Can't open existing Excel files

[Guest]

Can't open existing excel files. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition Ver
5.1.2600 Service Pack 2, Build 2600 with MS Office Excel ver 10.
1) When trying to open existing excel file the computer looks for XP
Professional, which I've never had.
2) Dialog box asks to insert XP Pro disc (which I've never had).
3) Another dialog box opens saying it's looking for file "PRORET.MSI".
4) Error code 1706 then comes up.
5) All other MS Office programs, word, access, ppt all work fine.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Paul,

1) When trying to open existing excel file the computer looks for XP
Professional, which I've never had.

Try this:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /unregserver

After that:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /regserver

If that fails, I guess you need to remove office and install it again.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul,


Try this:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /unregserver

After that:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /regserver

If that fails, I guess you need to remove office and install it again.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

Thank you Jan for your advice.
My computer does not recognize the program you suggested.
I think the problem started when I took a homework project home from the
university and uploaded it to my computer to finish it for turn in the next
day.

Apparently, the university uses MS Office Professional in their labs and I,
of course, do not.

Now, my computer has been tricked into thinking that any Excel file is
somehow in MS Office Professional format and any of the old ones (which up to
this point worked perfectly) must be opened with Professional.

I hesitate to uninstall Office and then reinstall it, even though I still
have the original discs, because I don't have a clue about how to do it and
am uncertain about what would happen to existing Word files.

Is the scenario I described possible? Could my old Excel files and program
been affected this way?

R,
Paul B

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Paul,

Thank you Jan for your advice.
My computer does not recognize the program you suggested.
I think the problem started when I took a homework project home from the
university and uploaded it to my computer to finish it for turn in the next
day.

I strongly doubt that can cause this.

Apparently, the university uses MS Office Professional in their labs and I,
of course, do not.

Now, my computer has been tricked into thinking that any Excel file is
somehow in MS Office Professional format and any of the old ones (which up to
this point worked perfectly) must be opened with Professional.

Nope, this has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter to Excel to what kind of
Office package it belongs and it should start normally.

I hesitate to uninstall Office and then reinstall it, even though I still
have the original discs, because I don't have a clue about how to do it and
am uncertain about what would happen to existing Word files.

Your data files will not be affected at all.

Is the scenario I described possible? Could my old Excel files and program
been affected this way?

I don't think so.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul,


I strongly doubt that can cause this.


Nope, this has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter to Excel to what kind of
Office package it belongs and it should start normally.


Your data files will not be affected at all.


I don't think so.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

I reinstalled the program from the original disc. Now everything is fine. ...and there was much rejoicing.

Thanks,
Paul B

 

[Jan Karel Pieterse]

Hi Paul,

I reinstalled the program from the original disc. Now everything is fine. ...and there was much rejoicing.
Thanks,

Great this is solved.
Thanks for letting me know.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Paul,


Try this:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /unregserver

After that:

Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office\excel.exe" /regserver

If that fails, I guess you need to remove office and install it again.

Regards,

Jan Karel Pieterse
Excel MVP
http://www.jkp-ads.com

Hey,
I just had to change the location of my office in your string and got it
working again... Thanks a bunch

 

[Guest]

Worked for me! Was having Office XP SP3 update problem, followed by problems
opening existing Excel files, because when opening an xls file tried to
install Office XP Pro, and it asked for the Office CD that I don't have and
it was looking for PRORET.MSI. So, I did the following and it cleared it up.
Many thanks to PaulB and Jan!

1) searched for my excel.exe file, found it in the Office10 folder. So I
edited Jan's instruction below and then...

2) Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office10\excel.exe" /unregserver

3) Start, run,
"c:\program files\microsoft office\office10\excel.exe" /regserver

 

[Guest]

I experienced the same problem following an aborted attempt to download
service pack 3. This worked like a charm after 2 emails to Microsoft and a
conversation on the phone proved useless.
Thank you very much.

 

[classic600]

I am glad I checked here before I paid for support. This fix worked. Thanks!

 

[Dr. No Clue with Computers]

Thank you so much!!! The fix worked great. I ended up using Whitney's fix.
Thanks again.

 

[John Sequeira]

Whitey,

This worked for me also!! I had the same simptoms and did not have the
orig. CD's. I was in freak out mode. Great explanation on how to fix the
problem. It was a life saver for me!!!

Thank you,

John S

 

[frantic]

I have also found my missing files dumped into office11 but when I try the
fix below, the error window tells me I have to run setup first but where do I
find those files?

 

[Michael]

My issue is I open an xls file (running 2000 and office 03') on the
desktop or anywhere and it wants to install all program again.
(asscoiation looks fine btw)...when I open /excel.exe from run command
it opens fine and then I just go to file / open /...and works but
annoying.....any suggs? same as whitney fix?