Restore MS icons shortcuts on start menu

[Albert]

Hi Guys,

I need some help.

I recently had an issue with my laptop's hardrive. It had two partitions. My
IT dept removed the one partition to make a single c drive.

Unfortunately somewhere along the line I have lost the MS Office icons in my
start menu as well as in my documents. I just see windows generic folder.
Once I select a file it still opens the MS application.

Also I am unable to repair or uninstal MS Office.

I am runnung MS Office 2007 and the OS is XP pro.

Any suggestions?

Regards
Albert

 

[ju.c]

Repairing office from "Add or Remove Programs" will restore the icons.


ju.c

 

[Brian A.]

Hi Guys,

I need some help.

I recently had an issue with my laptop's hardrive. It had two partitions.
My
IT dept removed the one partition to make a single c drive.

Unfortunately somewhere along the line I have lost the MS Office icons in
my
start menu as well as in my documents. I just see windows generic folder.
Once I select a file it still opens the MS application.

Open either MyComputer or Explorer.
Expand to C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Account folder\Start Menu
\Programs\Microsoft Office.
If the MS Office folder is empty, right click in the right pane and in the
popup menu click New > Shortcut. Follow the prompts to complete adding the
shortcut to the folder.
If the folder is not present, expand to C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Start Menu \Programs\Microsoft Office and if the MS Office shortcuts
are not present, add them as stated above.

Also I am unable to repair or uninstal MS Office.

Why? How are you attempting to repair/uninstall MS Office, via Add/Remove
Programs, the installation CD or an Office app > Help > Detect and Repair?
What happens when you try and what error message do you get if any?

I am runnung MS Office 2007 and the OS is XP pro.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Patrick Moloney]

Kind of a guess on this, but missing icons is one symptom. And the
serious computer work you had done is certainly a suspect cause.

The Windows Installer Utility, MSI, which is used to install most
software, populates a hidden system directory called
C:\Windows\Installer\. In some cases that directory is damaged or
emptied, often by Windows trying to fix it. Unfortunately, there seems
to be little information on the process.

I had the problem and was able to fix it, in part by salvaging files
from backups. I also noticed a missing Icon for Adobe Reader. Turns out
the icon is in the installation files in the Installer directory, which
is why you no longer have it. A repair is often unsuccessful because it
uses the Installer files, which are missing. Another problem you will
have is that MS Updates will also fail.

Anyway, first step is to confirm the missing files. You will have to
enable viewing hidden system files. The directory may be empty, or may
have files from other programs. There is an issue with the owner of the
directory, which is the basic cause for all the failures. Let us know
what you find in Installer. I had posted a summary of how I was able to
fix this on a MS newsgroup, maybe during this passed summer. I'll have
to look for it. I think there is an Installer newsgroup, which may be
where I posted.

 

[Albert]

Hi Patrick,

I think you are on the money, but unfortunately I have no clue were to start.

I have found the installer folder, but I can't find any msi refering to MS
office I found the PDF msi though). What files need to be there?
There are 3 files {1838 ...}{9012...}{AC76...} and 6 msi files

How do I confirm the owner of the directry?

Please could you send me the link to your installer summary?

Thanks
A

 

[Albert]

Hi Brian,

I followed your instructions, but in the C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Start Menu \Programs\Microsoft Office I can view the shortcuts but
they are not MS office icons but are rather generic file icons.

Any further ideas?

Thanks
Albert

 

[Patrick Moloney]

Albert,
I was able to find and copy my summary posting in the MSI newsgroup.
You may be able to find it for 6/15/08. I have copied it below.
---------

From: "Patrick Moloney" <NewsID*at*SandrockSoftware.c*o*m>
Subject: Answers to Installer Issues - Files deleted, Updates Fail,
Cant Uninstall, Missing Icons
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:24:23 -0700
Message-ID: <#[email protected]>
Lines: 1

I want to post the information I found while trying to resolve some
Windows problems. These seem to have fixed my problems.

I was not working with the MS Installer, rather the problems I
experienced were as a simple Windows user. The causes however were
traced to MS Installer issues. I found many related problems posted on
various newsgroups, but few answers.

The problems indicating this issue include the following:
* Unable to remove or update installed software
* Icons missing from desktop shortcuts (including Office apps and Adobe)
* Application updates fail (including MS Office security updates).
* Software installs fail.
* Problems after hard drive replacement.

My experience has been with Windows XP Pro on a computer that was
upgraded from Windows 2000 a couple of years earlier. This is not
reviewed on other versions of Windows.

The best clue, to give proper credit, was from a post by Carolyn Napier
in 2005, which helped confirm my suspicion of MS Installer and pointed
me to what to look for. The problem involves the \Windows\Installer or
\WinNt\Installer directory, depending on your system. This directory is
considered and operating system directory used by MS Installer, and is
normally hidden. You can make it visible and accessible in Windows
Explorer by unchecking in Tools * Folder Options * View "Hide protected
operating system files". But be very careful not to make any changes -
and hide it again when you are done.

Once you make the Installer directory visible, see if there are any
files and sub-directories in it. The above issues can be caused by
missing files. Normally, software installed by MS Installer creates a
subdirectory for each installed application, and also places an msi
file in the Installer directory. My installer directory contained over
50 sub-directories and 2 GB of data. If some or all files are missing,
this posting may describe your problem.

MS Installer seems to be very sensative to the Access Control List
(ACL) of the Installer directory. (Remember it's an operating system
file). The CACLS.exe system utility will report on the directory's ACL.
The normal ACL seems to be the following:
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM : (OI)(CI)F
Everyone : (OI)(CI)R
BUILTIN\Administrators : (OI)(CI)F

If the Installer directory has 3 or 4 other entries, it is probably
incorrect. This will happen if you try to create it or copy it from
another directory.

MS Installer checks this directory whenever the service starts. This
could be at system startup or on demand when you attempt to install
some software. You can also start it (and stop it) with the commands:
NET START MSISERVER
NET STOP MSISERVER

If MS Installer finds a problem with the directory ACL it fixes it
silently and automatically, and the ACL will be corrected. But I
believe it does this by deleting the directory and recreating it. This
creates the problem. Additional uses will build the contents of
Installer, but the previous files and sub-directories will still be
missing.

I believe my problems began when I replaced my hard drive. I used the
included utility from Western Digital to copy the entire old hard drive
contents to the new. That worked well and all appeared fine, but I
believe the copy of the Installer directory resulted in the incorrect
ACL.

I was able to make a copy of the Installer directory from the old
drive. I copied this to the new drive a number of times but it kept
being deleted. The Installer directory can't be created or copied from
elsewhere without resulting in an incorrect ACL. But after MS
Installer recreated the directory I was able to copy each of the files
and subdirectories into the system-created Installer directory. This
appears to satisfy the system. It has resolved my issues and remained
in place. Microsoft update also automatically identified and processed
3 MS Offices updates that had failed.

I hope this posting helps anyone struggling with these issues.

 

[Albert]

Hi Patrick,

You have described my problems exactly.

I have followed your steps and found C:\WINNT\system32\msiexec.exe /V

I am not sure but WINNT folder does not exist. I found the msiexec.exe in
the WINDOWS folder. How do I redirect or change the path? Or is this correct?

Thanks
A

 

[Patrick Moloney]

Hi Patrick,

You have described my problems exactly.

I have followed your steps and found C:\WINNT\system32\msiexec.exe /V

I am not sure but WINNT folder does not exist. I found the
msiexec.exe in the WINDOWS folder. How do I redirect or change the
path? Or is this correct?

Thanks
A

Some systems have Windows and some have Winnt. I don't recall what
msiexec.exe /V does. But you can execute it from whereever it is. I
also think it will use the Windows system variables to know
automatically where to go.

The problem however, is that you need the installation files that are
missing. I was lucky in that I had them backed up. As I wrote, that was
2 GB of files.

 

[Brian A.]

If they open the appropriate Office apps when double clicked, right click
on one and click Properties in the popup menu. Under the Shortcut tab click
the Change Icon button if available. If it isn't available try changing it
via Explorer or MyComputer > menu bar Tools > Folder Options... > File Types
tab. Scroll to the MS Office app you want to change the icon for and click
on the listed entry once to highlight it, click the Advanced button > Change
Icon button.

If any of the above fails could you please answer my questions below in my
first response.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375