You receive an "Error 1608. Setup could not locate a version of Microsoft Office 97, 2000 or XP on the selected drive" error message when you try to upgrade Office 2003 (315995)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
This article was previously published under Q315995

SYMPTOMS

When you try to install the upgrade version of any of the products that are listed in the "Applies To" section, you may receive the following error message:
The product key you entered requires a version of Microsoft Office 97, 2000 or XP to upgrade. If one of these versions of Microsoft Office is not installed on your machine, you will need to supply a version of Microsoft Office on CD-ROM in the next step. Click OK to continue with the upgrade or click Cancel to stop the installation.
When you click OK on this message, you receive the following error message:
Setup failed to locate a valid qualifying product on your machine. Please select the drive where a qualifying product can be found.
When you select the drive letter that represents the drive where the qualifying product is installed (for example, C:), and then click OK, you receive the following error message:

Error 1608. Setup could not locate a version of Microsoft Office 97, 2000 or XP on the selected drive. Click OK to stop the installation. If you have a version of Microsoft Office on CD-ROM, run Setup again.

For more information, see Path to Setup.chm file under "Locating a Previous Version of Office".
When you click OK on this message, you receive the following error message:
Installation ended prematurely because of an error.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if any one of the following conditions is true:
  • Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition is installed on the computer.
  • Microsoft Office 2000 CD2 is installed on your computer, but Microsoft Office 2000 CD1 is not installed on your computer
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business is not installed on the computer, and you insert the Office 2000 Small Business CD1 when you are prompted for a qualifying product.
  • The qualifying product is located on a mapped network drive and the Product Compliance Check dialog box only lists local drives.
  • Either Microsoft Office 2000 Trial Version or Microsoft Office XP Trial Version is the only Office program that is installed on the computer.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:
  1. Run the Office 2003 Setup program.
  2. In the User Information dialog box, type your product key in the Product Key boxes, and then click OK.
  3. In the Product Compliance Check CD Key dialog box, click OK.
  4. In the Product Compliance Check dialog box, in the Drive list, click the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive that contains the Office 2003 CD.
  5. Remove the Office 2003 CD from the computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, and then insert either Office XP CD1, Office 2000 CD1, or Office 97 CD1 (as appropriate to your situation). If you are using Office 2000 Small Business Edition, insert Office 2000 Small Business Edition CD2.
  6. Wait approximately 30 seconds to permit the computer's CD-ROM drive to recognize the CD that you inserted.
  7. In the Product Compliance Check dialog box, click OK.
  8. When the Microsoft Office 2003 End-User License Agreement (EULA) appears, remove the CD for the previous version of Office from the computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then insert the Office 2003 CD.
  9. Click to select the I accept the terms of the License Agreement check box after you read the End-User License Agreement (EULA), and then click Next.
  10. Follow the instructions that are displayed on the screen to install Office 2003.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Office 2003 is available as a non-upgrade version (full version) and as an upgrade version. To install the upgrade version, one of the following requirements must be met:
  • A valid qualifying product, such as Microsoft Office XP, Office 2000, or Office 97, is installed on your computer.
  • The installation media of the valid, qualifying product is available.
When you run Office 2003 Setup, Setup tries to detect the qualifying product on the computer. If Setup cannot detect a qualifying program on the computer, Setup displays an error message. If you do not have a valid qualifying product, return the Office 2003 Upgrade product, and purchase a full retail version of the Office 2003 product.

For additional information about how to upgrade your version of Microsoft Office, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;832288

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

300852 You receive an "Error 25003" error message when you run the Setup program to upgrade your installation of Office XP

For more information about the list of qualifying products for the Office XP Upgrade, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290540 Products that qualify for the Microsoft Office XP upgrade

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290366 Setup may remove earlier versions of Office

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/13/2006
Keywords:kbUpgrade kbfix kbBug KB315995 kbAudITPRO kbAudEndUser
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