You receive a "Preparing to install" message when you try to start an Office XP program or an Office 2000 program (888637)

SYMPTOMS

When you try to start a Microsoft Office XP program or a Microsoft Office 2000 program, you receive a "Preparing to install" message. Then you receive an error message that is similar to the following, where edition is the version of Microsoft Office that you are running:

The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available.

Insert the 'Microsoft Office edition' disc and click OK.

CAUSE

This issue may occur after you run the WinReg Cleaner feature in WinCleaner by Business Logic Corporation. WinReg Cleaner scans the registry to identify registry entries that are not valid and then produces a report of the registry entries that it will remove. By default, all the registry entries that WinReg Cleaner identifies are selected, or checked, for removal. If you click Remove Checked, all the selected registry entries are removed. If Office is installed on your computer, WinReg Cleaner identifies most Office registry entries as not valid and removes them from the registry.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the Undo feature of WinReg Cleaner to restore the registry entries, or run the Office Setup program to repair the Office installation.

To use the Undo feature of WinReg Cleaner to restore the registry entries, follow these steps:

Start WinCleaner, and then click WinReg Cleaner.
Click UNDO. This returns a report of the items that WinReg Cleaner previously deleted. The report lists the most recently removed items first.
Click to select the check boxes that are next to the Office registry items.
Click Restore Checked to restore the registry entries.

To run the Office Setup program to repair the Office installation, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office edition, and then click Change.
Click Repair Office, and then click Next.
Click Reinstall Office, and then click Install. This reinstalls all missing Office files and registry items.

MORE INFORMATION

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.
For information about how to contact Business Logic Corporation, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z