OFF97: Error Message "Olemsg.dll Was Unable to Register Itself" (179783)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
This article was previously published under Q179783
WARNING: The information in this article has not been confirmed or tested by Microsoft. Some or all of the information in this article has been taken from unconfirmed customer reports. ANY USE BY YOU OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Microsoft provides this information "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.

SYMPTOMS

After you run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program and all the Office files have been copied to the hard disk on your computer, you may receive the following error message:
Olemsg.dll was unable to register itself in the system registry.
When you click OK, you receive the following error message:
Microsoft Office 97 Setup was not completed successfully.

CAUSE

This problem may occur when you attempt to install Microsoft Office on a computer on which other programs, including memory-resident and anti-virus programs, are running.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, use the troubleshooting steps in the following sections.

Check the Win.ini

Some memory-resident and anti-virus programs that are started through a reference in the Win.ini file may cause errors when you install Office 97. To disable these programs, follow these steps:
  1. Click Run on the Start menu. In the Run dialog box, type win.ini and click OK. This step opens the Win.ini file in Microsoft Notepad.
  2. Locate the LOAD= and RUN= lines in the Win.ini file. Both of these lines are located in the [windows] section, which is near the top of the file. After locating these lines, type a semi-colon (;) in front of each line. For examples, change the following line 
          LOAD=
    to this: 
          ;LOAD=
  3. On the File menu, click Save. On the File menu, click Exit.
You must restart the computer for these changes to take effect.

Remove Items from the StartUp Folder

All items that are located in the Windows 95 StartUp folder run each time Windows 95 is started and may cause errors to occur during the installation process. To disable these programs, follow these steps:
  1. Right-click an empty area of the Windows desktop. Point to New and click Folder. Type TShoot and press ENTER.
  2. Move the mouse pointer on top of the Windows 95 Start button on the taskbar. Right-click the Start button and click Open.
  3. Double-click the Programs icon. Double-click the Startup icon. On the Edit menu, click Select All. On the Edit menu, click Cut.
  4. Right-click the TShoot folder on the Windows desktop and click Paste.
You must restart the computer for these changes to take effect.

Use the Standard VGA Video Driver

Using an enhanced or accelerated video driver can load additional files or drivers that may cause errors during the installation process. To use the standard VGA video driver, follow these steps:
  1. Right-click an empty area of the Windows desktop and click Properties.
  2. In the Display Settings dialog box, click the Settings tab.

    In the Display section, note the adapter type, color palette and font size settings so that you can return to these settings after Office setup is completed.
  3. Click Advanced. Click the Adapter tab. The Display Type characteristics will be displayed. Click the Change button.
  4. In the Select Device dialog box, click Show All Devices. In the Manufacturers list, click Standard Display Types. In the Models list, click Standard Display Adapter (VGA). Click OK and then click Close. In the Display Properties dialog box, click Close.
You must restart the computer for these changes to take effect.

Use Additional Windows 95 Troubleshooting Features

In addition to using the steps in the previous sections, try using the Windows 95 troubleshooting features. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. In the Control Panel, double-click the System icon, and then click the Performance tab.
  2. Click File System, and then click the Troubleshooting tab.
  3. Click the following check boxes to select them:

    Disable protect-mode hard disk interrupt handling
    Disable synchronous buffer commits
    Disable write-behind caching for all drive

  4. Click the CD-ROM tab, click No Read-Ahead in the Optimize Access Pattern For list.
  5. Verify that the Supplemental Cache Size slider is positioned in the far left position (the Small setting), and then click OK. Click Close.
You must restart the computer for these changes to take effect.

Reinstall Microsoft Office 97 Excluding Microsoft Outlook

To reinstall Office 97 without Outlook, follow these steps:
  1. Quit all programs.
  2. On the Windows Start menu, click Run.
  3. Type the following command to start Setup and create a log file

    <Drive>:\Setup

    where <Drive> is the drive letter you are installing from. For example, if you are installing from a CD-ROM drive (usually drive D), type the following:

    D:\Setup

  4. Proceed through the installation process and select Custom as the installation type.
  5. Click to clear the Microsoft Outlook check box. Click Continue.
Continue installing Microsoft Office 97. If the Setup program successfully installs Office without displaying an error message, run Setup again to install Microsoft Outlook in maintenance mode.

Close Unnecessary Memory-Resident Programs

Programs that run in the background in memory are called terminate-and- stay-resident programs (TSRs). For example, these programs may be virus protection software, utility programs, print manager programs, or screen savers. To determine if a terminate-and-stay-resident program is running, follow these steps:
  1. Display the Close Program window (the task list) by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

    Only Systray and Explorer should appear in the list.
  2. Close any program other than Systray or Explorer in the Close Program list by clicking the program and clicking End Task.

    NOTE: If SAGE (System Agent) is listed in the task list, the computer may restart when your close the System Agent. If this happens, repeat the steps in this section but do not close System Agent.
  3. If you close a program and want to close another one, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to display the Close Program window again. Repeat steps 1 through 3 until you close all programs except for Systray and Explorer.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/27/2005
Keywords:kberrmsg kbprb kbsetup KB179783
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