can't install Office 2008 update (again)

[jackc]

This happened with the previous update, 12.1.1. Apparently a widespread problem, I reinstalled Office and was able to install that update. I haven't messed with any Office-related files that I'm not supposed to. Now I've got the same thing again. The error message is, "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.2 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

Do I need to reinstall this thing every time?

 

[n0de]

Fix for broken 12.1.2 Office Update

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.

1) Download the 12.1.1 update directly from Microsoft's Mactopia website.
2) Mount the downloaded DMG file and copy the installer to your desktop.
3) Right-click the installer and select "show package contents"
4) Navigate to Office 2008 12.1.1
Update/Contents/Resources/package_updatable and open the file in TextEdit
5) Scroll to the bottom and find the line "found_valid_version=False"
6) Change False to True
7) Then delete all the text below until the start of "if not
found_valid_version:" Making sure that line is not deleted!
8) Close the window, it will ask if you want to overwrite the file. Say yes.
9) Close the finder window and then run the installer like normal.
10) Reboot.

The first time you open an Office app after this it will take a long time, after that first launch everything should be OK.

The credit for this fix goes to Andrew Murton on the thesource.ofallevil.com forum.

Note: This update does not fix the CGIBitmap error that fills up your logs.

 

[GGJstudios]

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.....

I wish I had read this last night! This sounds like a much easier fix than what I had to do:

1. Uninstall Office 2008
2. Reinstall Office 2008
3. Install 12.1.0 SP1
4. Install 12.1.1
5. Install 12.1.2
6. Run Monolingual again

By the way, Monolingual sure saves a LOT of space:
Office 2008 before Monolingual: 933.7MB
Office 2008 after Monolingual: 698.2MB
Savings: 235.5MB or 25.2%

 

[Insulin Junkie]

Yeah that helped me too. I too use Monolingual. (Spankin' app by the way) =)

 

[iPoodOverZune]

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.

1) Download the 12.1.1 update directly from Microsoft's Mactopia website.
2) Mount the downloaded DMG file and copy the installer to your desktop.
3) Right-click the installer and select "show package contents"
4) Navigate to Office 2008 12.1.1
Update/Contents/Resources/package_updatable and open the file in TextEdit
5) Scroll to the bottom and find the line "found_valid_version=False"
6) Change False to True
7) Then delete all the text below until the start of "if not
found_valid_version:" Making sure that line is not deleted!
8) Close the window, it will ask if you want to overwrite the file. Say yes.
9) Close the finder window and then run the installer like normal.
10) Reboot.

The first time you open an Office app after this it will take a long time, after that first launch everything should be OK.

The credit for this fix goes to Andrew Murton on the thesource.ofallevil.com forum.

Note: This update does not fix the CGIBitmap error that fills up your logs.

Do I need to do that hack first on 12.1.1 and then apply 12.1.2 normally? Or can I do that directly on 12.1.2 and run it to update?

 

[ssh]

Do I need to do that hack first on 12.1.1 and then apply 12.1.2 normally? Or can I do that directly on 12.1.2 and run it to update?

It works directly on the 12.1.2 update. Sweet!

Do I need to run Monolingual again? I'm assuming so from the looks of the update...

 

[ssh]

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.

1) Download the 12.1.1 update directly from Microsoft's Mactopia website.
2) Mount the downloaded DMG file and copy the installer to your desktop.
3) Right-click the installer and select "show package contents"
4) Navigate to Office 2008 12.1.1
Update/Contents/Resources/package_updatable and open the file in TextEdit
5) Scroll to the bottom and find the line "found_valid_version=False"
6) Change False to True
7) Then delete all the text below until the start of "if not
found_valid_version:" Making sure that line is not deleted!
8) Close the window, it will ask if you want to overwrite the file. Say yes.
9) Close the finder window and then run the installer like normal.
10) Reboot.

The first time you open an Office app after this it will take a long time, after that first launch everything should be OK.

The credit for this fix goes to Andrew Murton on the thesource.ofallevil.com forum.

Note: This update does not fix the CGIBitmap error that fills up your logs.

My deepest thanks for this! It has saved me an amazing amount of headache...

 

[jackc]

Anyone else have a problem mounting the dmg file from Mactopia?

 

[dtggm]

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.

1) Download the 12.1.1 update directly from Microsoft's Mactopia website.
2) Mount the downloaded DMG file and copy the installer to your desktop.
3) Right-click the installer and select "show package contents"
4) Navigate to Office 2008 12.1.1
Update/Contents/Resources/package_updatable and open the file in TextEdit
5) Scroll to the bottom and find the line "found_valid_version=False"
6) Change False to True
7) Then delete all the text below until the start of "if not
found_valid_version:" Making sure that line is not deleted!
8) Close the window, it will ask if you want to overwrite the file. Say yes.
9) Close the finder window and then run the installer like normal.
10) Reboot.

The first time you open an Office app after this it will take a long time, after that first launch everything should be OK.

The credit for this fix goes to Andrew Murton on the thesource.ofallevil.com forum.

Note: This update does not fix the CGIBitmap error that fills up your logs.

This didn't work for me. Neither did uninstalling and reinstalling Office.

This is sooo frustrating.

 

[Consultant]

That's because MS still use ret*rded incremental updates that require previous updates.

You need to install .1.0 first before installing .1.1, then .1.2, etc.

HUGE waste of time.

 

[cladeira]

That's because MS still use ret*rded incremental updates that require previous updates.

You need to install .1.0 first before installing .1.1, then .1.2, etc.

HUGE waste of time.

What if when I try to install 12.1.0 update it says that it cannot find the right software version to update. What should I do?

Thanks,

 

[NATO]

I had this problem too, what worked for me was to download each update from the Microsoft website, restart my Mac and install the first update. Then restart. Install the second update, restart... etc etc. Worked every time.

 

[windowpain]

I'm also having problems installing the update (12.1.0 for me.) The installer hangs..tried it a few times now, won't work and I have to force quit. Why is the download so big? I think it was 450mb!

Also I downloaded the update from the mactopia website and that tells me It can't find an version of the software to upgrade..

Anyway, I found a solution! Delete this steaming, unflushed turd of an excuse for an office suite and install open office 3.0 Beta.

Office 2004 wasn't so bad, but 2008 is awful.. takes an age to open, crashes frequently, is confusing to use.. very angry I paid money for it. (and to think I nearly bought the japanese version too, why they can't have multi lingual versions is beyond me.)

If I'm going to use beta software, I might as well use a free version. /rant

 

[MorzillA]

Dang!!!

And here I am trying to get Office '08 for my Mini......even though I have installed NeoOffice and I have had no problem at all!! Matter of fact I have Downloaded and running Open Office for XP/bootcamp. and honestly I would thought that Microsoft would get it's _______ together and get things working right!
Guess they are still trying to fix Vista.........still!?

 

[cladeira]

Office 2008 update

And here I am trying to get Office '08 for my Mini......even though I have installed NeoOffice and I have had no problem at all!! Matter of fact I have Downloaded and running Open Office for XP/bootcamp. and honestly I would thought that Microsoft would get it's _______ together and get things working right!
Guess they are still trying to fix Vista.........still!?

I gave up...I am just using office 2008 without the update. It is not crashing on me and I am disappointed. But, I do not know what else do do...

 

[maconequity]

"1) Download the 12.1.1 update directly from Microsoft's Mactopia website.
2) Mount the downloaded DMG file and copy the installer to your desktop.
3) Right-click the installer and select "show package contents"
4) Navigate to Office 2008 12.1.1
Update/Contents/Resources/package_updatable and open the file in TextEdit
5) Scroll to the bottom and find the line "found_valid_version=False"
6) Change False to True
7) Then delete all the text below until the start of "if not
found_valid_version:" Making sure that line is not deleted!
8) Close the window, it will ask if you want to overwrite the file. Say yes.
9) Close the finder window and then run the installer like normal.
10) Reboot."

Hello,
when i close the Textedit window, the t asks me if i want to save it, I click save, but then tells me this file cannot be saved. How can I overwrite this file?

Thxs

 

[eellerto]

what next, if text edit doesn't work?

I successfully made the changes in text edit and was able to save them, but I still get the same stupid error message (..can't find original software....)! I rebooted and tried again, same error. Anyone else had this problem?

 

[Old Muley]

For what it's worth, n0de's advice will also work when trying to update to 12.1.7...

 

[carlo808]

Worked with a little tweak

Found this -

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/office2008/index.html#d23apr2009

After mounting the disk image, I copied the contents to my desktop. It then let me save the edited file it mentions (package updatable).

Just mounting the disk image did not allow me to save an edited file (I realized that it was trying to save to a "locked" disc, like trying to save a file from a CD back to the CD).

Found my Office 2008 application and worked like a charm....

 

[rrOlaf]

This works if you have messed with your files (Monolingual, XSlimmer), It can't hurt to try it even if you have not run one of these programs.

Thank you so much, you saved me time and pain... I had been trying to fix this for hours!
worked like a charm

if this can help anyone i was updating to 12.1.0 directly after installing office 2008 (standard install) on snow leopard

 

[Dewald]

Thanks for all the advice, but I have tried all the workarounds I could find and none are working. I am on 10.6.1 and need to install from SP1 for Office 2008. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[nadyne]

Have you moved your Office 2008 installation out of your Applications folder? Have you run an app like Xslimmer or Monolingual, or manually deleted anything from your Office 2008 folder?

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[Dewald]

Have you moved your Office 2008 installation out of your Applications folder? Have you run an app like Xslimmer or Monolingual, or manually deleted anything from your Office 2008 folder?

Regards,
Nadyne.

Nope, nope and nope! I have already done a full reinstall and I still have the same problem. I tried running the update on my other Mac at home and I get the same issue. Might this be an initial problem with the installation disk?

 

[wave1975]

snowing on my Office 10.1.2,,

After installing on Snow leopard, my office 12.1.2, causes my office to crash whenever I try to open a file from the option "open file" from Office menu.
Has anyone succesfully installed 12.2.1 which is the last upgrade following the abovementioned workaround?
I also realized that i have to install 10.2.0 first and then install the other updates!!... Stupid MS!
So... anyone who made it?
regards

 

[radiopierre]

12,2,1 update

Was not able to install latest update , have the typical message error..You cannot install Office 2008 12.2.1 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume.

thanks