upgraded from windows me to xp; now I cannot open documents

[Guest]

Please help! I upgraded to XP and did not realize the changes that would
take place in my computer. I have saved documents from under the ME. Now, I
receive a message when I try to open them in XP:

"Can not load Word for Windows 6.0 files" and,
"Windows cannot open this file:
Windows needs to know what program created it."

I call these documents (in my docs folder) but some have my children's
pictures in them and I am just heartbroken if I lost them.

Can someone explain how to fix (if there is a fix) in layman's terms?
Thank you SO SO much

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Please help! I upgraded to XP and did not realize the
changes that
would take place in my computer. I have saved documents from
under
the ME. Now, I receive a message when I try to open them in
XP:

"Can not load Word for Windows 6.0 files" and,
"Windows cannot open this file:
Windows needs to know what program created it."

I call these documents (in my docs folder) but some have my
children's
pictures in them and I am just heartbroken if I lost them.

Can someone explain how to fix (if there is a fix) in
layman's terms?
Thank you SO SO much

See if the fix posted on this web site helps.

WordPad Cannot Open Word for Windows 6.0 Files
http://helpdesk.graniteschools.org/docs/Document.asp?ID=177

Download this file to a handy location such as your Desktop.

http://helpdesk.graniteschools.org/docs/software/XPWordpadDocFiles/EnableConverters.zip

Once you've downloaded the zip file, right click on it and
select Extract All from the menu.
Follow the prompts to extract the EnableLegacyConverters.reg
file.
Double click on this file and enter Yes when asked if you want
to add the information in the file to your registry. Hopefully,
you will now have access to your old files.

The fix posted on that web site is based on the information
contained in this Microsoft article.

Error message when you open a document file in Windows XP
Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883090

If this doesn't fix your problem, you may have to back up your
old files to a CD/DVD and see if they can be opened on a
computer running Windows ME or 98. If so, you might want to
save them in another file format that will be compatible with
Windows XP.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Please help! I upgraded to XP and did not realize the changes that
would take place in my computer. I have saved documents from under
the ME. Now, I receive a message when I try to open them in XP:

"Can not load Word for Windows 6.0 files" and,
"Windows cannot open this file:
Windows needs to know what program created it."

I call these documents (in my docs folder) but some have my children's
pictures in them and I am just heartbroken if I lost them.

Can someone explain how to fix (if there is a fix) in layman's terms?
Thank you SO SO much

The fix would seem to be to install Microsoft Word (or some compatible
program). If you thought it was part of Windows XP, you were mistaken. It's
not a part of any version of Windows. If your copy of Me came with Word, it
was only because the vendor you bought it from bundled Word with the package
he sold you. It wasn't part of Me either.

Over and above that, when you say "some have my children's pictures in them
and I am just heartbroken if I lost them," that suggests that you have no
backup of these files. In that case, let me point out that you are flirting
with disaster. You need to be aware that you can lose everything on your
hard drive at any time.

 

[Noncompliant]

Sounds like to me in the upgrade process, Word 6.0 wasn't incorporated.
Don't think it works in XP anyway.
Is there anywhere on your desktop an icon for Word? (not wordpad).

The documents are probably still there, you just don't have the compatible
Word version that works in XP. So, Word won't open to open the Word file
you're seeking.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Sounds like to me in the upgrade process, Word 6.0 wasn't
incorporated. Don't think it works in XP anyway.

Was Word 6.0 the version that was part of Office 95? If so, yes it works in
Windows XP.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Was Word 6.0 the version that was part of Office 95? If so, yes it works in
Windows XP.

Ken -

If memory serves, Word 6.0 was the first Word for Windows version,
intended for use on Windows 3.x, along with PowerPoint 4.0 Excel 5.0,
and Access 2.0 (all as part of Office 4.3). When the Office for Windows
95 was released, all of the diverse applications' version numbers were
arbitrarily reset to 7.0 (a step up from the highest former version,
Word's 6.0) to consolidate and "simplify" version tracking, and probably
to demonstrate that the Office suite was now Microsoft's preferred
productivity package, although the individual applications can still be
obtained separately.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:


Ken -

If memory serves, Word 6.0 was the first Word for Windows version,
intended for use on Windows 3.x, along with PowerPoint 4.0 Excel 5.0,
and Access 2.0 (all as part of Office 4.3). When the Office for
Windows 95 was released, all of the diverse applications' version
numbers were arbitrarily reset to 7.0 (a step up from the highest
former version, Word's 6.0) to consolidate and "simplify" version
tracking, and probably to demonstrate that the Office suite was now
Microsoft's preferred productivity package, although the individual
applications can still be obtained separately.

Thanks, Bruce. In that case, I'm probably wrong, and Noncompliant is right
that it won't work in WIndows XP.

 

[Guest]

I upgraded from ME to XP Pro. My ME did not have "Word," it came with with a
program called "Works" & I downloaded found a free program that let me
convert all my "Works" data so that it opens in "Word Pad."

Don't remember the name of the convert program but some one should know
about this.