Outlook/small-business-XP-office wedged and won't de-install

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Cook
  • Start date Start date
D

David Cook

Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole Office XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his 'address-book' of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..." when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as IE and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself. (We get a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and "Preparing to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
 
The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3
 
Roady -
You didn't read my note carefully enough. The product is now
WEDGED...cannot
re-install and cannot de-install, using the normal Control-panel 'add/remove
software'
applet. (Unless you are suggesting that I try
just hack-deleting XP-Office sub-directory and then see if it will
re-install.
Are you knowledgeable/trained person from MS on XP-Office?
Or is your recommendation more seat-of-the-pants?)

Cheers...

Dave (the base-noter)


Roady said:
The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
David Cook said:
Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole Office
XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet
under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his 'address-book' of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..." when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as IE and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself. (We get
a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and "Preparing to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY
installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You said:
Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We get
Click to expand...

This means the office suit needs activated - Help menu, Activate. Once it's
activated the menus will work. Either the 50 uses expired without your
client activating or all the messing around you and he did destroyed the
previous activation. Because it worked for a couple of weeks, I suspect it
was never activated to begin with, as only new hardware will cause
de-activation, not fiddling with the program.

I would try activating it before messing with more uninstalls/reinstalls -
then back up the activation.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20031027.htm. If the installer comes
up, give it the disk it wants and let it run.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

David Cook said:
Roady -
You didn't read my note carefully enough. The product is now
WEDGED...cannot
re-install and cannot de-install, using the normal Control-panel
'add/remove
software'
applet. (Unless you are suggesting that I try
just hack-deleting XP-Office sub-directory and then see if it will
re-install.
Are you knowledgeable/trained person from MS on XP-Office?
Or is your recommendation more seat-of-the-pants?)

Cheers...

Dave (the base-noter)


in
message news:OsTjbj%[email protected]...
The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
David Cook said:
Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole
Office
XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet
under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking
around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his 'address-book' of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows
Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..." when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as IE and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself. (We get
a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we
cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and "Preparing
to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY
installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is
running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hmmm... I wondering now whether this problem as stated would be a good
candidate to try to repair/alleviate by trying to go back to a 'System
Restore'
point dated prior to the time the problem surfaced. (I've recently READ
about this Win-XP feature, but have never used it.)

Cheers...

Dave (the base noter)
 
Diane -

Sorry, I meant to mention in the base note, that I have tried to
'activate'
the Office-XP software thru the provided menu-item, but that fails to work.
(Again, no explicit hard-error msgs sayiing that it failed to activate, but
clearly
it won't activate.) We get a 'flurry' of these Windows Installer "Preparing
to install..."
window msgs during the activation attempt, then it goes to acquiesent state,
as
though maybe it activated. But, when we close down Outlook and bring it
back up,
the stated functionality is still greyed out, etc, etc.

And, as I stated in another reply, we CANNOT un-install/re-install
anymore thru
the control-panel 'Add/remove software' list. The product appears there,
with a
choice to either 'change' or 'remove', but neither option works. Instead,
we get a
popup saying that the 'de-installer is not recognized'.

So, we are no longer trying ANYTHING with the Outlook software, because
it is clearly wedged/broken. Meanwhile, the customer is instead using a
web-browser
interface to access this Comcast email-acct (luckily, Comcast provides a
decent
email interface thru the browser).

I'll ask the customer next time I visit with him whether he recalls ever
doing the 'activation'.
(But that seems moot at this point, since NOW it clearly thinks is is NOT
activated, and we
can NOT activate it.)

Cheers...

Dave


Diane Poremsky said:
You said:
Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We get
Click to expand...

This means the office suit needs activated - Help menu, Activate. Once it's
activated the menus will work. Either the 50 uses expired without your
client activating or all the messing around you and he did destroyed the
previous activation. Because it worked for a couple of weeks, I suspect it
was never activated to begin with, as only new hardware will cause
de-activation, not fiddling with the program.

I would try activating it before messing with more uninstalls/reinstalls -
then back up the activation.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20031027.htm. If the installer comes
up, give it the disk it wants and let it run.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

David Cook said:
Roady -
You didn't read my note carefully enough. The product is now
WEDGED...cannot
re-install and cannot de-install, using the normal Control-panel
'add/remove
software'
applet. (Unless you are suggesting that I try
just hack-deleting XP-Office sub-directory and then see if it will
re-install.
Are you knowledgeable/trained person from MS on XP-Office?
Or is your recommendation more seat-of-the-pants?)

Cheers...

Dave (the base-noter)


in
message news:OsTjbj%[email protected]...
The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
"David Cook" <(unknown)> wrote in message
Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole
Office
XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet
under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking
around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his 'address-book' of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows
Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..." when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as IE and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed
Click to expand...
substantially
and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself. (We get
a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we
cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and "Preparing
to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY
installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is
running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
When you attempt to activate it, a dialog should come up telling you that
you either succeeded or you need to call a phone number.

At this point, see if you have a restore point for before the problem
started and use it. You will loose any programs installed since then.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

David Cook said:
Diane -

Sorry, I meant to mention in the base note, that I have tried to
'activate'
the Office-XP software thru the provided menu-item, but that fails to
work.
(Again, no explicit hard-error msgs sayiing that it failed to activate,
but
clearly
it won't activate.) We get a 'flurry' of these Windows Installer
"Preparing
to install..."
window msgs during the activation attempt, then it goes to acquiesent
state,
as
though maybe it activated. But, when we close down Outlook and bring it
back up,
the stated functionality is still greyed out, etc, etc.

And, as I stated in another reply, we CANNOT un-install/re-install
anymore thru
the control-panel 'Add/remove software' list. The product appears there,
with a
choice to either 'change' or 'remove', but neither option works. Instead,
we get a
popup saying that the 'de-installer is not recognized'.

So, we are no longer trying ANYTHING with the Outlook software, because
it is clearly wedged/broken. Meanwhile, the customer is instead using a
web-browser
interface to access this Comcast email-acct (luckily, Comcast provides a
decent
email interface thru the browser).

I'll ask the customer next time I visit with him whether he recalls ever
doing the 'activation'.
(But that seems moot at this point, since NOW it clearly thinks is is NOT
activated, and we
can NOT activate it.)

Cheers...

Dave


Diane Poremsky said:
You said:
Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially and
that it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert the
CDROM media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We get
Click to expand...

This means the office suit needs activated - Help menu, Activate. Once it's
activated the menus will work. Either the 50 uses expired without your
client activating or all the messing around you and he did destroyed the
previous activation. Because it worked for a couple of weeks, I suspect
it
was never activated to begin with, as only new hardware will cause
de-activation, not fiddling with the program.

I would try activating it before messing with more
uninstalls/reinstalls -
then back up the activation.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20031027.htm. If the installer comes
up, give it the disk it wants and let it run.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

David Cook said:
Roady -
You didn't read my note carefully enough. The product is now
WEDGED...cannot
re-install and cannot de-install, using the normal Control-panel
'add/remove
software'
applet. (Unless you are suggesting that I try
just hack-deleting XP-Office sub-directory and then see if it will
re-install.
Are you knowledgeable/trained person from MS on XP-Office?
Or is your recommendation more seat-of-the-pants?)

Cheers...

Dave (the base-noter)


"Roady [MVP]" <newsgroups_DELETE_@_DELETE_sparnaaij_NO_._SPAM_net>
wrote
in
message The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't
activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
"David Cook" <(unknown)> wrote in message
Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole
Office
XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet
under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking
around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would
work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that
indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his 'address-book' of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows
Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..."
when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as IE and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now
greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially
and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert
the
CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We
get
a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we
cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and
"Preparing
to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY
installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is
running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I spent a few hours this morning using 'system restore'. This was my first
experience ever using it.

Bottom line: It had NO effect on anything relating to the broken 'Windows
Installer'
nor to Office XP/Outlook's wedged condition. Outlook still won't activate
and still won't
de-install. No change.

This system has a LARGE most-unused disk, so there were 'restore points'
for every weekday going back from present (mid-July) all the way back to
the 20th of April. I tried about 3 of them...first one about 10 days ago,
then one
back near the end of May, and finally the oldest one (from 20-April). The
Office XP/Outlook symptoms looked identically broken at all three prior
points...broken Installer flashing dialogs "Preparing to install..." every
time we
launched the browser or Outlook. And, Outlook telling us to 'activate'
Office XP,
etc, exactly as before.

The customer is a senior-citizen almost 80 years old and an 'entry-level'
user. Doesn't
really understand and wasn't aware any of the concept of 'activation'
(neither for Office XP
nor for the OS, which was installed before he got the system).

In all probability, he will ultimately have us wipe the disk clean and
re-install Windows XP Home
and Office XP, etc. We will wait a few more days before we go that route,
but we are rapidly
running out of ideas.

(This was my first experience with Office XP...my prior experience has all
been with Office
2000, which does NOT have the concept of 'activation' and of shutting off
crucial functionality
after 50 uses if you can't later activate it. I doubt the designers of the
activation mechanism
ever envisioned a scenario like this one, but this is a real can of worms.
The customer
discovered today that "Word" now won't run either. I had to setup a
launcher to 'notepad'
today so that he can create simple text documents. And, as I mentioned,
he's now doing
all his email thru Comcast's browser-based interface and will have to
MANUALLY
re-enter his 30 address-book-entries (since activation rules have disabled
'import and export'
in Outlook.)

This broken "Windows Installer" symptom (i.e. flashing dialog windows saying
"Preparing to install...")
has been reported by literally hundreds of users into various newsgroups, as
a 'google' will confirm.
I saw one hit with a 'view thread (405 articles)' on it, among numerous
others. 405 replies says
it all. When might we see a 'Windows Update' code fix for whatever is
causing the world
all these problem?

Dave



Diane Poremsky said:
When you attempt to activate it, a dialog should come up telling you that
you either succeeded or you need to call a phone number.

At this point, see if you have a restore point for before the problem
started and use it. You will loose any programs installed since then.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

David Cook said:
Diane -

Sorry, I meant to mention in the base note, that I have tried to
'activate'
the Office-XP software thru the provided menu-item, but that fails to
work.
(Again, no explicit hard-error msgs sayiing that it failed to activate,
but
clearly
it won't activate.) We get a 'flurry' of these Windows Installer
"Preparing
to install..."
window msgs during the activation attempt, then it goes to acquiesent
state,
as
though maybe it activated. But, when we close down Outlook and bring it
back up,
the stated functionality is still greyed out, etc, etc.

And, as I stated in another reply, we CANNOT un-install/re-install
anymore thru
the control-panel 'Add/remove software' list. The product appears there,
with a
choice to either 'change' or 'remove', but neither option works. Instead,
we get a
popup saying that the 'de-installer is not recognized'.

So, we are no longer trying ANYTHING with the Outlook software, because
it is clearly wedged/broken. Meanwhile, the customer is instead using a
web-browser
interface to access this Comcast email-acct (luckily, Comcast provides a
decent
email interface thru the browser).

I'll ask the customer next time I visit with him whether he recalls ever
doing the 'activation'.
(But that seems moot at this point, since NOW it clearly thinks is is NOT
activated, and we
can NOT activate it.)

Cheers...

Dave


Diane Poremsky said:
You said:

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed
Click to expand...
substantially
and
that it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we
Click to expand...
insert
the
CDROM media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We get

This means the office suit needs activated - Help menu, Activate. Once it's
activated the menus will work. Either the 50 uses expired without your
client activating or all the messing around you and he did destroyed the
previous activation. Because it worked for a couple of weeks, I suspect
it
was never activated to begin with, as only new hardware will cause
de-activation, not fiddling with the program.

I would try activating it before messing with more
uninstalls/reinstalls -
then back up the activation.
http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/20031027.htm. If the installer comes
up, give it the disk it wants and let it run.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

Vote for your favorite Outlook and Exchange utilities in the
Slipstick Ratings Raffle at http://www.slipstick.com/contest/

"David Cook" <(unknown)> wrote in message
Roady -
You didn't read my note carefully enough. The product is now
WEDGED...cannot
re-install and cannot de-install, using the normal Control-panel
'add/remove
software'
applet. (Unless you are suggesting that I try
just hack-deleting XP-Office sub-directory and then see if it will
re-install.
Are you knowledgeable/trained person from MS on XP-Office?
Or is your recommendation more seat-of-the-pants?)

Cheers...

Dave (the base-noter)


"Roady [MVP]" <newsgroups_DELETE_@_DELETE_sparnaaij_NO_._SPAM_net>
wrote
in
message The reason that the functions are turned of is because you haven't
activated
the product again after you fiddled (too much) with it. I suggest you
back-up his pst-file, do a re-install of Office and then activate it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Backup and Restore
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

-----
"David Cook" <(unknown)> wrote in message
Customer has the 2-CD product set called 'Small Business Office XP'.
(Outlook and Word are the only subcomponents he has been using.)

Outlook worked ok for the first few weeks. His first bad symtom
on Monday this past week was that 'suddenly' Outlook won't
come up and run at all...claiming that 'his profile isn't set'.

I spent about an hour or so, removing and re-installing the whole
Office
XP
product, but the 'broken/damaged'?! profile symptom persisted.

I wasn't onsite there Tuesday, but learned that 'profiles' can be
created/manipulated
externally from the broken Outlook program, by using the 'Mail' applet
under
the Control Panel, so I suggested in an email that he try hacking
around
there
to see if he could re-constitute his 'profile' so that Outlook would
work
again.

So, when I arrived onsite (to clean up the new mess), I found that
indeed,
Outlook would come up and stay running, and that his
Click to expand...
'address-book'
of
about 30 entries was indeed intact and working.

(Sigh. That was the only GOOD news.) The BAD news is that now
the whole machine is plagued with the symptom that the Windows
Installer
throws up a brief dialog window saying "Preparing to install..."
when
many different apps are first launched...among them apps such as
Click to expand...
IE
and
Outlook.

Outlook is now apparently MUCH more confused than before, now
greying
out much of its import functions, such as 'New...' and 'Import and
Export...'
and saying that (to para-phrase) 'setup has been changed substantially
and
that
it wants to try to re-validate the license'. But, when we insert
the
CDROM
media that it asks for, it never satisfactorily resolves itself.
(We
get
a
flurry
of these "Preparing to install..." dialogs that come and go and no HARD
errors, but
certain important functions are shut-off (i.e. greyed out), so we
cannot
compose
new email msgs and even worse, we cannot EXPORT his address-book
out, to a working email program such as Outlook Express or whatever.

If I do a 'google' of the keywords 'Windows Installer" and
"Preparing
to
install...",
I get NUMEROUS other people's postings of this symptom of a NOISY
installer,
but none of the posted solutions work for this machine, which is
running
Windows-XP Home as the OS.

HELP!!!

Cheers...

Dave
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
discovered today that "Word" now won't run either. I had to setup a
launcher to 'notepad'
Click to expand...

Sounds like it wasn't activated...

all his email thru Comcast's browser-based interface and will have to
MANUALLY
re-enter his 30 address-book-entries (since activation rules have disabled
'import and export' in Outlook.)
Click to expand...

Where are you trying to move them to? You can copy the pst if you are going
to reformat and reinstall.


Look at these pages for information on Outlook data backup:

http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q168/6/44.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q181/0/14.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q184/8/17.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q238/7/82.asp
 
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