OFF98: "Cannot Load Shared Libraries" Message Appears When Starting an Office 98 Program After Removing a Program (182072)

SYMPTOMS

When you start a Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh edition program, you may receive the following error message:

<Office 98 program name> cannot load the Microsoft Office 98 shared libraries. There may not be enough free memory to load the libraries or files may have been moved from their originally installed locations.

Try the following:

In the Memory Control Panel, make sure Virtual Memory is turned on. If you turn it on, restart your computer.
Move <Office 98 program name> back to the Microsoft Office 98 folder (or the folder where it was originally installed).
Reinstall <Office 98 program name> using the installer program provided with the software to make sure that all files needed to run <Office 98 program name> are installed correctly.

CAUSE

This problem may occur in the following scenarios.

Scenario 1

This problem will occur if you have moved the application file for the Office 98 program that you are trying to start out of the Microsoft Office 98 folder.

Scenario 2

This problem occurs because the installation program for the stand-alone program that you have removed also removes files that the other stand-alone program requires.

When you run the Installer program for any of the programs listed at the beginning of this article, and then click Remove, the following message appears:

Remove all previously installed components.

Files that may be used by other applications will not be removed.

However, if you click Remove, any Office 98 programs that remain on your computer do not work.

The information in the Installer dialog box is incorrect. When you click Remove in the installer program for any stand-alone Office 98 program, certain files that are required by the remaining stand-alone Office 98 programs are removed.

WORKAROUND

To work around the problem, follow the steps appropriate to your situation.

Scenario 1

If you have moved one or more of the application files for the Office 98 programs out of the Microsoft Office 98 folder, you must move them back to the Microsoft Office 98 folder. If you want to have access to an icon for an Office 98 program somewhere else on your computer, create an alias for the program. The following steps illustrate how to create an alias for Microsoft Word:

Open the Microsoft Office 98 folder on your hard disk.
Click to select Microsoft Word.
Click Make Alias on the File menu.

An alias for Microsoft Word is created. You can move this alias to the Desktop, or to any location on your hard disk. When you double-click the alias, Microsoft Word will start.

Scenario 2

To work around this problem, reinstall the affected programs. Because some of the program files already exist on your computer, run the Installer program for each affected program instead of performing a drag-and-drop installation.

STATUS

Scenario 1

The behavior is by design of the Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition programs.

Scenario 2

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

When you click Remove in the Installer program for one of the stand-alone Office 98 programs, the icons for other Office 98 programs in the Microsoft Office 98 folder are not deleted. This gives the impression that the programs still function. However, several crucial files in the Microsoft Office 98:Office folder are deleted (by design). The absence of these files prevents any remaining Office programs from starting.