You receive a "Required registry information is missing and the application cannot run" error message when you start an Office 2000 program on Windows 98 (303252)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2000
  • Microsoft Access 2000
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2000
  • Microsoft Outlook 2000
  • Microsoft Word 2000
  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
This article was previously published under Q303252
WARNING:This information is preliminary and has not been confirmed or tested by Microsoft. Use only with discretion.IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

When you start one of the Office programs listed at the beginning of this article, you may receive the following error message:
Required registry information is missing and this application cannot run. Please run setup to correct this problem.
When you click OK, the error message closes, but the program immediately quits.

NOTE: If you run Setup again, as instructed, and click the Repair Office option, you still see this error message when you start one of the Office programs.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if both of the following conditions are true:
  • A SmartDisk VST Universal Serial Bus (USB) floppy disk drive is installed on your computer.
  • Your computer's operating system is Microsoft Windows 98.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, you must first obtain the updated driver VST USB Floppy Installer for PC Version 4.54 (Win 98) from VST, apply the driver update, and then secondly modify the system registry.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
To resolve the problem, follow these steps:
  1. Obtain and install the updated driver VST USB Floppy Installer for PC Version 4.54 (Win 98) by contacting VST Technical Support, or download the update from the following SmartDisk Web site:

    http://www.smartdisk.com/downloads.asp

  2. After you update the driver and restart your computer, close all programs.
  3. Click Start and then click Run.
  4. In the Open box, type Regedit and then click OK.
  5. Locate the following key in the registry:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

  6. If you only have one subkey that is a 32-character {GUID}, select that subkey, and then skip to step 8.
  7. If you have more than one of these {GUID} subkeys, select each one until you find the one whose DisplayName value matches your version of Office.
  8. For the selected {GUID} subkey, select the ProductID string value.
  9. On the Edit menu, click Rename.
  10. Type OldProductID and then press ENTER.
  11. On the Registry menu, click Exit.
  12. Start any of the Office programs.
  13. Type your CD Key when the Microsoft Office 2000 User Information dialog box appears.
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Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/10/2004
Keywords:kbUSB kbtshoot kberrmsg KB303252
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