Trouble with Windows Installer

[Mark Corbelli]

I had a weird thing happen...I suddenly lost all evidence of my Office
components-Word, Publisher, Excell, Outlook, and Powerpoint. I can click on
a document and it will open in the program, but I can't launch the program
because they're gone from the program menu. My solution was to re-install
the programs. But lo and behold, when I try to re-install I get this message
"Windows Installer- This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the
patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application
vendor to verifythat this is a valid windows installer patch package." The
only patches I know of come from my Microsoft Updates. What gives?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

I had a weird thing happen...I suddenly lost all evidence of my Office
components-Word, Publisher, Excell, Outlook, and Powerpoint. I can
click on a document and it will open in the program, but I can't
launch the program because they're gone from the program menu. My
solution was to re-install the programs.

That solution has to be extreme overkill. If double-clicking a
doument opens the program correctly, then the program is
installed correctly. All that's missing are shortcuts to the
programs, and worst case you can recreate those easily.

 

[Mark Corbelli]

Ken:

I did put the shortcuts back. What about that installer problem though?