Office: Directory Is "Invalid, Incomplete, or Write-Protected" (121943)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Office for Windows 4.0
- Microsoft Office for Windows 4.2
- Microsoft Office for Windows 4.2c
- Microsoft Office for Windows 4.3
- Microsoft Office for Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q121943 SYMPTOMS
When you install Microsoft Office, you may receive the following error
message
The specified directory: <directory name> is invalid, incomplete or
write protected.
This problem occurs when you specify a network directory as the
installation destination directory. This behavior has been reported with
the following networks:
DEC Pathworks 5.0 client and 4.2 server
DEC Pathworks versions 4.1, 5.0
Execustar version 3.5.12
IBM Lan Server version 3.1
LanMAN version 2.1a for UNIX
LanMAN version 2.2a on Unix
LanMAN version 2.1c
Lantastic version 6.0
PowerLan version 3.0
CAUSE
When a network destination directory is specified during the Microsoft
Office setup, the Setup program will attempt to create a path that is four-
levels deep with each directory name having a full eight characters and a
three-character extension. It will then try to write a file at the end of
this path. The following is a sample of the path that Office Setup would
attempt to create if you specified with H:\MSOFFICE as the destination
H:\MSOFFICE\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\FILENAME.123
If the Setup program cannot successfully perform this test, the error
message, "The specified directory: <directory name> is invalid, incomplete
or write protected" is returned. This can easily be tested by manually
trying to create this four-level directory structure.
This is a design limitation of the network software.
WORKAROUND
To avoid this error, try either of the following:
Use a Shorter Directory Path
Try installing Microsoft Office to a shorter directory name. You can use
this workaround with any installation type.
-or-
Map the Directory to a Higher Level
If the drive is mapped to the root level of a network drive, try
mapping at a higher level. For more information about mapping drives on
your network, see your network documentation.
Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 8/16/2005 |
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Keywords: | KB121943 |
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