Workstation Setup Installs MSAPPS Files Locally

Last reviewed: September 10, 1996
Article ID: Q111687

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.2, 4.2c, 4.3, 4.3c
  • Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
  • Microsoft Access, version 2.0
  • Microsoft Works for Windows, version 3.0
  • Microsoft Project for Windows, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you do a workstation installation of Microsoft Office, the Setup program may copy the MSAPPS files to your local hard drive even if (during the administrative install) you had specified that they should be run from the server.

You do not receive a message informing you that these files are being installed locally, and after Office is installed, it functions correctly.

CAUSE

This problem occurs primarily in the following situations:

  • You are using network software that does not support the Universal Naming Convention (UNC), or UNC support is not functioning correctly.

    -or-

  • Your local REG.DAT and/or WIN.INI files already has entries pointing to previous MSAPPS files on your local hard drive, in which case setup will update the MSAPPS in place.

    -or-

  • The server, share, and directory name of the MSAPPS directory on the server exceed 63 characters.

    -or-

  • The Administrative Setup (SETUP/A) was performed locally on a Non-Dedicated Server. Note, an administrative setup should always be performed from a workstation connected to the server.

    -or-

  • The Network Server or Network Path is incorrect in the SETUP.STF file.

NOTE: This problem may also occur in other situations. The situations described here are those that have been confirmed.

RESOLUTIONS

To resolve this problem, follow the procedure below appropriate to your situation.

You Are Using Network Software That Does Not

Support the Universal Naming Convention (UNC)

If Setup cannot establish a persistent UNC connection to the MSAPPS network server, the MSAPPS files are installed to your local hard drive. This can occur if your network does not support UNC, if UNC support is broken, or if the network administrator has changed the UNC path in the network server confirmation dialog box to a non-existant path or to a logical path (using a drive letter).

If you cannot enable UNC support, you may be able to work around the problem by doing the following:

   1. Perform a Workstation install of Office. (This will copy the MSAPPS
      files to your local hard drive.)

   2. Make a backup of your WIN.INI file.

   3. Run Office Setup again in maintenance mode, and choose the Remove
      All button to remove Office (including all of the shared
      applications).

   4. Exit Windows and delete your WIN.INI file. Rename the backup of your
      WIN.INI file to WIN.INI. Start Windows again.

   5. In a text editor, such as Notepad, open your WIN.INI file. Locate the
      [MSAPPS] section. This section should appear similar to the
      following:

         [MSAPPS]
         MSAPPS=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS
         GRPHFLT=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\GRPHFLT
         PROOF=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\PROOF
         MSINFO=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\MSINFO
         MSQUERY=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\MSQUERY
         WORDART=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\WORDART
         TEXTCONV=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\TEXTCONV
         EQUATION=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\EQUATION
         ARTGALRY=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\ARTGALRY
         MSGRAPH=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\MSGRAPH
         ORGCHART=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\ORGCHART
         MSGRAPH5=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\MSGRAPH5
         SHEETCNV=C:\WINDOWS\MSAPPS\SHEETCNV

   6. Change the path to each of the applications in this section to point
      to the correct server location for the MSAPPS applications.
      NOTE: Use a logical path (drive letter).

   7. Search your WIN.INI file for the following sections and change the
      path to any shared application to point to the server as described
      above:

         [embedding]
         [MS Text Converters]
         [MS Spreadsheet Converters]
         [MS Graphic Import Filters]
         [MS Proofing Tools]
         [extensions]

   8. Run Office Setup again, and perform a Workstation installation.

   Because the paths in the WIN.INI file are pointing to the server, Setup
   updates the applications in place, that it, Setup will configure your
   computer to run the shared applications from the server.

If Your Local REG.DAT and/or WIN.INI Has Entries

Pointing to Previous MSAPPS Files on Your Local Hard Drive

If an MSAPPS directory already exists under your local Windows installation, the Setup program will probably install the shared components there, instead of installing them to the MSAPPS directory on the server.

To avoid this problem, do the following to remove any existing references to the MSAPPS directory from your WIN.INI and REG.DAT files, and then run Setup again:

CAUTION: Changes you make to the registration database are not supported by Microsoft. Be sure to make a back up copy of REG.DAT before you modify this file.

  1. Make a backup copy of both the WIN.INI and REG.DAT files.

  2. In the WIN.INI file, search for the following sections, and comment out (place a semicolon in front of) the lines in this section which include paths to any of the shared applications:

          [embedding]
          [MS Text Converters]
          [MS Spreadsheet Converters]
          [MS Graphic Import Filters]
          [MS Proofing Tools]
          [extensions]
    

  3. In the REG.DAT file, do the following to delete the MSAPPS references:

    a. In Program Manager, choose the Run command from the File menu.

    b. In the Command Line box, type "Regedit /v" (without the quotation

          marks), and choose OK.
    

          This command will start Registration Info Editor.
    

    c. In Registration Info Editor, choose Find Key from the Search menu and

          type "MSWordArt" in the Find What box.
    

    d. When MSWordArt is selected, choose Delete Key from the Edit menu.

          Repeat steps c and d to search for and delete the rest of the MSAPPS
          keys from the registration database. To determine which keys to
          delete, look at the entries in the [Embedding] section of your
          WIN.INI file. Find the entries that are installed to MSAPPS. The word
          to the left of the equal sign in the WIN.INI entry is the key name
          you should delete. The key names you should delete may include any of
          the following:
    

             DefaultIcon
             Equation.1
             Equation.2
             Localserver
             MS_ClipArt_Gallery
             MSDraw
             MSGraph.3
             MSGraph.Chart.5
             MSOrgChart.1
             MSWordArt.2
             Server
             WordArt
    
       e. After you delete the appropriate keys, choose Save Changes from the
          File menu, and choose Exit.
    
    

  4. Run Office Setup again.

The shared applications should now be installed to the MSAPPS directory on the specified network server.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q122964
   TITLE     : How to Rebuild the Reg.Date File and Re-Register
                Applications

The Server, Share, and Directory Name of the

MSAPPS Directory on the Server Exceeds 63 Characters

If the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path is longer than 63 characters, the Setup program will install the shared components to an MSAPPS directory on the local hard drive instead of on the server. The UNC path includes the following:

   \\servername\sharename\directoryname

To avoid this problem, make sure your UNC path does not exceed 63 characters.

The Administrative Setup (SETUP/A) Was

Done Locally on a Non-Dedicated Server

If you do a SETUP/A to the local hard drive on a non-dedicated server, (as in Windows for Workgroups), the Setup program defaults to the following location:

   MSAPPS Network Server C:

If the Network Server is referred to simply as "C:" this causes the workstation setup procedure, when run from other machines, to install shared components to their local C drives instead of to the server.

However, if you try to do a SETUP/A to your own hard drive and try to specify its server and share name as the MSAPPS Network Server, you will receive an error message indicating that the server and share cannot be found on the network.

To avoid this problem, do the administrative installation to the non- dedicated server from another computer instead of locally. When you do the SETUP/A from another machine, you can specify the server and share name correctly, as follows:

   MSAPPS Network Server   \\servername\sharename


KBCategory: kbsetup kbnetwork kbprb
KBSubcategory:

Additional reference words: 1.0 1.00 4.00 administrative administrator
shared work station net winword xl5 projwin xlwin offwin StpNet power point
wkssetup



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Last reviewed: September 10, 1996
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