Earlier versions of Word blocked by SP3

[Susan]

I received a update download, Service Pack 3, in November and can no longer
open half of my documents in Word 2003. My OS is Windows XP. I get the "You
are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of
Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by
your registry policy setting." error. I checked the Microsoft site and found
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922849/
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\,
However, there was no "Security" or "FileOpenBlock" sub-folders in my
registry.

I saw Jay Freedman’s advice, November 2007, to JRT for the same problem [His
was in Excel 2003.]:

This is caused by a security-related part of Service Pack 3, which was
probably installed on your computer by Microsoft Update in the last
week or so. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941636/, particularly
the Workaround section that refers you to
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938810/.

JTR followed this advice but found himself in an unenviable position.JTR Wed Nov 21 06:27:00 PST 2007
OK, I found another document, KB922848, this provides instructions for a
"work around" for Excel 2003, but requires that you stipulate which directory
folders you want to "exempt" from restrictions. The "work around" stipulates
the addition of a new key and string values under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
This folder was on my registry.
Update to my earlier post.
JTR Wed Nov 21 13:14:15 PST 2007
Yes, I can now open the Lotus files, but unfortunately I cannot save them.
Despite following the instructions in KB922848, not only do I get the 'You
are attempting to save a file that is blocked by your registry policy
setting" message, but when I close the file, and am asked if I want to save
the changes, it destroys the saved file! My old Lotus file is now corrupt
and can't be "undeleted". Only if I change the file type, in "save as" to an
Excel file, can I keep the file.
This is not a good situation.

Can anyone advise? I find this so infuriating because I have numerous
files that I use for reference that won’t open and I don’t have hours to
spare transferring them to text and then back into Word. I’d like to take a
poke at Microsoft. For me, that download might as well have been a virus.

 

[TaurArian]

David LeBlanc's Web Log : Office SP3 and File formats:
http://blogs.msdn.com/david_leblanc/archive/2008/01/04/office-sp3-and-file-formats.aspx


<quote>
We did not provide an easy way for end users to change this behavior so they could open
these older files. There are admin templates that system administrators can easily use,
and there are also some registry keys that people can set, but that was it. In order to
make this easier for anyone to override, we'll update the KB article and provide the
following files that anyone can download and run to override the security settings.
The .reg files you can use to change the security settings can be downloaded here:

To re-enable Word file formats only - UnblockWord.reg

To re-enable Excel file formats only - UnblockExcel.reg

To re-enable PowerPoint file formats only - UnblockPowerPoint.reg

To re-enable the CorelDraw (CDR) file format only - UnblockCDR.reg

To restore the blocked Word file types only - RestoreBlockingWord.reg

To restore the blocked Excel file types only - RestoreBlockingExcel.reg

To restore the blocked PowerPoint file types only - RestoreBlockingPowerPoint.reg

To restore the blocked CorelDraw (CDR) file type only - RestoreBlockingCDR.reg

<end Quote>
--
====================================
TaurArian [MVP] 2005-2008 - Australia
====================================
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
http://taurarian.mvps.org/index.htm
Emails will not be acknowledged - please post to the newsgroup so all may benefit.


|I received a update download, Service Pack 3, in November and can no longer
| open half of my documents in Word 2003. My OS is Windows XP. I get the "You
| are attempting to open a file that was created in an earlier version of
| Microsoft Office. This file type is blocked from opening in this version by
| your registry policy setting." error. I checked the Microsoft site and found
| http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922849/
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\,
| However, there was no "Security" or "FileOpenBlock" sub-folders in my
| registry.
|
| I saw Jay Freedman's advice, November 2007, to JRT for the same problem [His
| was in Excel 2003.]:
| > This is caused by a security-related part of Service Pack 3, which was
| > probably installed on your computer by Microsoft Update in the last
| > week or so. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941636/, particularly
| > the Workaround section that refers you to
| > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938810/.
| JTR followed this advice but found himself in an unenviable position.
| >
| JTR Wed Nov 21 06:27:00 PST 2007
| OK, I found another document, KB922848, this provides instructions for a
| "work around" for Excel 2003, but requires that you stipulate which directory
| folders you want to "exempt" from restrictions. The "work around" stipulates
| the addition of a new key and string values under
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common
| This folder was on my registry.
| Update to my earlier post.
| JTR Wed Nov 21 13:14:15 PST 2007
| Yes, I can now open the Lotus files, but unfortunately I cannot save them.
| Despite following the instructions in KB922848, not only do I get the 'You
| are attempting to save a file that is blocked by your registry policy
| setting" message, but when I close the file, and am asked if I want to save
| the changes, it destroys the saved file! My old Lotus file is now corrupt
| and can't be "undeleted". Only if I change the file type, in "save as" to an
| Excel file, can I keep the file.
| This is not a good situation.
|
| Can anyone advise? I find this so infuriating because I have numerous
| files that I use for reference that won't open and I don't have hours to
| spare transferring them to text and then back into Word. I'd like to take a
| poke at Microsoft. For me, that download might as well have been a virus.
|
|