OFF: Office Repair Runs When You Start Excel Following an Interrupted Office Service Pack Installation or Excel Update (329117)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 2000 (Setup)
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2000
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2002
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
  • Microsoft Word 2002
This article was previously published under Q329117

SYMPTOMS

If you install an Office service pack or Excel update for one of the programs listed at the beginning of this article, and then you cancel the installation and run Excel, you are prompted to run a repair of Office. The repair of Office requires you to provide the Office CD-ROM or navigate to another location that contains the appropriate Office Setup files. If you do not complete the repair, Excel does not start.

NOTE: Other Office programs continue to function as expected.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the Windows Installer service is invoked during an installation and is then interrupted before installation is completed. The Windows Installer service rolls back all changes that occurred to the system during installation, and it may also delete the XLStart folder. When this occurs, Office tries to run a repair the next time that Excel is started. When a repair is run, the original Office Setup files may be required.

NOTE: This issue does not occur when the XLStart folder contains files, and therefore this issue does not cause personal files to be deleted.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, insert your Office CD-ROM into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive when you are prompted for the Office Setup files. Or, navigate to another location that contains the appropriate Office Setup files, and then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the Office repair process.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, cancel the Office repair operation, and then manually create the XLStart folder.

To manually create the XLStart folder, follow these steps:
  1. Right-click Start, and then click Explore to open Windows Explorer.
  2. In Windows Explorer, locate the folder that contains your installation of Office XP or Office 2000.

    The following is the default folder in which Office XP is installed

    drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10

    where drive is the drive on which Office XP is installed.

    The following is the default folder in which Office 2000 is installed

    drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office

    where drive is the drive on which Office 2000 is installed.
  3. Select the Office10 folder (or the Office folder, if you are running Office 2000), click File, click New, and then click Folder.
  4. Type XLStart, and then press ENTER.
  5. Close Windows Explorer, and then try to start Excel again.
NOTE: If you are still prompted to repair Office when you start Excel, the issue is not related to a missing XLStart folder, and you must use the procedure described in the "Resolution" section of this article to resolve this issue.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/11/2006
Keywords:kbprb KB329117
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