Upgraded, lost MS Works files

[Guest]

I recently upgraded to Vista. Prior to the upgrade, I used the MS Works suite
(I know it isn't that great, but it came free on the laptop). I am planning
on purchasing Office in the near future, but I still can't access the files.
I contacted Best Buy, they told me that since Works had been on here before,
I should be able to open the files. I can't. They told me to contact
Microsoft. Microsoft directed me to the selp help, or live help, but for some
reason, my product ID is invalid. I don't want to pay $45 for Works, it's not
worth it. I don't want to pay $59 to talk to a tech support person. Does
anybody have some advice for me?

 

[NT Canuck]

I recently upgraded to Vista. Prior to the upgrade, I used the MS Works suite
(I know it isn't that great, but it came free on the laptop). I am planning
on purchasing Office in the near future, but I still can't access the files.
I contacted Best Buy, they told me that since Works had been on here before,
I should be able to open the files. I can't. They told me to contact
Microsoft. Microsoft directed me to the selp help, or live help, but for some
reason, my product ID is invalid. I don't want to pay $45 for Works, it's not
worth it. I don't want to pay $59 to talk to a tech support person. Does
anybody have some advice for me?

Have you looked at the root hard drive?
c:/windows.old

likely it may be inside there, program files area.

NT Canuck
'Seek and ye shall find'

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

"...came free on the laptop"
That means it is probably OEM and Microsoft does not provide free support to
OEM.
OEM support if available comes from the computer manufacturer.

If you still have the Works CD, try uninstalling/reinstalling Works.

Otherwise try asking in a Works newsgroup:
http://aumha.org/nntp.htm

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Do you still have MS Works on the machine? Without Office or Works or
some other program that can handle those files I don't know how you can open
them.

As for were they are, I assume they were on the same machine and you did
nothing that would have erased them, then you should be able to do a find
(Window's key & "F") and search for a specific name or word or phrase that
would be unusual but would be on at least one of your documents or files.
That will tell you where they are, which should be exactly where they were
before.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Do you still have MS Works on the machine? Without Office or Works or
some other program that can handle those files I don't know how you can open
them.

As for were they are, I assume they were on the same machine and you did
nothing that would have erased them, then you should be able to do a find
(Window's key & "F") and search for a specific name or word or phrase that
would be unusual but would be on at least one of your documents or files.
That will tell you where they are, which should be exactly where they were
before.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

I recently upgraded to Vista. Prior to the upgrade, I used the MS Works
suite
(I know it isn't that great, but it came free on the laptop). I am
planning
on purchasing Office in the near future, but I still can't access the
files.
I contacted Best Buy, they told me that since Works had been on here
before,
I should be able to open the files. I can't. They told me to contact
Microsoft. Microsoft directed me to the selp help, or live help, but for
some
reason, my product ID is invalid. I don't want to pay $45 for Works, it's
not
worth it. I don't want to pay $59 to talk to a tech support person. Does
anybody have some advice for me?

Hi Frustrated,

Perhaps Works is still there, and you just don't have any icons or file
associations for Works.

See if you have this file on your system:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Works\msworks.exe

If so, run it - Works should start up. If you don't have a msworks.exe
anywhere on your system, then somehow, Works was indeed lost, during the
upgrade process.

If running the msworks.exe file works okay, create a shortcut to this file
somewhere and use it to launch Works.

Hope it helps, let us know how you get on.

 

[Guest]

Thank you so much for your help everybody! Right after I realized the
problem, I looked in the windows.old folder and found the works.exe program.
I tried to run it, but it was no good. There were a couple of other files I
tried to rescue from the .old folders, but none of them would work. I don't
know if I did it incorrectly or what, and there is no way for me to find out
now. I was putting all of my files back on the computer, but my 80G hard
drive was full due to the duplication of my files so I deleted all of the
..old stuff. I know, I know, I should have an external hard drive if I'm going
to keep 35G of music in my iTunes. I am tempted to put the recovery CD in my
laptop and go back to XP to save the files in a different format and then
upgrade again. Is that crazy? And if I do that, what's the deal with the .old
files, and why would none of them open up for me? Thanks again for all of
your input, I really appreciate it.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

to keep 35G of music in my iTunes. I am tempted to put the recovery CD in
my
laptop and go back to XP to save the files in a different format and then
upgrade again. Is that crazy?

Not necessarily crazy. If you go down that path, though, I'd *strongy*
recommend that ou copy your files to an external hard disk or DVD or some
other location. Don't rely on them being preserved on teh hard disk,
throughout the recovery process. I haven't tried it; but I wouldn't be
surprised if your hard disk gets formatted in teh process. Put your data in
a safe place to avoid heartache.

And if I do that, what's the deal with the .old
files, and why would none of them open up for me?

The Windows.old directory is not intended to preserve a functional copy of
your old installation - there's no guarantee that any programs in there will
run, and many won't. This is normal. The idea of Windows.old is just to
preserve your old files as "data", in case you need them for anything later
on.

Good luck with it,

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. I did back up all of my files onto
DVD. At this point, I have accepted the fact that it is going to be a total
hassle, or cost me $40 to recover my files. I've spent enough time on it that
it's worth the money at this point.

Out of curiosity, what is the point of the .old files anyway if you can't
use them? I had almost 50G of data just sitting on my hard drive. It seems a
bit wasteful if you can't do anything with the majority of the files. Thanks
for making me feel better about deleting them

Trish

 

[Andrew McLaren]

Out of curiosity, what is the point of the .old files anyway if you can't
use them? I had almost 50G of data just sitting on my hard drive. It seems
a
bit wasteful if you can't do anything with the majority of the files.
Thanks
for making me feel better about deleting them

If the Windows.old directory hasn't helped you to solve your problem, you
might well ask that question

It's not a guaranteed way of protecting anything much. The main idea is that
you might have *data* files, which you don't want to loose. Vista Upgarde
saves the old config under Windows.old, just in case you upgrade and then
suddenly think "Oh crap I left teh only copy of my PhD thesis in existance
as a Works document, under the Works program directory". Well, this way,
your thesis.doc is still there. Or you might have a config file which is
associated with an application, which you want to import into the new
installation. Things like that. But definitely, it is not intended to
preserve a functional copy of your applications. o you couldn't run Works as
a functioning application, from it's position in teh Windows.old directory.
To get Works running again, you'd need to re-install it, from the original
media (eg CD-ROM)

Good luck,