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View Full Version : HELP please ! MS Word - won't run, despite reinstall (XP permissions problem ?)


driver8
11-02-2006, 15:24
Hoping some knowledgable forumite will have seen this before and will be able to help ! :) I've searched MS, and googled, and tried various things, all to no avail.

MS Word was working fine, and all of a sudden it stopped. We cannot relate this to a particular incident or install or anything (as we don't use Word every day). Now, clicking on the icon gives an OK box :
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

Trying to open a DOC via the Office front end gives :
"The program associated with The selected template cannot be started, or The program cannot use The selected template"

This is on a Dell 8600 laptop, 2 years old, XPSP2 (all updates) with Office11 (2003) sp2 (fully updated). There's only 1 user on the machine (and of course it has full admin rights).

As a result of googling, I've tried the following fixes; all seem to have worked OK but have not fixed the problem !
- deleted NORMAL.DOT
- running WINWORD.EXE from file explorer
- disabling all AV (avast) & firewall (kerio)
- running uptodate adaware/spybot/a-squared (& semantic's fixkorgo for worms)
- ran the Office repair option
- completely uninstalled Office, then reinstalled
- completely uninstalled Office, Works and anything else MS reated (except OS !), THEN ran 3 different regcleaners (accepting all fixes) THEN reinstalled Office (I really thought I had it this time ... !)

now, for any techies, these may be more relevant - fixes which HAVEN'T worked !
- running : winword /r OR winword /unregserver --> both these return a Access is denied message (what does this mean ? what does this do ??)
- someone had a similar problem in Excel, but I need to start the app to run (Tools menu, Options, General tab, click to clear the Ignore other applications check box)
- someone on here suggested elsewhere to run an XP check
sfc /scannow
this runs for a while before asking for the XP disc, once loaded runs for a while longer, then says it can't find various SP2 files (so I cancelled out).

** STOP PRESS ** just tried rebooting into SAFE MODE and low and behold - Word works correctly ! So what does this mean - is it permissions ? Should I risk creating a new admin account and deleting the old one ? (never done this before - don't want to be locked out !!)

I don't supose some kind soul can make sense of all of this could they please ?? Any suggestions welcome - this is driving me MAD !

Thanks for reading :)

Violator
11-02-2006, 17:03
Have you tried :

a) resetting permissions on the Microsoft Office folder?

b) removing the office key under the user sid? i.e. hkey _users/software/microsoft/office

driver8
12-02-2006, 11:30
Hi Violator - thanks for the reply.

Don't know anything about permissions, so googling gives me this - http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20751912.html
with refs to this - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308418&sd=tech#appliesto
one problem would appear to be that folder-right_click-Properties doesn't give me a SECURITY tab. The MS link troubleshoots this by (1) are you on NTFS ? [Yes I am, looking at disc config] and (2) disable simplified sharing (with a link to):
To disable simple file sharing, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
3. In the Advanced Settings section, clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box.

problem is, I don't have that option ! seems to be at the bottom, but not on mine (http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/image1.gif)
Is this 'cos I'm on XP-Home rather than XP-Pro ? (default Dell install, + all updates)

so, onto editing the registry ... never done this manually before, and never imagined I ever would !
so ... regedit ... export a backup file 1st ... searching now for the entry you've given ... arse - "finished ... " without finding anything :(

found something similar - \HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Office - unsure about deleting (!) but I've edited perms from here - full control to users ... will give this a go after reboot ...

driver8
12-02-2006, 11:40
(hey - no EDIT button for my previous post ?)

anyway, this didn't work (wishful thinking I suppose, when all of Office does work, except Word ...)

:(

mattwakeman
12-02-2006, 12:19
Probably not that helpful but if all else fails then you could check out http://www.openoffice.org/ which is a virtual Word clone and can open and use word docs.

Violator
12-02-2006, 12:20
(hey - no EDIT button for my previous post ?)

anyway, this didn't work (wishful thinking I suppose, when all of Office does work, except Word ...)

:(

To enable Security if you're on XP Home, boot into safe-mode, then right-click on the folder required.

Chris Locke
12-02-2006, 12:23
You said it didn't work, but what happens if you run winword.exe from the program files\Microsoft Office folder using Windows Explorer? From the first error (cannot access specified device) it sounds like the shortcut is invalid, eg, it was installed on an E: drive which no longer exists.

driver8
14-02-2006, 15:33
I'm still working on this - and thanks for replies :)

Chris - yes, I seached my system for WINWORD.EXE and clicked on it directly (as well as from the start button).As a result of googling, I've tried the following fixes ... running WINWORD.EXE from file explorer ...Violator - thanks ! I rebooted into safe mode and sure enough the SECURITY tab was there. I rightclicked on the OFFICE11 folder (where the app is installed automatically) and set FULL CONTROL to all the user groups listed. I then rebooted just in case and tried again ... but still the same problem!

I'm away now till the weekend; will have another play then. At least I now know how to set securities (how come this doesn't jump out at you on google ??) and have got something to work with (at least till I've allowed everyone full control of my whole system !!)

driver8
26-03-2006, 12:25
well ... I'm still struggling with this ! :nuts:

I've rebooted into safe mode (Word works fine in safe mode) and searched for all instances of WINWORD (finds the EXE plus some templates).

opened each 'containing' folder and reset access to the whole folder for everyone to do everything. Rebooted into XP and getting the same error :""Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

the only other thing I've found by googling was a possible clash with Webroot's Spysweeper which I *did* have installed - it wasn't running, but I've uninstalled it anyway. Still no joy.

Anyone suggest anything else, please ? :(