OL97: ErrMsg: Word Is Either Busy or Cannot Be Found

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SYMPTOMS

When attempting to use Microsoft Word 97 (WordMail) to open an e-mail message in Microsoft Outlook 97, you may get the following error message:

   This form requires Word as your e-mail editor, but Word is either
   busy or cannot be found. The form will be opened in the Outlook
   editor instead.

CAUSE

There is a folder named "Program" (without the quotation marks) on the root of your hard drive (c:\Program).

RESOLUTION

Rename or remove the folder named Program. After doing so you may get the following warning message:

   This change may impact one or more registered programs.
   Do you want to continue?

If problems persist, do a maintenance installation of Microsoft Office 97 with the /y switch, to re-register the programs.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Outlook 97. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

This situation may cause other OLE problems in Microsoft Office 97 programs, such as inserting graphs, ClipArt, spreadsheets, etc. Re- registering Office should fix the problem. See the articles reference below for more information.

To Re-register the Office Programs

1. Close any running Office programs.

2. Insert the Office 97 compact disc in the drive.

3. Click the Start button and Click Run.

4. Type

         <CD drive letter>:\Setup.exe /y
   

   and click OK.

5. When the Microsoft Office 97 Setup starts, click Reinstall.

REFERENCES

For more information on problems caused by this condition, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q173430
   TITLE     : Off97: Error Inserting an Office Object Under Windows NT 4.0

   ARTICLE-ID: Q170669
   TITLE     : Creating C:\Program Folder Causes Add/Remove Program
               to Fail

   ARTICLE-ID: Q169526
   TITLE     : WD97: WordMail Errors After Remove All of Project 4.1a

   ARTICLE-ID: Q166050
   TITLE     : WD97: Outlook/WordMail Tries to Use Word Viewer as Editor

   ARTICLE-ID: Q174279
   TITLE     : OL97: Error Trying to Use Word as Your E-mail Editor