OFF2000: Setup Stops at Initial "Preparing to Install" Dialog Box (272952)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

WARNING:This information is preliminary and has not been confirmed or tested by Microsoft. Use only with discretion.

SYMPTOMS

When you install Office 2000, Setup stops responding (hangs) on the following dialog box:

Preparing to install Microsoft Office 2000 edition

where edition is the edition of Office 2000 that you are installing.

When you create a verbose Setup log file by typing something similar to D:\Setup.exe /L*V! C:\Verbose.txt in the Run dialog box, you see text similar to the following at the end of the log file:

MSI (c) (5D:4D): Doing action: OPCDetect
Action start 7:42:29: OPCDetect.
MSI (c) (5D:4D): Creating MSIHANDLE (6) of type 790542 for thread -990131

CAUSE

This behavior may occur when one or more values of the following registry key are incorrect:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\mso97.dll\Clients

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To resolve this problem, rename the Clients registry key and then re-run Office Setup. To rename the Clients key, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type Regedit and then click OK.
Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\mso97.dll\Clients
Click the Clients key to select it.
Click Rename on the Edit menu.
Type ClientsOLD for the name, and press ENTER.
On the Registry menu, click Exit.
Restart the computer.

You should now be able to successfully install Office 2000.