I think I have acquired a registry problem on my PC (running XP Home SP2), following some ‘tidying up’ I did a couple of days ago. When I try to open MS Excel I get the Windows Installer screen. On prompting I insert the installation disc (MS Office 2000 SR-1 Premium) but keep getting the message ‘Error 1606. Could not access network location %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\.’ I have tried the remedy suggested on MS support website but this has not made any difference. Also my System Restore is now inoperative. How can I solve these 2 problems?
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The first one does'nt appear to apply (I've not upgraded from an earlier version of Windows). The second one I have already looked at. There were a couple of values that were wrong in Start Menu and Startup and I corrected them (though just by left clicking on the relevant Name and changing the value in the Edit String appelet,and not deleting first etc.)
And this:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWAR
4. In the right pane of Registry Editor, double-click Common Administrative Tools.
5. In the Value data box , type the following line, and then click OK:
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrati
6. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
7. Restart the computer.
Since my previous message I have since managed to add this key although in the RH pane its "Type" is shown as REG_SZ and not REG_EXPAND_SZ as for the other keys. Is this important, and if so how do I change it? As things stand at the moment the problem hasn't been cured - I still get the error message.
d3xt3r: by "application" do you mean MS Office (as opposed to reinstalling Windows which clearly I would only want to do as a last resort). Would reinstalling Office help with the 'no system restore' problem? I have also now detected a further problem - when I click on 'Start' then 'All Programs' nothing happens i.e I don't get the list of programs come up on the screen. your response would be much appreciated. Please note I am now increasing the points value for this problem to 500.
grandsire02,
Reinstalling excel will not help your system restore function in any way. Only help with excel error.
It sounds like your system files have gone a little haywaire.
If your system restore has failed then repairing the system files will overcome that.
You will not lose your data, only repair the existing windows installation.
surely,
You will need your xp home disk.
Place it in the computer and reboot. Choose to install windows.
It will then detect windows already on your system and ask if you want to press 'R' or do a complete re-install. Choose to press 'R' and repair.
You may need the serial number that came with the xp home cd aswell.
This will repair all the windows system files and leave your documents and created files untouched.
d3xt3r:
I have rebooted computer from the XP Installation disk and pressed 'R'. I eventually get the following:
1: C:\WINDOWS Which windows installation would you like to log onto (to cancel press ENTER)?
How do I answer this question?
Will it ask any other questions?
(Please note that my disk that I am rebooting from is the basic XP Home Edition installation disk. I also have a second disk for SP 1. SP 2 was downloaded from the MS website but I don't have a separate copy, though none of this may be relevant!)
Grandsire02
Looks like your trying to log onto the recovery console. Choose to 'install' and then on the second screen once it has detected an operating system choose to repair that one. If you get it wrong it will warn you that you are about to install another copy and advise against it.
You will need to re-apply your SP1 pack and re-download or get a hold of SP2. If you email microsoft they will send a disk for free.
During the repair it may ask some more questions, have the operating systems install serial handy.
I'm afraid things went from bad to worse. I did in fact run the repair rather than the recovery console but after that the computer was virtually inoperable (no Internet connection and several other problems), so I had to take my machine to a PC service station to get it sorted out as I was clearly out of my depth. Windows had to be reloaded and I've only just got up and running again - hence the delay in responding.
I'm not sure what happens to the points allocation now?
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by: jvuzPosted on 2005-10-10 at 05:49:50ID: 15051797
Are you trying to isntall Office with admin rights?