You receive an "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed" error message when you try to start an Office program (907342)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Students and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Home Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Standard
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Developer

SYMPTOMS

When you try to start a Microsoft Office program, the program does not start. Additionally, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:

This action is only valid for products that are currently installed.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if you have a corrupted shortcut to the Office program that you are trying to start.

RESOLUTION

Use one of these methods to resolve this issue:
  1. Run the Detect and Repair tool to restore your broken shortcuts. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the Help menu, click Detect and Repair.

      Note Make sure that the Restore my shortcuts while repairing check box is selected.

      Caution If you click Discard my customized settings and restore default settings, the following settings return to their original installation settings:
      • The Assistant character
      • The most-recently-used entries on the File menu
      • The size of the program window for all programs
      • The position and customization of the Menu and of the toolbar
      • The security level
      • The View settings
    2. Click Start.
  2. Use the Create Shortcut wizard. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Quit all Office programs.
    2. Right-click a blank area on your desktop, point to New, and then click Shortcut.
    3. In the Create Shortcut wizard, click Browse, and then locate the Office program. By default, Office programs are installed at the following location:

      C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICEVersionNumber

      Note the VersionNumber placeholder is the version number of Office that you have installed. See the following table to obtain the correct version number:
      VersionVersion Number
      Microsoft Office 200311
      Microsoft Office XP10
      Microsoft Office 20009
    4. Click the Office program that you are trying to start. For example, click WINWORD.
    5. Click Next, and then click Finish.
    6. A new shortcut to the Office program is created on the desktop.
    7. Click the newly created shortcut icon, and then hold down the right mouse button.
    8. Drag the shortcut icon while you hold down the right mouse button, point to Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and then drop the shortcut icon.

MORE INFORMATION

The following are the executable file names for Office programs:
Program NameFile name
Microsoft Access Msaccess.exe
Microsoft ExcelExcel.exe
Microsoft FrontPageFrontPg.exe
Microsoft OutlookOutlook.exe
Microsoft PowerPointPowerPnt.exe
Microsoft ProjectWinProj.exe
Microsoft WordWinWord.exe
Microsoft VisioVisio.exe

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/4/2005
Keywords:kbtshoot kbprb KB907342 kbAudEndUser kbAudITPRO