Fix Windows update of Microsoft Office

[Norm X]

Hi,

I've Xposted this to alt.comp.hardware because it might involve hardware
issues.

I have a flash based netbbook with two partitions on a 32 GB SuperTalent
internal PATA SSD. I use a 32 GB SDHC card as drive D:, formatted in exFAT.
Win7 has flash support so I didn't mess with fancy drivers. On the WinXP
partition I installed a Ph.D. written driver that makes flash access even
faster than for the Win7 partition. It works and I don't want to mess with
it or risk drive corruption. The freeware driver even allowed me to play
with installation of a pagefile on D:. It did not go all the way and permit
Windows to install a System Volume Information folder. Windows recognizes
the 32 GB flash drive as removable and imposes Microsoft Corporation
restrictions. However, under WinXP I was able to install Microsoft Office on
flash drive D: without and update problems. I think the freeware driver
convinced Windows that I did not plan to remove the drive.

For some reason I forgot, I uninstalled the D: drive installation of
Microsoft Office from WinXP and installed it under Win7. MS Office needs to
be installed to work. This is not true of OpenOffice. It doesn't matter from
which OS I install OpenOffice on D:, it works on both internal partitions.

MS Office works on Win7 but it is problematic. Office update does not work.
When I investigate I am told that update cannot write to a certain file on
D:. I think this is a corporate language mashup. It really means that update
willfully will not write to drive D: because of some kind of anxiety.

I think the only solution is to find some means to permanently fool Win7
that the removable drive D: is a fixed drive like the internal flash drive.
I've spent time looking into this problem but at this late date there may be
some new ideas and solutions.

At some point in the future I will probably upgrade to a 64 GB SDHC, when
they are on sale. Drive copy is easy on an Acer Aspire One because it has
two SDHC ports. SDHC cards are also used in cameras & camcorders, which is
another convenience.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul]

Hi,

I've Xposted this to alt.comp.hardware because it might involve hardware
issues.

I have a flash based netbbook with two partitions on a 32 GB SuperTalent
internal PATA SSD. I use a 32 GB SDHC card as drive D:, formatted in exFAT.
Win7 has flash support so I didn't mess with fancy drivers. On the WinXP
partition I installed a Ph.D. written driver that makes flash access even
faster than for the Win7 partition. It works and I don't want to mess with
it or risk drive corruption. The freeware driver even allowed me to play
with installation of a pagefile on D:. It did not go all the way and permit
Windows to install a System Volume Information folder. Windows recognizes
the 32 GB flash drive as removable and imposes Microsoft Corporation
restrictions. However, under WinXP I was able to install Microsoft Office on
flash drive D: without and update problems. I think the freeware driver
convinced Windows that I did not plan to remove the drive.

For some reason I forgot, I uninstalled the D: drive installation of
Microsoft Office from WinXP and installed it under Win7. MS Office needs to
be installed to work. This is not true of OpenOffice. It doesn't matter from
which OS I install OpenOffice on D:, it works on both internal partitions.

MS Office works on Win7 but it is problematic. Office update does not work.
When I investigate I am told that update cannot write to a certain file on
D:. I think this is a corporate language mashup. It really means that update
willfully will not write to drive D: because of some kind of anxiety.

I think the only solution is to find some means to permanently fool Win7
that the removable drive D: is a fixed drive like the internal flash drive.
I've spent time looking into this problem but at this late date there may be
some new ideas and solutions.

At some point in the future I will probably upgrade to a 64 GB SDHC, when
they are on sale. Drive copy is easy on an Acer Aspire One because it has
two SDHC ports. SDHC cards are also used in cameras & camcorders, which is
another convenience.

Thanks in advance.

You didn't state what version of Microsoft Office this is.
The restrictions likely change from version to version.

Contact the PhD who writes drivers, and see if there
is an "RMB" bit in the interface. Telling the OS the
device is not removable will do two things. Trash
hotplug. But also make the device look like a more
regular hard drive. You could add or remove the SD to
the machine, when the machine is powered off (not in
hibernate or sleep).

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html

"Removable or what?"

I don't really see installing licensed software on a
removable drive, to be a "good starting position" for
a company. You may be able to put OpenOffice or LibreOffice
on the SD, but Microsoft Office would be another matter.
Hacking the driver so it appears "fixed", might help.
Uwe lists a couple filter drivers, but they are for
very specific situations indeed, and not likely to work.

Paul

 

[Norm X]

You didn't state what version of Microsoft Office this is.
The restrictions likely change from version to version.

Contact the PhD who writes drivers, and see if there
is an "RMB" bit in the interface. Telling the OS the
device is not removable will do two things. Trash
hotplug. But also make the device look like a more
regular hard drive. You could add or remove the SD to
the machine, when the machine is powered off (not in
hibernate or sleep).

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbstick_e.html

"Removable or what?"

I don't really see installing licensed software on a
removable drive, to be a "good starting position" for
a company. You may be able to put OpenOffice or LibreOffice
on the SD, but Microsoft Office would be another matter.
Hacking the driver so it appears "fixed", might help.
Uwe lists a couple filter drivers, but they are for
very specific situations indeed, and not likely to work.

Paul

It is a long time ago and hard to remember details. For WinXP, I installed
two non Microsoft flash drivers:

cfadisk.sys, see:
http://portableapps.com/node/7181
"to make a flash drive local not removable" and

offire.sys by the flash Ph.D.

offire.sys has some management options but I think it is fully optimized.
Also exFAT support needs to be installed on WinXP.

I have MS Office 2007. Because I am disabled I worked for a disability
charity in 2010 and as a perk I got a sheet of Microsoft product keys. I
don't have more recent product keys, but I'm thinking of buying a $99 Win8.1
cell phone. Remote desktop works for me.

I think maybe I should try to reinstall MS Office under WinXP on top of its
file system on D: drive. I had MS Office installed under WinXP on D:, then I
uninstalled it for some reason I can't remember. When I changed my mind and
tried to reinstall it under WinXP it would not reinstall. Maybe after years
of registry cleaning any errors in the registry have been removed. Or maybe
If I try a different product key Microsoft will permit it.

At this point this is speculative and I am busy installing a version of Kali
Linux on a PC the bedroom. PC waste heat warms my apartment.

If I can get an installation to work on WinXP and if cfadisk.sys and
offire.sys work as they should, then maybe MS Office update will work. MS
Office update changes files and so it should make the install under Win7
work better. I have an installation of MS Office 2007 on my main server PC
and I still get security updates for it.

This reply was sent using Outlook Express on WinXP.

 

[Norm X]

At this point this is speculative and I am busy installing a version of

Kali Linux on a PC the bedroom. PC waste heat warms my apartment.

Wow. I just discovered GnuRadioCompanion, a block programmable driver for my
SDR dongle, RTL2832U+R820T. It looks like a Linux version of Labview for
software defined radio. When I was a graduate student I was restricted to
software that could be purchased on a research grant. With BitTorrent it is
like I have an infinite research grant. Kali Linux is free but it is tricky
to download and install.