WORKAROUND: Office 2007 Unusable in Limited User Account

This is not a solution to my problem, but it is a workaround:

Since Office 2007 is forever wanting to reinstall itself in the Limited User account, I looked for some kind of installation log. Bingo, The installation log has this filename:

SetupExe([date-of-install][hexadecimel number]).log .

Reading the installation log it is obvious that some process is calling this setup file:

%program files%\common files\microsoft shared\office12\Office Setup Controller\SETUP.EXE .

I renamed SETUP.EXE to SETUP.EX_ and the problem vanished.

I may have to rename SETUP.EX_ if I want to add or remove Office features, or if I need to repair Office, and it remains to be seen whether I'll be able to update Office through Microsoft Update. But for at least now Office 2007 has stopped trying to reinstall itself in the Limited User account every time it starts.

I'll investigate this problem further as I have time, however, Open Office works without a hitch in the Limited User account, so that's what my Limited Users are using now..

I got my copy of Office 2007 under the Home Use Program, so I only paid a nominal amount for it. Had I paid full price I would be angry with this mess. As it is I'm just bemused that Microsoft seems to have hoisted itself with its own petard.

Daddy

"Daddy" <daddy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:uSIHHYeUJHA.5860@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well, this is really disappointing. It's a shame that two Microsoft products -- Office 2007 and Windows XP -- can't work together.

As I previously said, resetting registry permissions with SubInAcl didn't help.

Applying MSKB 911682 didn't help. ("Windows Installer-related event IDs are logged in the Applications Log when you start an Office program")

Completely uninstalling and reinstalling Office (with security software turned off, of course) made no difference.

Resetting permissions on Office registry keys did nothing.

Office 2007 is not practical to use in a Limited User account on XP Home.

Now I must choose between using Office in Administrator accounts exclusively, forgoing the increased security afforded by the Limited User account, or using OpenOffice, which works just fine in a Limited User account. Since I am unwilling to give the children Administrator accounts, it looks like they're going to be using OpenOffice.

Daddy

"Daddy" <daddy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:efOofiRUJHA.4452@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<sigh>...I thought I had this problem licked, but I was wrong.

I use Windows XP Home SP 3. I installed portions of Office Enterprise 2007 (Word, Excel and Outlook) from my Administrator account. I used the software in my Administrator account for a few days, and everything was going well. Then I switched back to my Limited User account.

In the Limited User account, each and every time I start Word or Excel, Office Enterprise 2007 wants to configure itself. This process lasts about 5 minutes. (I haven't used Outlook yet in the Limited User account.)

Since the problem only manifests in the Limited User account, I thought there might an issue somehow with permissions. I switched back to my Administrator account, completely uninstalled Office, and then installed SubInAcl and reset my registry permissions. After that, I installed Office 2007 again (Word, Excel and Outlook.) I switched back to my Limited User account and...you guessed it...same problem. Every time I start Word or Excel, Office 2007 spends 5 minutes configuring itself. Since I use Office just about every day, this behavior is not acceptable.

As a result, I have gone back to using my Administtator account for day-to-day computing, which is not an ideal situation. If anyone can help me to solve this problem I'll be very grateful.

Daddy


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