MS Office 2003 tries to reinstall all by its own?

[Celofan]

Hey.. I'll take it from the beginning. (Im running w2k btw)
I wanted to make my computer run a little more smoothly so I downloaded this "cleaner program" (yeah I know, it's a big *bad idea* sign right there), anyhow.. I downloaded it and ran it and afterwards my office2003 instalation complained about some .CAB file missing.

I googled for a sollution to that problem and changed a suggested registry value hoping that it would fix it. It sort of did but then a new problem arose where it complained on some other file.

Well.. I then tried uninstalling it as per the usual way from the controll panel but it wouldnt let me now cause some .msi file was not longer valid(?). SO, I deleted my entire office folder and the "Office"-folders in the registry hoping it would "reset" stuff, then I tried to reinstall office thinking it might uninstall afterwards. It wouldnt install. I also downloaded some "get rid of office2003"-tool from MS but that didnt really do it either. ok..

SO THEN I deleted the files that came from the installation attempt (c:/programs/microsoft office), I ran the "get rid of office"-program and I re-deleted the registry-folders, prayed, and found out it didnt work. Then I kind of lost it. I deleted EVERY KEY in the registry that had the string "office11" and "microsoft office" in it hoping THAT might quench the evil. It's still here. I've deleted Every Single notion that I could find of anything that has anything to do with microsoft office 2003 on this here computer but ever so often when I try to search for something or when I delete a file some window pops up saying "wait while windows configures microsoft office professional edition 2003" and then some error message going "the function you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." and tells me to give an alternate location of some PRO11.MSI file (which I tried and it laughed in my face and said it wasnt good enough).

Since my rampage in the registry it doesnt actually tell me that I have office2003 anymore when I run the add/delete program from the controll-panel btw.. I guess that's something huh.

Im just curious if anyone knows what Frikken Program tries to reinstall this "devourer of sanity"-2003 so I can smite it from the realm of my computer Is it fixable or is it fubar?  :-/

I'm almost ready for the looney-bin by now. (And no btw. I can't "restore" the computer to a previous working date because I dont have that function.. I think.. as far as I know).

Thanks in advance - Johan K

/Edit: I still cant reinstall because it complains about above mentioned.

[pcdoc4christ]

What is the exact error message (error code number and description) that you get when you try to reinstall Office 2003?  Is this the original Office 2003 CD or a copy?

[Celofan]

@pcdoc4christ
Thanks for the reply. I tried reinstalling the office package this morning and it worked! I then tried uninstalling it and it went without a hitch. However, the problem with the program tries to reinstall itself every now and then (When I try to delete a file or search for a file (and start windows)), it sais "wait while windows configures microsoft office professional edition 2003" (but in swedish), then it sais "the function you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." and asks me to provide an alternative path to a folder that contains the installation package PRO11.MSI, and when I point it to the office cd in the drive it sais "PRO11.MSI is no longer a valid installation-package for the product."

So it seems like theres some other program in the background that lurks there and tries to reinstall? I dont know what's going on  

/edit. There is no error code as such.

[soybean]

Maybe this will help: PRO11.MSI-where can I find this file?

[Celofan]

@soybean
Thanks for the reply and the link. It didnt really work (at all) though.

I can install, repair and uninstall office, but the problem is still here. When I delete or search for something (and sometimes just for the heck of it it seems) it wants to reinstall office. When it cant it sais "the function you're trying to use is located on a resource that is unavailable." and tells me to give an alternative path to the PRO11.MSI file. When I point it to the installation CD it sais "PRO11.MSI is no longer a valid installationpackage for the program. Look for a folder that contains the installationpackage PRO11.MSI and try to insall it from there". I then have no other choice really than to click "abort" and then it tells me "Error 1706"

Google helped me to "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297834" but that doesnt really help me at all. I allready tried the "install, repair and uninstall" thing and the othe two options there isnt an option it seems.

I dont have office2003 on the puter anymore, but it's still alive :S like a ghost in the shell.

[patio]

Another reason i swear by Total Uninstall...

Try This

[soybean]

I wanted to make my computer run a little more smoothly so I downloaded this "cleaner program" (yeah I know, it's a big *bad idea* sign right there),...

Actually, the right cleaner can be good. One often suggested in this and other forums in CCleaner.  

I don't know what you used in your case but all the manual removing of files and registry entries appears to have created a mess for you.  I think you should be anticipating the possibility of formatting your hard drive and doing a fresh installation of Windows as the ultimate fix for your system.  

Back to the cleaner.  If have not used CCleaner, it might worth trying.  CCleaner is both a disk cleanup utility and a safe registry cleaner; for registry cleaning, run the Issues scan. Other registry cleaners may often find more items to remove from the registry but may also carry more risk.  

[Celofan]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've pretty much done everything I can think of short of either taking a hammer to the computer or reinstalling windows. The former would feel better, but I suppose, is less reasonable. I just dread reinstalling this crap because theres Allways something you forget to back-up to save for later, and all the frikken updates and what now... aaah... anyhow;

Somehow windows "knows" there should be an office professional 2003 program and something tells it to install it. I'm thinking that has to be typed in somewhere and gives this something (windows installer?) this info. Where is this "somewhere"? any ideas?

[patio]

I'd go for the hammer...

[ale52]

Have you checked 'msconfig' to see what's running in the background that might be calling up the reinstall?

Alan <><  

[Celofan]

Actually I've determined that it is the microsoft installer program that gets the idea that it should reinstall office so it seems as it is a "legitimate" process at work. I cant very likely remove it either, how would I ever install something again?

I looked in the system log and discovered the error messages corresponding to the install-attempt-events. I had figured something had to tell the installer to install this crap and that something had to be written down somewhere in a murky file. So I took my trustworthy "Ultra Edit" and searched through the contents of all the files in the c:/winnt folder and found an msi-file in the c:/winnt/installer -folder (which btw was not browseable in the sense that you could find it with the browser, it was beyond hidden). anyhow, in that folder there was a whole package concerning the installation of office-2003. So I deleted it . That didnt solve it really, so I searched for more places and came across a file called software.rrr in the c:/winnt/system32/config folder (does anyone know what that file does?). Anywho, it contained the register-keys for the program that tried and failed to install office. This file however isnt really readable other than in a hex-editor so there was a lot of "junk" around those keys so when I deleted the keys Im not sure I didnt break something in a bad way

The problem isnt solved but it isnt as bad any more, the installation attempt stops sooner - I guess I hacked the path off somewhere, just cant get to the source of it. I cant find any traces of the registry-keys in any file anywhere that error messages left in the system log regarding the installer states.

"Detection of product {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9} feature 'ProductNonBootFiles' failed during request for component {611A5543-AEAC-11D3-8621-005004838609}"

forums on the net states that this occurs if you dont have priviliges high enough but I dont know if I can get the priviliges much higher than "administrator"  

Anyone with any other ideas'd appreciated.
Thank you
 
/Edit. Just deleted every notion of "office11" from the software.rrr too..just for the heck of it.. how wrong can it go  8-)

[soybean]

Have you tried using CCleaner?  You might also try a registry cleaner.  I'll suggest one I occasionally use; it's Eusing Free Registry Cleaner.  I can't say for sure whether either or both of these tools will make any difference.  But, since you're in an exploratory mode with this endeavor to resolve a problem, they might be worth a try.

[patio]

Another reason i swear by Total Uninstall...

Try This

Click on the link above...

[Celofan]

@patio and soybean
Thanks for the tips guys. I tried the installer-update earlier and it didnt seem to do anything for me then either, but I ran it again just for the heck of it. I've also tried a number of registry cleaners but it doesnt really work because I dont think they look for missing files and what not.. anyhow, update:

I didnt really think of it before which is strange, (I guess I was too busy deleting other stuff), I scanned for "pro11.msi" in the registry an deleted two or three keys with it in them. The error is almost not noticeable anymore. A window flashes by really quick but I dont have to click "cancel" or "abort" anymore. Seems like something is still telling the installer to run, but it doesnt seem to know what to do with it. new error messages in the logs but it's managable I suppose, collateral damage