OFF2000: Error Messages Caused by Nimda Virus When You Open or Save Files in Office Programs

When you work with one of the Microsoft Office 2000 programs listed at the beginning of this article, one of the following symptoms occurs:

• When you attempt to open or save a Microsoft Word document, you receive the following error message:
  Word has insufficient memory. Do you want to save file name as Rescued file name?
• When you attempt to open a file in Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft PowerPoint, you receive the following error message:
  SDM Error
• The Open dialog box does not appear.
• In FrontPage, when you try to open or save a file or open a Web by using the File menu, you receive the following error message:
  Alert: FRetry SDM Error
  When you click OK, you receive another message, which states that the server extensions could not be found and gives reasons why (for example, the server extensions are not installed, they are misconfigured, and so on).
• If you double-click an Office file, the program opens and then immediately quits.

These symptoms can be caused by the Nimda worm virus (W32/Nimda@MM, W32.Nimda.A@mm, or its variants). For more information about this worm, please browse to the following Web sites:

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To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. To determine whether your computer has the Nimda virus, run antivirus software that contains the latest virus signature file, and then perform a thorough scan of your computer. Contact your antivirus software provider to remove the virus.
2. If you have a copy of the Riched20.dll file on your computer, locate and rename this file to Riched20.old, and then proceed to step 3. If you do not have a copy of Riched20.dll on your computer, proceed to step 3.
   
   NOTE: The file may be hidden. For instructions on how to unhide the file, refer to your operating system documentation.
3. In Microsoft Windows Explorer, open the Msi folder on your Office 2000 CD-ROM.
4. If you are using Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), double-click Instmsi.exe. If you are using Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows XP, double-click Instmsiw.exe.
5. Click OK to the message that advises you that the Windows Installer was installed successfully.
6. Follow the steps in "Steps to Repair Office" later in this article.

Steps to Repair Office

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

1. Quit all programs that are running.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
4. In the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, click your Office 2000 installation, and then click Add/Remove.
5. In the Office 2000 Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Repair Office.
6. In the Reinstall/Repair Office 2000 dialog box, click to select Repair errors in my Office installation, and then click Finish.
7. When the Office repair is finished, you may be prompted to restart Windows. If you are prompted to do so, click Yes to allow Windows to restart.

For additional information about problems caused by the Nimda worm when installing or reinstalling, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information if you receive an Internal Error 2894 or 2889, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: