs]

I figured out how to recover from the Entourage problem. I installed
the latest Office update. What a relief. The dialog should say
something about how to solve the problem!

However, I'm still in "test drive" mode with the other apps (strangely,
not Entourage).

 

[Diane Ross]

I figured out how to recover from the Entourage problem. I installed
the latest Office update. What a relief. The dialog should say
something about how to solve the problem!

However, I'm still in "test drive" mode with the other apps (strangely,
not Entourage).

See the instructions for manually removing Office.There are KB articles
indicating that using "Remove Office" does not always work even if you get a
message that it was successful. These instructions are for Office X, but
apply to Office 2004.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/error/page.html#error-3259>

You'll have to re-install and update again. Note the Entourage database will
not open until you have applied the updates.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[redrooffs]

I followed your instructions for manually removing Office. This is what
I did:

1. Ran Remove Office from CD (mirroring my previous experience of being
prompted for Office X and 2004 components even though this is a brand
new Mac which has NEVER had v.X full or "test drive" OR 2004 "test
drive" installed);

2. Emptied the Trash.

3. Moved /Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/ to the Trash.

4. Emptied the Trash again.

5. Installed from CD using the installer.

6. Applied updates.

7. Launched Office, confirmed still to be in "test drive" mode (except
for Entourage).

 

[redrooffs]

OK, this is a little embarrassing, but there WAS a "test drive"
installed. I DID NOT install it. I don't know how it got there; it must
have been on the hard disk when I bought the computer. As it was named
something different, it did not appear alongside the regular Office
install (e.g., one directory was named "Microsoft Office 2004" and the
other "Test Drive Office" or something).

Once I removed the demo directory, my apps ran fine. Thanks for your
help. (One might think that Remove Office would remove the test drive
as well.)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

One might think things that are nowhere near as polite as that.

This is an enormous, embarrassing and persistent design bug in Microsoft
Office. It would have been so simple to fix it...

Cheers

OK, this is a little embarrassing, but there WAS a "test drive"
installed. I DID NOT install it. I don't know how it got there; it must
have been on the hard disk when I bought the computer. As it was named
something different, it did not appear alongside the regular Office
install (e.g., one directory was named "Microsoft Office 2004" and the
other "Test Drive Office" or something).

Once I removed the demo directory, my apps ran fine. Thanks for your
help. (One might think that Remove Office would remove the test drive
as well.)

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Kurt]

One might think things that are nowhere near as polite as that.

This is an enormous, embarrassing and persistent design bug in Microsoft
Office. It would have been so simple to fix it...

What do you think prevents them from doing so now?

 

[Diane Ross]

OK, this is a little embarrassing, but there WAS a "test drive"
installed. I DID NOT install it. I don't know how it got there; it must
have been on the hard disk when I bought the computer. As it was named
something different, it did not appear alongside the regular Office
install (e.g., one directory was named "Microsoft Office 2004" and the
other "Test Drive Office" or something).

Once I removed the demo directory, my apps ran fine. Thanks for your
help. (One might think that Remove Office would remove the test drive
as well.)

Glad you solved the problem. You should know everyone is screaming at
Microsoft about this blunder and if it shows up in the next version, they
deserve 50 lashes with a wet noodle or something a little more evil that
can't be discussed in mixed company.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Business reasons... You're asking a software company to re-open the project
for the previous product while they're working on the next two versions.

That's not a good business decision. They would do it only if users were
suffering common data-loss problems or serious security risks.

This one is annoying and embarrassing, but it's not high enough on the radar
to justify an emergency fix.

What do you think prevents them from doing so now?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[MichaelJDonovan]

To whom it may concern or MS MVP Office tech,

Can someone send me the proper and common way of completly removing
MacOffice 2004 from a Mac. I've seen different way of doing this but I
want to know how to from a professional standpoint. The Mactopia site
is weak and doesn't provide help like Technet. I've seen some people
just take the Microsoft Office 2004 app and drap it to the "Trash".
I've seen some users go to the Microsoft Office applications folder and
double click on it to find an uninstall in there. I've seen some talk
about finding a microsoft.office.plist or something related to it and
deleting it. I just really want to find out how to do it the right way.
I have two errors that are driving me nuts. I get an "this identity
cannot be opened by this version of Entourage" when trying to open her
email. And of course the dreaded "an unexpected error occured when
trying to open the microsoft framework library" when trying to open
Word and Excel? I just don't get it.

Thanks, Mike Donovan
(e-mail address removed)
(e-mail address removed)

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Can someone send me the proper and common way of completly removing
MacOffice 2004 from a Mac.

Run the Remove Office application on the install CD.

 

[Diane Ross]

I have two errors that are driving me nuts. I get an "this identity
cannot be opened by this version of Entourage" when trying to open her
email.

This error indicates you need to upgrade Office. The database was created
with a later version and will not open until you upgrade.

And of course the dreaded "an unexpected error occured when
trying to open the microsoft framework library" when trying to open
Word and Excel? I just don't get it.

If you receive a framework error, re-apply recent updates. A framework error
normally means one or more components of Office have not been updated
correctly and are now out of synch with other bits.


--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Michael,

First off, I'm not a Microsoft Tech, but an MVP. The MVPs don't work for
Microsoft. We simply share what we know to help others keep their sanity.
Usually we get it right. Not always. People seem to appreciate that we try.

To completely remove Office from a computer use the most recent version that
you have of the uninstall utility.

If you have the test drive or an installed copy of office, then look in
Microsoft Office 2004 folder > Additional Tools > Remove Office.

If you have an install CD then double-click on the folder that you can use
to drag-n-drop install and you'll find the same file path to the Remove
Office tool.

The tool puts everything into the trash, which gets completely emptied the
next time you empty the trash after re-starting the computer.

Using the Remove Office tool is destructive of the applications, but not
your data. You'll still have a Microsoft User Data folder in the Documents
folder and any documents that you created wherever you put them. Throw
Microsoft User Data folder away to destroy your email, newsgroups, contacts,
etc.

I don't think any plist files are left by the Remove Office utility.

If you install office and get an error about the Microsoft Framework the
cure is easy. Use the Help menu and check for updates. Install the updates.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

To whom it may concern or MS MVP Office tech,

Can someone send me the proper and common way of completly removing
MacOffice 2004 from a Mac. I've seen different way of doing this but I
want to know how to from a professional standpoint. The Mactopia site
is weak and doesn't provide help like Technet. I've seen some people
just take the Microsoft Office 2004 app and drap it to the "Trash".
I've seen some users go to the Microsoft Office applications folder and
double click on it to find an uninstall in there. I've seen some talk
about finding a microsoft.office.plist or something related to it and
deleting it. I just really want to find out how to do it the right way.
I have two errors that are driving me nuts. I get an "this identity
cannot be opened by this version of Entourage" when trying to open her
email. And of course the dreaded "an unexpected error occured when
trying to open the microsoft framework library" when trying to open
Word and Excel? I just don't get it.

Thanks, Mike Donovan
(e-mail address removed)
(e-mail address removed)

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Kurt]

Hi Michael,

First off, I'm not a Microsoft Tech, but an MVP. The MVPs don't work for
Microsoft. We simply share what we know to help others keep their sanity.
Usually we get it right. Not always. People seem to appreciate that we try.

It's truly unfortunate that big companies like MS have discovered that
there are people who will provide tech support for them for free.

More large software companies are discovering that setting up a
discussion forum alleviates them from spending money on real support.

There are the ones that actually staff the forum with employees.

I hate seeing you guys, who truly have more savvy than a lot of MS
employees, getting no real compensation.