Failure of Security Updates for Office 2003 KB914455 & KB917151

[JPL]

I am very disappointed with the poor quality of the Microsoft security patch
update process. For the second time this year I have had to reinstall Office
in order to attempt to install an update, and this time even that step was
unsuccessful. I see from other threads that the finger is being pointed at
registry cleaners and Windows Live Safety Center, but have used neither of
these.

All the July updates installed correctly except Security Updates for Office
2003 KB914455 & KB917151, which failed as follows:
Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with
error 0x80070643

I followed the usual checking/diagnostic measures suggested here. As per
KB903774 I checked that OSE was running correctly. It is.

Office Detect & Repair was run successfully, but did not correct the
problem.

KB906602 suggests looking at the MSP error list, but in this case the list
says, "No messages in the MSP error list."

I therefore reinstalled Office 2003 Pro completely, even though there had
been no problems or unexpected behaviour at all (with the exception of this
update failure) in using Office since it was installed in April.
The process I followed was:
1. uninstalled Office via Add/Remove Programs and then rebooted PC
2. installed Office and then rebooted PC
3. installed SP2 and then rebooted PC
4. deleted previously downloaded files for KB914455 & KB917151
5. ran Microsoft Update

In this run of Microsoft Update, 6 of the 8 Office updates installed
correctly and only KB914455 & KB917151 failed (yet again).

Reinstalling Office failed to correct the problem. The problem is clearly
with these two updates rather than with the update process per se.

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

The Windows update log shows the follwing details:

4 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler :::::::::::::
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler :: START :: Handler: MSI Install
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler :::::::::
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler : Updates to install = 2
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler Extracting MSP file stored in CAB MSO.CAB
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler MSI update
{7C997700-2131-441C-A59C-6E8EC23190B3}.100 using full-file patch
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler Extracting MSP file stored in CAB
PVMSO.CAB
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler MSI update
{EABB9B5B-CEDD-409D-834D-243D78D2BE3A}.100 using full-file patch
2006-07-14 12:38:31 2844 cb0 Handler : Batch installing 2 updates
2006-07-14 12:38:36 792 328 Report REPORT EVENT:
{C964A41E-0B86-4750-AD88-AB8500CFF858} 2006-07-14
12:38:31+0100 1 182 101 {872266B6-1140-446A-8778-3E2987DF94B3} 100 80070643 MicrosoftUpdate Failure Content
Install Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update
with error 0x80070643: Security Update for Office 2003 (KB914455).
2006-07-14 12:38:39 2844 cb0 Handler List of MSPs in transaction:
2006-07-14 12:38:39 2844 cb0 Handler
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\2355c51bee71ef53c3f183731949b7f5\MSO.MSP
2006-07-14 12:38:39 2844 cb0 Handler MSP final command line:
DISABLESRCPROMPT=1 LOCALCACHESRCRES=0 NOLOCALCACHEROLLBACK=1
REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler MSP Error List:
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler No messages in the MSP error list.
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler : MSI transaction completed. MSI:
0x80070643, Handler: 0x8024200b, Source: No, Reboot: 0
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler : WARNING: First failure for update
{7C997700-2131-441C-A59C-6E8EC23190B3}, transaction error = 0x8024200b, MSI
result = 0x80070643, MSI action = StartCache
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler : WARNING: Operation failed at update
0, Exit code = 0x8024200B
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler :::::::::
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler :: END :: Handler: MSI Install
2006-07-14 12:38:43 2844 cb0 Handler :::::::::::::

 

[JPL]

I have now fixed this problem.

I downloaded the standalone installation kits for these patches
(office2003-KB914455-FullFile-ENU.exe & office2003-KB917151-FullFile-ENU.exe)
and ran them. The on-screen messages (absent from the Windows Update
versions) made clear what was happening.

It was necessary to uninstall and then reinstall FrontPage, Visio and
Project (as well as Office itself, which I had done earlier). Once this had
been done, the patches ran without problems.

This is the second time this year that problems installing the monthly batch
of security patches has taken me a whole day's work to correct, and I am not
happy. The cost-benefit equation for installing the patches is leaning
strongly to the "not worth the bother" side.

 

[lrp]

I had the same problem with these updates...searched and searched and finally
found the following article: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=884298 which
contains instructions to modify some registry values. I followed the steps
exactly and was immediately able to successfully install the troublesome
updates. Hope this helps, even though you've already solved it yourself.

Lyle Pardee

 

[JPL]

That's very interesting, and it certainly makes sense that the root cause of
the problem was in registry keys involved in the download/installation
process as in every other respect the applications were functioning correctly.

However I do not think it was the particular problem with my failed
installation. I have checked the registry keys described in KB884298 and
there is no Path data for any of them, although the updates have now been
installed successfully, i.e. absence of the Path data did not prevent
installation.

 

[Gabriel Flores R.]

Thanks JPL, by reinstalling also Visio, Frontpage and Project I was able to
install those security patches.

I'm dissapointed like you that this year I have had to reinstall Office
three times in order for the updates to get installed. Hope that gets sorted
out in the future.

Gabriel

 

[JR]

I must say that this is crap and challange MS to write an actual fix for this

But they must most likely write a fix for the fix and so on......

I hope the installation source thing will work, cause I can't find my visio
and office cds anywhere!!

Thanks all for your suggestions

 

[danielg922]

Thank heaven I found this forum of answers. I was going round & round
searching the knowledgebase. Microsoft sure made it hard to even find the
forum since it only popped up when I tried to install the Hotfixes from the
main Microsoft.com site (not during auto-update).
Initially, I uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2003 PRO and that did not
help at all.

I fixed my problem by editing the registry path keys using article 884298
and 903772. I did them both and had to reboot to copy-paste the Ose.exe
file.

The instructions for finding the GUID keys was confusing. I suppose if
people have a lot of Microsoft office widgets installed, the looping around
thru steps 3-9 is needed. For me, I had Visio, Project, and Office 2003 Pro
installed so I had the following keys in the registry.

{91110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9} Office
{90510409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9} Visio
{903B0409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9} Project
After I understood what they wanted me to do, I did an export of the entire
directory (they fail to mention doing that in 884298). Then it merely
amounted to editing
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Delivery\SourceEngine\Downloads\

Their instructions were confusing. I had one real {lots of numbers} key
under the \downloads\ but clicking on that showed my Viso, Project, and
Office keys.

Two of them had a path statement which I updated to D:\ (my CD/DVD drive)
and one had no path at all so I had to insert it. Again their instructions
were confusing since I never edit my registry. If the path is already there,
you only click edit-modify but if it is not, then new-string is needed. I
changed them all to D:\ which will cause some pain in the future, no doubt.

I'm a computer professional so I was able to navigate the confusing mess.
I shudder to think what would happen if my Mother or neighbor had to try
this. Microsoft needs to:
1) Fix their main installer to be insensitive to the CD drive letter of the
install. Thats childish hard coded bad programming.
2) Give us a registry cleaner that they sanction. I doubt my registry
cleaner caused this problem.
The Visio key did not have a path statement at all. The Office 2003 that I
had installed minutes earlier had the WRONG CDROM device code (E:\ instead of
the D:\ I had used moments earlier).

So at least I was able to avoid uninstalling & reinstalling Viso and
Project.


In my opinion, article 884298 did the trick although I would not wish that
horror on anyone who never wrote a line of software code.

Thanks to JPL and lrp who helped me find my way out of the mess.
Cheers

 

[frustration]

Unlike you, I have been unsuccessful at installing any of the updates.
I've tried both the short AND long versions. I am a bit of a techie but
could care less about registry entries or some core dump report.

MS HAS GOT TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER!!!

This is an OFFICE update for END USERS not some SDK for tech-weenies. And,
people pay GOOD money for MS-Office products and expect MUCH better answers
to install problems that what is given.

Uninstall and reinstall Office and then try the update again? What kind of
goofy solution is that? Does anyone in Redmond realize what a PAIN it is to
do that and without any guarantee it will work anyway? When did your
customers become your guinea pigs and "testers"?

Damn frustrating and completely unecessary.

 

[amadeus]

I'm having the same problem with Office 2003 KB919029. Despite some
good advice here and in another thread, I've abandoned the update after
spending too much time trying to get it to install.

An unrelated comment :

As a newbie poster here ('found this group via Google researching my
KB919029 problem), I think these threads are hard to read because each
reply apparently picks up all previous discussion. I can't say I'll
be back often, but perhaps regular posters who agree with me, could
suggest this as an item that might improved, to the group moderator.

Thanks again for your suggestions here. I unfortunately share in the
time consuming frustrations of these "upgrades" to my computer life.