DavidOverton.com
This site is my way to share my views and general business and IT information with you about Microsoft, IT solutions for ISVs, technologists and businesses, large and small.  
David Overton's Blog » Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail
Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail

[updated to correct a typo - 10:48 27th May 2007] 

I get lots of mails similar to the one below as a result of the blog entries on the EULA not going away and the Office 2003 on Vista  and in some cases the issues have been Vista, sometimes the CD and sometimes non-genuine software that someone has been sold (as a side note - it has never been the new security - UAC that has been at the root of the problem).

Hi David,

I have read your blog entry re: 2003 installation on Vista but I have a problem not previously mentioned. I am doing an install from the CD and have disabled UAC. I attempt to run the SETUP.EXE (as Systems Admin and even with the compatibility set to WinXP SP2) to no avail. The next dialog window comes up saying that the SETUP.INI file cannot be found (path: ./FILES/SETUP/SETUP.INI). I'm baffled because I take the same installation CD and I put it in my old WinXP box and I can explore to find the SETUP.INI file exists. Why is my Vista box not able to see this .ini? Do I need to install the mentioned compatibility patch?

Just to be very clear, genuine copies of Office 2003 can install on Vista without issue.  When you insert the CD or run the setup program you will get a single blue elevation box like this (unless you have turned off UAC, but I would strongly advise against turning it off):

If you see a red or orange version of the dialog above there is a chance that you have a damaged CD or non-genuine copy.  Have a look at this web site to see if your CD is non-genuine and assuming it is, then it is time to start sending me some information.  The easiest way is to do some screen prints of the version information and the directory structure.  to get a print of the dialog boxed you will need to press alt+PrtScn to capture that dialog box and it must be the selected window when you do this.  Then pop over to a mail and press Ctrl-V to paste them in.

Go to your CD and find the setup.exe file and right click on it and select properties.  you will get a screen like the 1st one below.  Take a shot of this and then also the digital signiatures and details tabs and send them to me - (click here to mail me):

   

Once this is all done I can see if there is anything obvious.  I might also get you to send me a directory listing, but I will mail you if I need that.

thanks

David

 

Technorati tags: , ,
Posted Sun, May 27 2007 7:21 PM by David Overton
Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

Bill wrote re: Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail
on Sun, May 27 2007 10:44 PM
David, I believe you have a typo in your article above that may confuse some readers. In reference to the UAC you say, "...I would not advise against that.)". I think you wanted "...I would advise against that.)", correct?
David Overton wrote re: Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail
on Sun, May 27 2007 10:51 PM

Bill,

great catch - thank-you - I have updated the post to make it clearer that I want people to run with UAC on.

Lyn Bell wrote re: Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail
on Mon, Aug 20 2007 2:53 PM

I have vist (from action pack as a partner) and office 2003 which we are using in our regular environment.  One computer (my husband) has no issues, but mine that has myob 13.5 installed keeps getting the eula agreement, after 3 OK dialogue boxes, 1. the command cannot be performed because a dialogue box is open. 2. Some macros wont run properly. 3. the macros are disabled.  (when i set the security level to lowes only the last dialogue box goes away.  and closes with the update myobmain.dot  ALWAYS.  is there a way to get around these issues. it will not accept yes to update myobmain.dot..

thank you david.

Jamie wrote re: Responding to another "I can't load Office 2003 on Vista" e-mail
on Wed, Sep 12 2007 6:25 AM

Lyn, I had a similar problem with an Adobe application in Vista.  Right-click on the MYOB icon and select "Run As Administrator".  Accept the EULA, close then restart the program as usual.  This may get rid of the EULA prompt each time you start the program.  I've found this generally works when an application wants to write to a protected or read-only file.  Hope this helps.

Add a Comment

(required)
(optional)
(required)
Remember Me?

(c)David Overton 2006-23