How to troubleshoot Office XP Setup problems on Windows 2003 Server

This article describes how to troubleshoot when you are installing Microsoft Office XP on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, and Setup appears to stop responding, or "hang," without error messages.

Make Sure That Setup Actually Stopped Responding

Setup may appear to stop, but in fact it may be continuing slowly. Wait (about 20 minutes) before you end Setup.

To test whether Setup has stopped, follow these steps:

1. Open the Windows Task Manager. To do this, right-click an empty area on the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
2. Click the Processes tab, and then examine the CPU for the multiple Msiexec.exe entries.
   
   If any Msiexec.exe process is using a relatively high CPU percentage, this indicates that Setup has not stopped responding.
3. Examine the CD-ROM drive light and hard disk light for activity.
4. In the Windows Task Manager, verify whether the Office Setup program appears as "Not Responding" in the Status column on the Applications tab of the Windows Task Manager dialog box.

Verify That the CD-ROM Is Clean and Unscratched

If the problem occurs while you are installing from a CD-ROM, verify that the CD-ROM you are using is clean. You can wipe the CD-ROM with a soft, lint-free cloth. Also make sure that there are no large scratches on the CD-ROM. If the CD-ROM is damaged and unreadable, error messages may appear during installation.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Remove a Beta Version of Office XP

If a beta version of Office XP was installed earlier, you must remove the beta version before you install the final version of Office XP. Although Office XP Setup prompts you to remove such a prerelease version, the removal process may not be completed successfully. To remove a beta version of Office XP, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs.
2. In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, click the Office XP entry (for example, click Microsoft Office XP Professional).
3. Click Remove.
4. Follow the directions provided in the dialog boxes.

After you remove the beta version, run the Setup program for Office XP.

Verify the Permissions

Make sure that the correct permissions are set for your account. To determine whether you have the correct permissions to install, run, and use the Office program that you are having problems with, log on to the computer as an administrator. When you log on to Windows as an administrator, you have full read/write permission to all folders and files on the computer, and also to the registry. If the problem does not occur after you log on as an administrator, verify the permissions of your user account.

Test the User Profile

Sometimes, a user's specific information may be damaged, but other users on the same computer may have no problem. To determine whether this is the case, log on as a new user or create a new user, and then test.

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Use the Setup Log Files

When you install Office XP, Setup automatically creates log files in your TEMP folder. The log files have names similar to the following:

In the table, edition is the edition of Office XP that you are installing. For example, these files may be:

The #### characters in the log file names are numbers beginning with 0001. These numbers increment by 1 each time that you run Setup. Therefore, the log file with the highest number is the most recent log file.

By default, verbose logging is enabled in Office XP. Therefore, the Windows Installer log files contain much information about events that occur during installation. This file may be requested if you contact Microsoft Product Support Services for more troubleshooting.

For additional information about creating and reading Office Setup log files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about customizing Office Setup log files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Close Unnecessary Memory-Resident Programs

Programs that run in the background in memory are known as terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) programs. For example, these programs may be virus protection software, utility programs, print manager programs, or screen savers. To determine whether a terminate-and-stay-resident program is running, follow these steps:

1. To display the Windows Task Manager, right-click an empty area on the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
2. On the Applications tab, quit any unknown or nonessential programs by clicking the program to select it, and then clicking End Task.
3. Repeat step 2 until you quit all unknown or nonessential programs.

Some TSRs may be loaded in memory but may not appear on the Task list on the Applications tab. These TSRs are loaded through the Windows registry.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


To see which programs are loaded through the registry, follow these steps:

1. Click Start and then click Run. In the Open box, type regedit and then click OK. Select the following key in the registry:
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
   
   This key lists all programs that are started when Windows is started. Programs that are started automatically may cause problems with Office . It is a good idea to quit each of these programs. In the Windows Task Manager, click End Task for each of the programs that is listed in this registry key.
2. Select the following key in the registry:
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
   
   Entries in this key are run one time when the computer is restarted, and then the system deletes them. These programs may cause problems in Office Setup. It is a good idea to quit these programs. In the Windows Task Manager, click End Task for each of the programs that is listed in this registry key.
3. Select the following key in the registry:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
   
   This key lists all programs that start when Windows 2003 Server is loaded. The only program that is necessary in this key is the notification area (Systray.exe). Other programs that are loading may cause problems with Office Setup. It is a good idea to quit these programs. In the Windows Task Manager, click End Task for each of the programs that is listed in this registry key.
4. Select the following key in the registry:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
   
   Entries in this key are run one time when the computer is restarted, and then the system deletes them. These programs may cause problems in Office Setup. It is a good idea to quit these programs. In the Windows Task Manager, click End Task for each of the programs that is listed in this registry key.

Check the TEMP Folder

An invalid TEMP environment variable can cause errors with the Office Setup program. This section describes how to verify that your temporary folders are correctly set up.

First, you must determine the location of your Windows TEMP folder and verify the validity of your TEMP environment variables. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, double-click the System icon. If you are using Category View, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click the System icon. When the System Properties dialog box appears, click Environment Variables on the Advanced tab.
3. In the Environment Variables dialog box, look under User variables for user name for the Variable column and the Value column. The TMP and TEMP environmental settings appear under these columns.
   
   Examples of valid settings are as follows:
   TEMP = C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
   
   -or-
   
   TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
   If a TEMP (or TMP) variable entry is not listed, follow these steps:
   1. Click New.
      
      The New User Variable dialog box appears.
   2. In the Variable Name box, type TEMP.
   3. Press the TAB key to move to the Variable Value box, and then type C:\WINDOWS\TEMP (or any other valid path and folder name).
   4. Click Set or click OK to add these values to the User variables for user name box.
4. Click OK to close the Environment Variables dialog box, click OK to close the System Properties dialog box, and then close Control Panel.
5. Start Windows Explorer, and then look for a folder with the same name and location as that listed in the User variables for user name box. If you find that the folder indicated by the environment variable does not exist, either open Windows Explorer and create a new TEMP folder in that location, or repeat steps 1 through 3 to update the TEMP environment variable to a valid location.
   
   NOTE This step is important, because an invalid TEMP setting can have serious effects on Microsoft Windows and the Office Setup program.
6. Verify that the drive that contains the TEMP folder has sufficient free disk space. Generally, the available free space on this drive should be at least 50 MB. Also verify that you have read/write permission to this folder.
7. Verify that the TEMP folder is empty. If files exist, you can delete any .tmp files that are not currently in use. These files typically have a modified date that is earlier than the current session of Windows. It is a good idea to use the Disk Cleanup Utility to remove these unused temporary files (see the "Disk Cleanup Utility" section later in this article).
   
   NOTE Quit all Windows programs before you delete any .tmp files, because programs that are running create and use temporary files.

Disk Cleanup Utility

In Windows, you can delete many unused or temporary files with the Disk Cleanup Utility. Disk Cleanup searches your computer's hard disk and then shows you temporary files, Internet cache files, and nonessential program files that you can safely delete. You can direct Disk Cleanup to delete some or all those files. To open the utility, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Check the Hard Disk for Disk Errors and Fragmentation

Use the Disk Defragmenter program to check the hard disk volume for lost clusters and other master file tables (MFT) errors. You can also test the integrity of the hard disk's ability to read and write data and then repair most errors. To run the Disk Defragmenter program, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
2. Click the drive that you want to examine for errors, and then click Analyze.
3. When this process is completed, click Defragment.

Scan the Computer for Viruses

If a virus is present on your computer and it has damaged any files, problems may occur when you run Setup. Scan the hard disk and floppy disks with virus detection software that is updated with a very recent virus signature file. If the antivirus software detects a virus on your computer, clean or remove the virus before you try to run Office Setup again.

Clean Start Windows 2003 Server

To disable common startup programs, drivers, and system settings that may conflict with the Office Setup program, you can clean start (clean boot) Windows. For additional information about how to clean start Windows XP by using the System Configuration Utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Run Setup from a Flat File

If sufficient space is available on the hard disk, make a copy of the contents of the Office XP CD-ROM. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Create a new folder at the root of a hard disk volume, and then name it "Flatfile"; for example, C:\Flatfile.
2. Copy all the contents of Office CD-ROM 1 to the Flatfile folder. In Windows Explorer, click the CD-ROM icon or DVD-ROM icon, and then click Select All on the Edit menu. To paste all the files into the new folder, drag the items that you selected on the right side of the Explorer window into the Flatfile folder on the left.

If there are errors during the copy process, this can indicate problems with the CD-ROM (media), a dirty CD-ROM drive, or a problem with your hard disk.

For additional information about hard disk requirements, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Use this flat file to install Office while Windows is in Safe mode (see the "Start Windows in Safe Mode" section later in this article). If installing from a flat file fails, there may still be a problem with the CD-ROM, because a damaged file can be copied without generating an error message. When you install Office from this flat file in Safe mode, you can determine whether startup items or services are conflicting with the Setup program.

Start Windows in Safe Mode

Windows has a built-in troubleshooting mode named Safe mode. Safe mode bypasses startup files and uses only basic system drivers, including basic networking and system services. When you start Windows in Safe mode, Windows uses only the mouse, keyboard, and standard video graphics adapter (VGA) device drivers and those system services that are necessary to start. This makes Safe mode useful for isolating and resolving error conditions that are caused by startup programs, services, and Windows-based drivers. Windows also has troubleshooting features that may help you identify the problem.

To start Windows in Safe mode and make the additional troubleshooting features available, follow these steps for your system configuration:

1. Click Start, and then click Shut Down.
2. Select Restart, and then click OK.
3. Press F8 at the indicated time:
   • For an x86-based computer: When a screen of text appears and then disappears (the screen of text may include a memory test, lines about the BIOS, and other lines), press F8. You may be prompted to press F8.
   • For an Itanium architecture-based computer: After you make your selection from the boot menu, press F8. You may be prompted to press F8.
4. Use the ARROW keys to select the appropriate Safe Mode option, and then press ENTER.
   
   NOTE NUM LOCK must be off before the ARROW keys on the numeric keypad will function.
5. Use the ARROW keys to select an operating system, and then press ENTER.

For additional information about running Windows 2003 Server in Safe mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Look for Software Updates

Outdated and incompatible software also may cause Setup problems. Contact the manufacturer of your computer for various software updates, such as BIOS updates, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Windows updates, and hardware driver updates (CD-ROM, video, and printer drivers).

Reinstall Windows in a New Folder

Use this method after you try all other troubleshooting methods listed earlier in this article. For testing purposes, you can install Windows in a different folder from your original Windows installation and then install Office to that environment. This is known as making a "parallel" copy, because your original installation of Windows is not completely removed. Instead, Windows is installed alongside your original copy.

If installing Office this way is successful and you decide to keep the new installation of Windows, you must reinstall all Windows-based programs under the new Windows installation. For additional information about installing a parallel copy of Windows, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Check Hardware

If you try all other troubleshooting steps and you still receive error messages, one or more devices in your computer hardware may be incompatible with Windows or may be damaged. To identify a problem with your computer hardware, contact your computer vendor.