Windows installer message

[***TominFL***]

I tried to use Detect and Repair on my Outlook 2003 part of office 2003 and
it returns this message: "This patch package could not be opened. Verify that
the patch package exists adn that you can access it, or contact the
application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows installer patch
package."
Problem is I loaded Office from the update CD which then was able to be
registered with MS. So, how could it be the wrong patch? BTY what exactly do
they mean by a patch package? I did download some fixes that came from the
Office update site. ????

 

[Daphne Foldes]

Hello

Is Windows installer giving you that message? Please explain

 

[***TominFL***]

Daphne, Thanks for responding.
It is Windows installer that gives this message, " "This patch package could
not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists adn that you can access
it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows
installer patch package."

 

[Daphne Foldes]

Hello

Try and use this below. Post back with result(s)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Bye

 

[***TominFL***]

Before I use this, I have a question. The problem is only in Word, I've lost
my Word Icons and some others from Office. So, I can select these options:
MS office 2000 SR-1 DisK 2
MS office 2000 SR-1 Premium
MS office 2003 Pro Edition

I'm not sure which one to use the clean up on but I would like to not have
to reinstall all my Office products.

 

[***TominFL***]

I posted a question (See below) that is holding me from using the utility you
suggested. Please give me your advice on this.
Thanks

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Tom,

The MS Office Installer Message dialog that is starting should tell you if it's the 2000 or 2003 product it's about to run setup on.

You should be able to successfully run a repair/reinstall on each of the products (oldest to newest) from Add/Remove Programs in the
Windows control panel [be sure to have the disks for all of them handy]. If one of them does not complete the repair/reinstall
process that's often a first indicator of which one you can use the cleanup utility on.

It's not unusual for more than one product (when you have multiple editions installed) to be broken. They sometimes share different
versions of the same file, or if you've deleted content from the \Windows\Update folder, or used a 3rd party (or even MS's)
'registry cleaner' product, those will often break the installation of MS Office products.

You may want to first try closing all of the Office apps, using Start=>Search to find files named
~$*.*;*.tmp
and sending those to recycle and restarting the PC to see if that helps.

=========
Before I use this, I have a question. The problem is only in Word, I've lost
my Word Icons and some others from Office. So, I can select these options:
MS office 2000 SR-1 DisK 2
MS office 2000 SR-1 Premium
MS office 2003 Pro Edition

I'm not sure which one to use the clean up on but I would like to not have to reinstall all my Office products. >>
--
I hope this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office system products MVP

LINKS to the 2007 Office System

1. Free MS Office 2007 book from MS Press, 213 pages:
http://microsoft.com/learning/office2007/default.mspx#booksfrommspress

2.. Office 2007 Beta 2 Online Test Drive, Downloadable beta,
e-learning courses, doucmentation and movies:
http://microsoft.com/office/preview

3. Send 2007 Office System Beta 2 feedback directly to the MS Office 2007 product team with this feedback tool:
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/

4. Try the 2007 OfficeOnline preview website , without Office2007

a. Install the ActiveX access control
http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT101650581033

b. then visit
http://officebeta.iponet.net

 

[***TominFL***]

The windows installer does not identify which Office it is refering to, only
that it is from the installer and that the "patch package" could not be
opened. "It says this,
"This patch package could not be opened. Verify that
the patch package exists adn that you can access it, or contact the
application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows installer patch
package."
Now that you say, " 'registry cleaner' product, those will often break the
installation of MS Office products." I think that was the culprit.
Would this, "You may want to first try closing all of the Office apps, using
Start=>Search to find files named
~$*.*;*.tmp
and sending those to recycle and restarting the PC to see if that helps."
mean that I would be retoring what the "registry cleaner" removed?

Hi Tom,

The MS Office Installer Message dialog that is starting should tell you if it's the 2000 or 2003 product it's about to run setup on.

You should be able to successfully run a repair/reinstall on each of the products (oldest to newest) from Add/Remove Programs in the
Windows control panel [be sure to have the disks for all of them handy]. If one of them does not complete the repair/reinstall
process that's often a first indicator of which one you can use the cleanup utility on.

It's not unusual for more than one product (when you have multiple editions installed) to be broken. They sometimes share different
versions of the same file, or if you've deleted content from the \Windows\Update folder, or used a 3rd party (or even MS's)
'registry cleaner' product, those will often break the installation of MS Office products.

You may want to first try closing all of the Office apps, using Start=>Search to find files named
~$*.*;*.tmp
and sending those to recycle and restarting the PC to see if that helps.

=========
Before I use this, I have a question. The problem is only in Word, I've lost
my Word Icons and some others from Office. So, I can select these options:
MS office 2000 SR-1 DisK 2
MS office 2000 SR-1 Premium
MS office 2003 Pro Edition

I'm not sure which one to use the clean up on but I would like to not have to reinstall all my Office products. >>
--
I hope this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office system products MVP

LINKS to the 2007 Office System

1. Free MS Office 2007 book from MS Press, 213 pages:
http://microsoft.com/learning/office2007/default.mspx#booksfrommspress

2.. Office 2007 Beta 2 Online Test Drive, Downloadable beta,
e-learning courses, doucmentation and movies:
http://microsoft.com/office/preview

3. Send 2007 Office System Beta 2 feedback directly to the MS Office 2007 product team with this feedback tool:
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/

4. Try the 2007 OfficeOnline preview website , without Office2007

a. Install the ActiveX access control
http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT101650581033

b. then visit
http://officebeta.iponet.net

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Tom,

Recycling the old temp files will help clear up the system a bit, but if the connection between installed patches and the registry
that tracks their location is already broken then you'll probably need to backup your data files, then use the utility to clear the
remaining registry links
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295823/en-us?FR=1
and then restart the PC and reinstall the apps to their same locations.

You may want to use Start=>Run and type
%temp% {enter key}
to look at the detail view in Windows explorer to locate the most recent .log files to see if the logs identify which Office version
was trying to reinstall to narrow things down.

While you are wise to be cautious and are asking questions that show you are, unfortunately, it's also easy to trust software that
says it's designed to cleanup things and fix them Unfortunately some of the cleanup software is a bit too aggressive but from
time to time things on computers also simply break.

=========
The windows installer does not identify which Office it is refering to, only
that it is from the installer and that the "patch package" could not be
opened. "It says this,
"This patch package could not be opened. Verify that
the patch package exists adn that you can access it, or contact the
application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows installer patch
package."
Now that you say, " 'registry cleaner' product, those will often break the
installation of MS Office products." I think that was the culprit.
Would this, "You may want to first try closing all of the Office apps, using
Start=>Search to find files named
~$*.*;*.tmp
and sending those to recycle and restarting the PC to see if that helps."
mean that I would be retoring what the "registry cleaner" removed? >>
--
I hope this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office system products MVP

LINKS to the 2007 Office System

1. Free MS Office 2007 book from MS Press, 213 pages:
http://microsoft.com/learning/office2007/default.mspx#booksfrommspress

2.. Office 2007 Beta 2 Online Test Drive, Downloadable beta,
e-learning courses, doucmentation and movies:
http://microsoft.com/office/preview

3. Send 2007 Office System Beta 2 feedback directly to the MS Office 2007 product team with this feedback tool:
http://sas.office.microsoft.com/

4. Try the 2007 OfficeOnline preview website , without Office2007

a. Install the ActiveX access control
http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?AssetID=XT101650581033

b. then visit
http://officebeta.iponet.net

 

[***TominFL***]

Thanks Daphne Bob,
I used the clean up util. and then reloaded Office 2003 easily. I appreciate
your help.
Tom