Office 2008 Installation Woes

[jonnysods]

I can't get MS Office to run!!!!!!!!!!

Loaded it, updated it (took forever).

Then when I try to run any of the programs it takes me to a screen which asks if I want to participate in some customer experience improvement program. Then pops up a window asking if I want to register. If I click continue rather than register or if I click register same thing happens. It asks for my Microsoft live login ID (which I gave it my old ID and then tried signing up for a brand new ID – both resulted in same deal). Then it goes to https://profile.microsoft.com/RegSy...px?wizid=ff78c414-115d-442c-bb7c-afc5d71dc0fe
And I get the screen with a little rotating green dot thing in the middle … and nothing happens. I left if for about 2 hours yesterday – nothing. Today tried my 5th time – for an hour now – nothing still.

Can't get around this and can't get programs to run – if I try to by pass any of this it just leaves me on window asking if I want to update – when I say no it stays there, when I say yes it says I have already updated and stays there.

I hate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there some sort of cahce that I need to clear out or something? I had previously tried to use one of our 3 licenses of Home and Student Edition, but it wouldn't run that time beacuse I accidentally entered an already activated key. We deleted that one, and then I purchased a full copy of MS 2008, now I'm having the the problems that i am describing above.

Please help me!

 

[nadyne]

Have you tried to completely uninstall and reinstall? Look for the Remove Office app in the Office 2008 > Additional Tools folder.

Also, don't forget to repair permissions too.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[FrenchPB]

Don't do the update, that should work.

 

[micromarcie]

I am having the same problem as the OP. As for FrenchPB's advice, it is a little too late to not install the update now.

Nadyne: how do I do "repair permissions"?

If I can avoid an uninstall/reinstall, that would be optimal...but I still do not understand why an "update" would disallow me from using the application in the first place.

 

[nadyne]

Nadyne: how do I do "repair permissions"?

If I can avoid an uninstall/reinstall, that would be optimal...but I still do not understand why an "update" would disallow me from using the application in the first place.

Repair permissions is a function that you'll find in the Disk Utility that comes with your Mac. Open up your hard drive, go to the Applications folder, then Utilities, and finally open up Disk Utility. Then select your hard drive and click the "Verify Disk Permissions" button. If it shows that you have some problems, then click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button. Your disk permissions can sometimes get messed up for what appears to be no apparent reason, so verifying and repairing them if you run into an odd problem is a great first step when you're trying to troubleshoot your Mac. You can learn more about repairing permissions in this article from Apple support.

An update shouldn't cause Office to fail. The vast majority of cases that I'm aware of are caused by the user doing something to their Office installation, such as moving the folder, deleting something from the folder after installing it (instead of running Remove Office to remove unwanted stuff), or running an application such as Xslimmer or Monolingual. There are also cases where a previously-working instance of Office will stop working if your product key isn't valid, so make sure that you're using a legal product key. All of these can break your Office installation.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[jonnysods]

Hey, it worked! Thank you so much!!!

 

[jonnysods]

I haven't installed any updates yet though, kinda scared to do that now!

 

[nadyne]

I haven't installed any updates yet though, kinda scared to do that now!

Install the first update, then reboot your machine. We have a known issue where, in a few instances, we don't get the post-update clean-up right, which will only impact you if you install several updates at once (which you would need to do if you have the disc of Office 2008 and then want to get up to the latest version: first install the 12.1 update, then 12.1.2, and finally 12.1.3).

You shouldn't need to do that, since this problem only happens occasionally (and we're trying to stamp out the last cases where this happens), but it's the safest way to install your updates.

Regards,
Nadyne.