Windows Live ID is unavailable

[JD2]

Dear Office Gurus,

I have been having issues with accessing online help from any of the Office
2003 programs. When I search for assistance, it searches online as it
should, but when I attempt to open one of the results, I get redirected to a
webpage "sign in to Office online". However, it doesn't prompt me to logon
(even though I do have a Windows Live ID account), and tells me that "Windows
Live ID is unavailable from this site ...". I have tried reinstalling
Office, but to no avail. As I work in IT support and use this daily, it's
becoming an issue. Any suggestions?

Regards
JD2

 

[Johnbes]

Hi JD2, Sorry you're experiencing problems with online Help, I have a few
quick questions...
1. Can you browse to Office.Microsoft.Com and search/view articles on the
"Help and How To" site at
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/FX100485361033.aspx?pid=CL100605171033
?
2. Does the problem occur in all apps?
3. Are you logged on to Windows Live when this happens, or is it
independent of a current login?
4. Have you tried deleting your cookies, closing all IE instances and even
restarting your system?
5. Has anyone else reproduced this in your group?

After I get your responses I may ask you to download a tool to capture your
web traffic from your client install.

Talk to you soon,
John

 

[JD2]

Dear John,

Thank you for your response. I fixed the problem by deleting my IE cookies
- thank you.

In response to your other questions (FYI only), prior to deleting the
cookies, I could not browse to the Office.Microsoft.com site, and the problem
occurred in all MS applications. I tried both being logged onto Windows ID
and not - same result! I had not seen this error reproduced on any other PC
in our organisation, but will be sure to note down the solution in our Help
Desk database in the event that it does.

Thank you again for your suggestions, and helping me to resolve this problem.

Regards
JD2

 

[Stu W]

I had the exact same problem. The only Microsoft sites not available were
those associated with MS-Office. I resolved the problem by deleting my
cookies and cache.

It was particularly mystifying because I had just installed a new drive in
my laptop and had a fresh version of Windows XP and Office installed, along
with all the necessary hardware drivers and software updates. However, I had
also used the Microsoft utilities to copy over my documents and settings (I
used both the Windows Files and Settings Transfer Wizard and the Office 2003
Save My Settings Wizard. I'm guessing one or both of these processes copied
some stuff over that needs to be created naturally.

 

[JD2]

Hi Stu W,

Thank you for replying to my post. It is good to know we both resolved the
problem the same way. Although the reason it happened is still a mystery, as
I hadn't performed any of the tasks you mentioned (and no new disks). I even
tried re-installing Office 2003 to no avail.

Well at least we resolved it!!

Regards
JD2