Office Help does not work. Goes into Configuration Progress Window

[RS]

Every time I try to access Office help with F1, I get a windows that says
Configuration Progress, with a status bar (Configuring 2007 Microsoft Office
System ...) then it says it need to reboot. After a reboot, the same thing
happens again when I try to access the help files.

Anybody have a clue as to why this is happening?

 

[Aaron Rykhus [MSFT]]

Likely the Office help files in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft Help are corrupt.
(that's the location on Vista, if you're on Windows XP it's stored in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft Help). Could
have been caused by Beta versions of Office apps being installed on the
machine. I've heard you could rename the Microsoft Help folder to something
else and copy over a working folder from another machine, but that may break
other Microsoft application's help files if the working machine doesn't have
the same Microsoft apps. In theory uninstalling/re-installing Office should
resolve the issue. If you have standalone Office apps like Visio or Project
(if they're version 2002 or later) they may need to be re-installed too, if
those apps are not 2007 (2002 or 2003) we suggest installing those first,
then install the next version, and so on...

 

[RS]

Gosh ... I was hoping that I wouldn't have to re-install Office. I wish the
repair function would have cleared up the issue (I tried it, and it doesn't).
The Office Diagnosis doesn't do anything either. I think there should be a
way to repair issues like this. Well, I'll try a re-install soon, I guess.
I suppose Windows Update will realise the re-install and offer to download
all the needed updates?

RS

 

[Aaron Rykhus [MSFT]]

As long as you have Microsoft Update installed (not just Windows Update)
and automatic updates enabled you should get the updates for Office
automatically downloaded.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100803331033.aspx

 

[RS]

I am wondering, then, if I should just install over my previous installation,
or uninstall all of office, then re-install. My copy of Office 2007 is
"Office Basic 2007", which included Word, Excel and Outlook. It also
included a trial version of Office Professional. I have the case, which
includes a disc, although on the case it states that "recovery discs are
available but not included in this package". That makes me a little nervous
about re-installing, even though there is a license key included. It is an
OEM version I obtained from my dealer when I bought my PC a year and a half
ago. I find this a bit confusing. What steps should I take in re-installing?
Should I just pop the DVD in and see what happens?

 

[Aaron Rykhus [MSFT]]

If you purchased Office with your computer through the computer
manufacturer (OEM) and didn't get disks then you would need to get disk(s)
from the OEM and the support for re-installing Office then should come from
the OEM.

One other thing to keep in mind, even if you can't use Online Help it's all
on http://office.microsoft.com under the Help and How-to tab, you can then
browse by app in the Browse Help and How-to by Product section.

 

[_Realiti_]

This answer is of no use. C:\programdata\Microsoft Help looks blank 60kb
total on my machine which has the identical problem. The directory is
identical on a machine which does not have the problem. An uninstall and
reinstall does not fix the problem. There are many of us with no solution and
waiting for answers.