OFF97: "Setup Error 168" Installing Office Under Windows NT

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Windows NT versions 3.51, 4.0
• Microsoft Project for Windows, versions 4.1, 4.1a

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft Office 97 on a computer running Microsoft Windows NT version 3.51 or 4.0, you may receive the following error message:

   Setup Error 168
   Setup has encountered a problem updating your system registry.

   Microsoft Office 97 Setup was not completed successfully.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

• You log on to a computer running Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0 by using an account that is a member of the Users group but that is NOT a member of the Administrators group.

  -and-

• You perform a Custom installation of Microsoft Office 97.

  -and-

• In the Custom dialog box, you change the folders used by any of the programs (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Access) to a folder other than the default folder.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, do either of the following:

• Do not change the default folders of any of the programs included in Microsoft Office 97.

  -or-

• Before you run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program, log on to Microsoft Windows NT by using an account that is a member of the Administrators group. After you do this, run Microsoft Office 97 Setup.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Office 97.

MORE INFORMATION

When you install Microsoft Office 97 on a computer running either Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows NT, the Setup program creates the following key in the registry.

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\8.0\BinDirPath

However, if you change the folder in which any of the Microsoft Office 97 programs are installed, you must change the PATH value, so that the programs can find the files they need to run. On a computer running Microsoft Windows 95, the PATH value is stored in the Autoexec.bat file, which is located in the root directory on drive C.

Under Microsoft Windows NT, the PATH information is stored in the following key in the registry:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
      Session Manager\Environment\Path

The easiest solution to this problem is to allow the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program to install each program in the default folder; if you do this, Microsoft Office 97 Setup runs correctly even if you logged on to the computer by using a non-administrative account.

For more information about the Setup Error 168 message, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163277
   TITLE     : OFF97: OFF97: Setup Error 168 or Tahoma Font is Not Present
               Error