Microsoft Works/Word format

[Fritz]

I just purchased a laptop computer that has XP Home
Edition pre-loaded, meaning it has only Microsoft Works,
rather than Word, as a word processor. When I try to boot
a Word document from floppy, Works gives me the error
message that the disk is unformatted and do I want to
format it. Is this because Word and Works are
incompatible? I have ordered an upgrade to XP
Professional just in case. Will putting and using only
Word on my laptop take care of the issue?

 

[Nicholas]

Neither Windows XP Home Edition nor Windows XP Professional
include Microsoft Word. You'll need to purchase and install either
Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office XP.

Upgrading to Windows XP Professional will not give you Microsoft
Word or Office.

--
Nicholas

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| I just purchased a laptop computer that has XP Home
| Edition pre-loaded, meaning it has only Microsoft Works,
| rather than Word, as a word processor. When I try to boot
| a Word document from floppy, Works gives me the error
| message that the disk is unformatted and do I want to
| format it. Is this because Word and Works are
| incompatible? I have ordered an upgrade to XP
| Professional just in case. Will putting and using only
| Word on my laptop take care of the issue?

 

[purplehaz]

First, XP home and XP pro DO NOT include word or works. They are separate
programs from the operating system and neither comes with any version of
windows(they never have). Upgrading to XP pro, will not get you word. If you
thought it would you're waisting your money. Word is part of the MS Office
suite. You need to buy office or word to install it. Your computer
manufacturer may have installed works for you as a bonus or as an extra
program package, but it didn't come with windows xp home.
Next, not sure what you mean by boot a word document. The computer boots up,
not word documents. You open word documents. If your trying to open a word
document with works, it may not work. You'll have to see if works can open a
..doc file. Wordpad, that does come with windows, should open a word document
just fine. Try using that, or you'll have to purchase and install Microsoft
Word.

 

[Fritz]

For the record, the disk works fine on my desktop
computer, which has XP Pro and Office installed. I don't
work from disk, but I save to disk as a back-up, and I
have saved the document to, and read the document from,
this and other disks (all of which produce
the "unformatted" error message on the laptop) many
times. I wanted to transfer the saved document to my new
laptop's hard drive so as to be able to work from hard
copy (that's why I got the laptop in the first place), but
it won't let me. The floppy drive was an open-box buy.
I'll exchange it and see if that takes care of the
problem. Thanks for your help. Sorry about my faulty
nomenclature.

 

[Fritz]

For the record, the disk works fine on my desktop
computer, which has XP Pro and Office installed, unlike
the laptop. I don't work from disk, but I save to disk as
a back-up, and I have saved the document to, and read the
document from, this and other disks (all of which produce
the "unformatted" error message on the laptop) many
times. I wanted to transfer the saved document to my new
laptop's hard drive so as to be able to work from hard
copy (that's why I got the laptop in the first place), but
it won't let me. The floppy drive was an open-box buy.
I'll exchange it and see if that takes care of the
problem. Thanks for your help. Sorry about my faulty
nomenclature.

 

[Ken Blake]

I just purchased a laptop computer that has XP Home
Edition pre-loaded, meaning it has only Microsoft Works,
rather than Word, as a word processor.

No, it doesn't mean that at all. Neither XP Home nor XP
Professional come with either Word or Works. *Your* vendor
happened to bundle Works with the product he sold you.

When I try to boot
a Word document from floppy, Works gives me the error
message that the disk is unformatted and do I want to
format it. Is this because Word and Works are
incompatible?

Although Works won't read a Word document, this error has nothing
to do with that.

I have ordered an upgrade to XP
Professional just in case.

That will do nothing to solve the problem. You will still not
have Word, and you will still have the problem reading floppies.

Will putting and using only
Word on my laptop take care of the issue?

No.

 

[Rob Schneider]

For the record, the disk works fine on my desktop
computer, which has XP Pro and Office installed. I don't
work from disk, but I save to disk as a back-up, and I
have saved the document to, and read the document from,
this and other disks (all of which produce
the "unformatted" error message on the laptop) many
times. I wanted to transfer the saved document to my new
laptop's hard drive so as to be able to work from hard
copy (that's why I got the laptop in the first place), but
it won't let me. The floppy drive was an open-box buy.
I'll exchange it and see if that takes care of the
problem. Thanks for your help. Sorry about my faulty
nomenclature.

The above information makes a lot more sense than the original post!

I would agree that the root-cause problem is probably the floppy drive
on the laptop. As suggested by David ... I would also recommend that
you try using laptop to create a formatted disk. See if by formatting
there it can be readable in both laptop and desktop. If yes ... at
least you have a solution. If no ... then it provides more ammunition
to the idea that the floppy drive is bad.

 

[Fritz]

Excellent thought! I'll give it a shot. Thanks again!

 

[Fritz]

Excellent thought! I'll give it a shot. Thanks again!