OFF97: Setting the Default Shared Templates Location

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

This article contains instructions for setting the shared templates location using the Network Installation Wizard.

IMPORTANT: Use version 2.1 of the Network Installation Wizard to modify the Microsoft Office Setup files.

To access the Network Installation Wizard on the Web, connect to the following Web site:

   http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/

   http://www.microsoft.com/

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: This modification may not be supported by Microsoft. Microsoft support engineers will support some modifications to a BACKUP copy of the Setup.stf file. Note also that while support engineers may help customers modify specific lines of an STF, we will not rewrite the entire file in order to achieve a desired configuration. As a general rule, support is limited to options that can normally be changed by a user during a standard installation of the application.

NOTE: The following steps work only if you first perform an administrative installation (setup /a) of Office 97 to a server on your network. If you are performing a stand-alone installation using the Office 97 compact disc, you should not use the steps in this article.

Before you perform the following steps, make a backup copy of the Off97pro.stf or Off97std.stf file on your server. Rename the file to Backup.stf and do not open or edit it for any reason.

1. Start the Network Installation Wizard. Open the LST file that you want to use.

   NOTE: The Network Installation Wizard opens the appropriate STF and INF files for editing.

2. Click Next to continue through the wizard until you reach the Add Registry Entries dialog box.

3. Add the following two keys and the associated values to the registry.

       Key 1
       -----
   

         Item            Value
         ----------------------------------
   
         Root:           HKEY_Local_Machine
   
         Data type:      SZ
   
         Key:            Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\New User Settings\
                         Common\FileNew\SharedTemplates
   
         Value name:     SharedTemplates
   
         Value data:     <folder you want to use for shared templates>
   
       Key 2
       -----
   
         Item            Value
         ----------------------------------
   
         Root:           HKEY_Current_User
   
         Data type:      SZ
   
         Key:            Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Common\FileNew\
                         SharedTemplates
   
         Value name:     SharedTemplates
   
         Value data:     <folder you want to use for shared templates>
   
   

4. After you add the settings to the registry, click Next.

5. In the Select Quiet Mode dialog box, select the Quiet Level that you want, and then click Next.

6. In the Save Changes dialog box, type the file names for your customized Setup files, and then click Finish.

Additional Steps to Modify the STF

Before you continue with the steps in this section, see the "Opening the STF for Editing" section in this article for instructions for opening the STF file.

After you follow the instructions for opening the STF in Microsoft Excel, follow these steps to make the necessary changes:

1. Scroll to the end of the worksheet to the custom entries you added. Locate the first custom entry and change column F to the following (including the quotation marks):

         "LOCAL", "Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\New User Settings\Common\
         FileNew\SharedTemplates", "", "<Templates Folder>", ""
   

   Note that <Templates Folder> is the disk drive and folder name. For example, you could type the following:

         "H:\Templates"
   

         -or-
   

         "H:\Templates\Word"
   

   NOTE: You can use a universal naming convention (UNC) path for the <Templates Folder> setting, but do not include an environment variable. See the following examples:

       Correct
       -------
   

       "\\Server1\Templates"
   

       Incorrect
       ---------
   

       "\\Server1\Templates\%UserName%"
   

   NOTE: You can also delete the settings for columns B, C, and D for this row because they are not used.

2. The second custom entry for the Shared Templates location should read as follows (including the quotation marks):

         "CURRENT", "Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Common\FileNew\
         SharedTemplates", "", "<Templates Folder>", ""
   

   Note that <Templates Folder> is the disk drive and folder name.

   NOTE: You can delete the settings for columns B, C, and D for this row because they are not used.

When you run Microsoft Office 97 Setup by using the modified STF file, the default shared templates folder is automatically changed.

Opening the STF for Editing

When you open the Microsoft Office Setup Table File (STF), you must use a certain process to avoid damaging the integrity of the file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Make a backup copy of the original .stf file.

2. Open the document in Microsoft Word.

3. On the Edit menu, click Replace. In the Find What box, type the following (without the quotation marks):

   "^t "

   Note that there is a space after the letter "t."

   In the Replace With box, type the following (without the quotation marks):

   "^t"

   Click Replace All. Click Close.

   NOTE: You cannot use ^t^w in the Find What box because ^w replaces a tab followed by second tab as well as a tab followed by a space. You want to replace only tabs followed by spaces (<tab><space>).

4. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Save As Type list, click Text Only (*.txt). The File Name box should contain either:

   Off97Pro.stf.txt (for the Office 97 Professional Edition)

   -or-

   Off97Std.stf.txt (for the Office 97 Standard Edition)

   Click Save, and then quit Microsoft Word.

5. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer.

6. On the View menu, click Options, and then click the View tab.

7. Clear the "Hide file extensions for known file types" check box. Click OK.

8. In the folder in which you saved the .stf file, rename the file to its original file name of:

   Off97Pro.stf (for the Office 97 Professional Edition)

   -or-

   Off97Std.stf (for the Office 97 Standard Edition)

9. In Microsoft Excel, open the .stf file you want to edit.

10. In the Text Import Wizard dialog box, click Next twice to proceed to the Step 3 of 3 dialog box.

11. In the "Text Import Wizard - Step 3 Of 3" dialog box, under Data Preview, drag the vertical scroll box all the way down and drag the horizontal scroll box all the way to the right. Hold the SHIFT key down, and then click the last column. All of the columns should be selected.

12. Under Column Data Format, click Text, and then click Finish.

   ARTICLE-ID: Q162796
   TITLE     : OFF97: Setup Error 932 After Modifying STF File