Unable to repair, reinstall or uninstall office XP

[Mark]

How do you uninstall office if the process fails?

I have been having a problem with Word XP (Ver 10.5522.4219 SP-2) that
started a couple
of weeks ago. I have tried to fix it but have been unable to, so I tried the
following:

1) "Detect and Repair" option. When I run this, the repair
operation fails and I get the following error message: "Error 1901 Setup
cannot read file C:\Windows\Installer\240af2a7.msp. For help, see
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 10\1033\Setup.hlp". The referenced
file is a Windows Update Patch for Office XP SP-2, and is located where it
should be, so I replaced it with the same file from another computer. The
"Detect and Repair" option still fails with the same error message.

2) So next I tried reinstalling Office from Control Panel\Add or Remove
Programs\Microsoft Office\Change\Repair\Reinstall Office. This process fails
with the following error message: "Installer Terminated Prematurely".
Hitting "OK" produces the error message "The I/O operation has been aborted
because of either a thread exit or an application request".

3) So next I tried uninstalling Office, which produces the same error
message as in 2) above.

At this point, it seems that I can't repair, re-install, or even uninstall
Office. Can anyone offer any suggestions? The OS is Windows XP Pro, Version
5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp2.030422-1633: Service Pack 1) with all
currently-available patches and updates.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

 

[Horst Walter]

I had a similar problem with the Office Update via Internet.

See
-->
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/directory/worldwide/en-gb/utility2.asp
<--

After the steps described I was able to re-install Office
I have a "clean" installation now
(-> all options possible, also uninstall would be possible IMHO).

In my case the re-installation was possible without (!) losing any
settings as Outlook accounts etc.

However: NO WARRANTY - MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING !!!!

Regards
HW