"Another version of this product is already installed" error message when you try to reinstall Office 2000 after you use Eraser 2000 (304465)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Professoinal
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Standard
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Developer
  • Microsoft Access 2000
  • Microsoft Excel 2000
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2000
  • Microsoft Outlook 2000
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
  • Microsoft Word 2000
This article was previously published under Q304465

SYMPTOMS

After you use the Microsoft Office 2000 File and Registry Eraser utility for Microsoft Office CD1 (Eraser2000.exe) or the Office 2000 File and Registry Eraser utility for Microsoft Office CD2 (Eraser2000a.exe) to remove Office 2000, and you have installed the Office SR1-a client patch, you may receive the following error message when you try to reinstall Office 2000:
Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if you do not remove Office 2000 before you run Eraser 2000. Under this scenario, the Microsoft Windows Installer management data still contains information that indicates that Office 2000 is installed. Therefore, Office 2000 cannot be reinstalled.

Note The Eraser utility should be used only after you remove Microsoft Office. For additional information about the Eraser utility, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

239938 OFF2000: Utility to Completely Remove Remaining Office CD1 Files and Registry Entries

Note Eraser will not run on operating systems later than Microsoft Windows 2000.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the Microsoft Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to remove all Windows Installer information for Office 2000.

For additional information about how to download and run the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290301 Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

After you download and install the correct Windows Installer CleanUp Utility version for your operating system, follow these steps to remove all Windows Installer information for Office 2000:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Installer Clean Up.
  2. In the Windows Installer Clean Up dialog box, click Microsoft Office 2000 edition (where edition is the edition of Office 2000 that was installed on your computer), and then click Remove.
You can now reinstall Office 2000.

Note Because the Windows Installer CleanUp utility removes Windows Installer-related registry settings and not the Office program files, make sure that you install Office in the same folder where it was originally installed to prevent duplication of files on your hard disk.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/13/2006
Keywords:kbtshoot kbsetup kberrmsg kbprb KB304465
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