Project 2003 install 'broke' Office 2000 Pro install?

[David Elders]

Hi all,

Hopefully one we can get a definitive answer to here.

Client with Office 2000 Pro on their XP Pro XP2 desktop clients. They are
running Outlook 2003. All running OK until we get a call today saying that
on one PC, when they either browse to an Excel/Word file or try to open the
shortcuts to the programs that they get a box up 'preparing for
installation' and asking for the Office 2000 Pro CD. This was all working
fine before the Easter holiday.

VPN'd into their network and from the PC's event log its clear that it had
Project 2003 Professional installed last Friday. If I browse to the
c:\program files\microsoft office\office directory and use the Excel.exe or
Winword.exe files the programs open fine and I can then browse to any of the
files for either and open them fine.

Checked on the MS Knowledge Base and found this article which appears to
suggest that the install of Project 2003 *may*possibly* have affected the
shortcuts and file associations, although the article deals more with full
Office installations over earlier versions rather than of any of its
component applications.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828956

Information about running multiple versions of Office with Office 2003

2 questions:

1] Am I right in thinking that this is the likely cause of the issues being
experienced on this PC?

2] What is the way to resolve these and to reassociate the shortcuts and
file associations back to the 2000 versions?

Thanks in advance,


David

 

[Brian K - Project MVP]

Hi all,

Hopefully one we can get a definitive answer to here.

Client with Office 2000 Pro on their XP Pro XP2 desktop clients. They
are running Outlook 2003. All running OK until we get a call today
saying that on one PC, when they either browse to an Excel/Word file
or try to open the shortcuts to the programs that they get a box up
'preparing for installation' and asking for the Office 2000 Pro CD.
This was all working fine before the Easter holiday.

2 questions:

1] Am I right in thinking that this is the likely cause of the issues
being experienced on this PC?

2] What is the way to resolve these and to reassociate the shortcuts
and file associations back to the 2000 versions?

I would just give it the 2000 CD and let it repair itself. That is
likely what it is trying to do. The installation of Project may have
stomped on a dll or two and it is trying to fix it.