OFF97: Troubleshooting the Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch

ID: Q173990

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Office 97 for Windows, Service Release 1 (SR-1)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in the Windows folder.

SUMMARY

This article contains troubleshooting steps you can use if installing the Office 97 SR-1 Patch fails.


MORE INFORMATION

Ensure That System Requirements Are Met

In addition to the normal Office 97 system requirements, the Office 97 SR-1 Patch requires the following service packs to be installed before you run it:
  • For computers running Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51 or Windows NT Server 3.51, install service pack 5.


  • For computers running Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, install service pack 2 or later.


  • No service pack is required for computers running Microsoft Windows 95.
The SR-1 Patch requires 35 megabytes (MB) of disk space to run. The patch adds 10 MB of files to your hard disk.

Expanded and temporary files used during the patch installation are placed in the Windows temporary folder and are removed after the patch is finished.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q156042 OFF97: Microsoft Office 97 System Requirements

Q184083 OFF97: SR-1 Patch May Not Work Under Microsoft Windows 98

Close Unnecessary Memory-Resident Programs

Programs that run in the background in memory are called terminate-and- stay-resident programs (TSRs). For example, these programs may be virus protection software, utility programs, print manager programs, or screen savers. To determine if a terminate-and-stay-resident program is running, follow these steps:
  1. Display the Close Program window (the task list) by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

    Only Systray and Explorer should appear in the list.


  2. Close any program other than Systray or Explorer in the Close Program list by clicking the program and clicking End Task.


  3. If you close a program and want to close another one, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to display the Close Program window again. Repeat steps 1 through 3 until you close all programs except Systray and Explorer.


After all TSRs are closed, run the patch.

Some TSRs may be load into memory but may not appear on the Task List. These TSRs are loaded via the Windows registry.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedit.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To see what programs are loaded via the registry, follow these steps:
  1. On the Start menu, click Run. In the Open box, type "regedit" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.


  2. Select the following key in the registry: 
    
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

    This key lists all programs that are started when Windows is started. Programs that are started can cause problems in Office programs and should be disabled.


  3. Select the following key in the registry: 
    
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

    Entries in this key are run once when the computer is restarted and then are deleted by the system. This key should be empty. Other programs that are started can cause problems in Office programs and should be disabled.


  4. Select the following key in the registry: 
    
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

    This key lists all programs that are started when Windows NT 4.0 is loaded. The only program that is required in this key is System Tray (SysTray.exe). Other programs that are loading can cause problems with Office programs and should be disabled.


  5. Select the following key in the registry: 
    
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

    Entries in this key are run once when the computer is restarted and then are deleted by the system. This key should be empty. Other programs that are loaded can cause problems in Office programs and should be disabled.


Start Windows in Safe Mode

Windows 95 and Windows 98 have a built-in troubleshooting mode called Safe Mode. It bypasses startup files and uses only basic system drivers, including basic networking. When you start Windows in Safe mode, Windows uses only the mouse, keyboard, and standard video graphics adapter (VGA) device drivers. This makes Safe Mode useful for isolating and resolving error conditions that are caused by both real-mode and Windows-based drivers. Windows 95 and Windows 98 also have troubleshooting features that may help you identify the problem.

To start Windows 95 in Safe Mode and make the additional troubleshooting features available, follow these steps:
  1. In the Control Panel, double-click the System icon, and then click the Performance tab.


  2. Click File System, and then click the Troubleshooting tab.


  3. Click the following check boxes to select them:


    4. Disable protect-mode hard disk interrupt handling
    Disable synchronous buffer commits
    Disable all 32-bit protect-mode disk drivers
    Disable write-behind caching for all drive
  4. Click OK, click Close, and then click Yes.


  5. Press F8 when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message.


  6. On the Windows Startup menu, select option 3 (Safe Mode).


  7. After Windows is running again, attempt to apply the Patch again.


To start Windows 98 in Safe Mode, follow these steps:
  1. Restart your computer.


  2. Press and hold down the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.

    For some machines, you can use F8 instead of CTRL to bring up the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu.


  3. Enter the number for Safe mode, and then press ENTER.


Check for Beta Software

When you use beta software, you use a pre-release version of software that has not been thoroughly tested by Microsoft. This software may contain newer versions of untested files that may conflict with the Office 97 SR-1 Patch. Remove all beta software from your computer before you run the Office 97 SR-1 Patch. For information about removing beta software from your computer, contact the program vendor for the software.

For more information on some problems using beta software, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q172355 OFF97: STOP HLINK.DLL Error After Installing SR-1

Determine Whether You Are Using the Correct Patch

There has been multiple versions of the Office 97 SR-1 patch. Verify that you are using the most recent Office 97 SR-1 Patch; the Office 97 SR-1 Patch installer program is the Sr1off97.exe file. It is downloadable from the following addresses:
US English:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1howtoget.htm
International English:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1international.htm
Make sure you have the right version and the right procedure sequence by reading Office 97 Service Release 1: Version and Compatibility Information. Here you'll find solutions to known issues regarding the compatibility of some versions of Office products and the SR-1 Patch. The address is:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1fact.htm
For information on obtaining the correct version of the Office 97 SR-1 Patch, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q172475 OFF97: How to Obtain and Install MS Office 97 SR-1

Check Permissions on an NT File System

If you are running the Windows NT 4.0 operating system and you are using the NT File System (NTFS), you must have administrative permissions to the computer. Administrative permissions include permissions to read, write, create, delete, and rename files.

For information about permissions required on an NT File System, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q169387 OFF97: Security Requirements When Using NTFS Partitions

Check for a Valid Temporary Folder and Excess Temporary Files

There should be at least 3 MB of free space on the hard disk that contains the temporary folder. To check for a temporary folder and clear excess files from that folder, follow these steps:
  1. Restart your computer. Press the F8 key when you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, and then choose "Safe mode command prompt only."


  2. Type set and press ENTER. Note the location of the TEMP variable.


  3. Change to the folder noted in step 2. For example, if TEMP is set to C:\WINDOWS\TEMP, type the following line and then press ENTER:


    4. cd\windows\temp
    If the folder noted in step 2 does not exist, you must create the folder. For example, you can create a temporary folder called win95tmp on your hard disk by typing the following line at the command prompt:
    md c:\win95tmp
  4. Delete any temporary files in this folder. Temporary files typically have a .tmp extension. To delete these files, type the following line and then press ENTER:


    5. del *.tmp
    NOTE: Do not delete these files from within the Windows 95 graphical user interface (that is, when you are running Windows 95) because Windows 95 or a Windows program may be using one of these files.

Check the Log File

The patch records a log file of all the actions it performs. This log file is named 97sr1_0.txt and is created in the Office subfolder of the Microsoft Office folder (the default is Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office). If you run the patch more than once, additional log files are created. These files are named 97sr1_1.txt, 97sr1_2.txt, and so on. The log file lists the files that were successfully patched and the files that were not successfully patched. You can read this log file by using any text editor program.

If a program file (a file with an .exe file name extension) is not successfully patched, determine which program the file is associated with and remove and reinstall the program. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.


  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs. In the list of installed programs, click Microsoft Office 97, and then click Add/Remove. If you installed Office from a compact disc, you are prompted to insert the first disc.

    If a dialog box appears with a message that programs are running, quit these programs, and then click OK.


  3. In the Office 97 Setup dialog box, click Add/Remove.

    A list of the Office 97 components is displayed.


  4. Click to clear the check box for the program that the patch failed to update. For example, if the patch failed to update the Excel.exe file, clear the check box next to the Microsoft Excel component.


  5. Reinstall the program.


If the patch failed to update a file other than a program file, replace the file on your hard disk with a new copy of the file from the Office 97 compact disc.

Additional query words: sr1 sr-1 tshoot 97 off97 sol

Keywords : kbfile kbsetup offwinsetup
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto kbinfo


Last Reviewed: June 24, 1999
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