You may receive a "Please wait while Office Configures Office Professional" when you start Excel 2002 or 2003

When you attempt to start Microsoft Excel, you may receive a message similar to the following and then you are prompted to insert the Microsoft Office CD-ROM.

When you then insert the Office CD-ROM and click OK on the prompt, the Microsoft Windows Installer starts, and a few seconds later Excel starts as expected.

NOTE:

• Excel does not appear to attempt to start in Safe mode.
• If the Office CD-ROM is already in the CD-ROM drive, the Windows installer automatically starts.
  
  If you do not insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, you receive the following error message
  Fatal error during installation
  followed by:
  Unable to run this command.

This behavior can occur because Excel is designed to immediately start Office Setup in the Detect and Repair mode if Excel cannot start in Safe mode for any reason -- for example, a badly corrupted program file. When Office Setup starts in Detect and Repair mode, you are prompted to insert the required CD-ROM, and then Office repairs the issue with no further input from you.

When you attempt to start Excel and the program is unable to start as expected, Excel tries to determine what caused the issue. If Excel detects the cause of the issue to be a user-added file or a boot file (something in XLStart, an AddIn, or a corrupted .xlb file), Excel prompts you to disable the problematic file. If Excel is unable to determine the cause of the issue (or if the issue is not with a file that can be disabled), Excel automatically attempts to start in Safe mode.

If Excel cannot successfully start in Safe mode for any reason, it is assumed that there is some fundamental issue with the program installation, and therefore Setup (for either a stand-alone program or Office) is automatically started in Detect and Repair mode to correct the assumed installation issue.

To resolve this issue, if you have not already done so, insert the Office CD-ROM, and then attempt to start Excel. Setup Detect and Repair automatically fixes Excel, and then Excel starts as expected.