BUG: You receive a "This installation package could not be opened" error message when you run Office 2000 Setup (294975)

The information in this article applies to:

the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
Microsoft Office 2000 Professoinal
Microsoft Office 2000 Standard
Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business
Microsoft Office 2000 Developer
Microsoft Access 2000
Microsoft Excel 2000
Microsoft FrontPage 2000
Microsoft Outlook 2000
Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
Microsoft Word 2000

This article was previously published under Q294975

For a Microsoft Office XP version of this article, see 294978.

SYMPTOMS

When you run Setup, you may receive the following error message:

This installation package could not be opened. Verify that the package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify this is a valid Windows Installer package.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if the name of the network share from which you are running Setup is longer than 12 characters (13 characters or more). For example, you receive the error message if the path to Office Setup is as follows:

\\server\long_share_name\Off2000\CD1\Setup.exe

In the preceding path, the long_share_name is more than 12 characters.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, rename the network share from which you are running Setup. For example, if the path to Office Setup is as follows

\\server\long_share_name\Off2000\CD1\Setup.exe

rename the network share to "share_name". This makes the new path to Office Setup the following:

\\server\share_name\Off2000\CD1\Setup.exe

Because "share_name" is fewer than 12 characters, you will not receive the error message when you run Setup for Office.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	10/13/2006
Keywords:	kbbug kberrmsg kbpending KB294975