You are unexpectedly prompted to restart the computer after you install an Office service pack or an Office update (905726)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Students and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
  • Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project Server 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003
  • Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2002
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
  • Microsoft Project Professional 2002
  • Microsoft Project Standard 2002
  • Microsoft Project Server 2002
  • Microsoft Publisher 2002
  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional
  • Microsoft Visio 2002 Standard
  • Microsoft Word 2002
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium
  • Microsoft Office 2000 Professional
  • 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 Project 2000
  • Microsoft Publisher 2000
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visio 2000 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Word 2000

SYMPTOMS

After you install a Microsoft Office service pack or an Office update, you are unexpectedly prompted to restart the computer.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the service pack or the update must modify a file that is currently being used. The file may be used by a program that is running when you install the service pack or the update. Sometimes, the program that is using the file is not an Office program.

This issue may occur if any one or more of the following conditions are true:
  • A device that synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook is docked with the client computer. Additionally, ActiveSync is running.
  • An Office program is running.
  • Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 is running.
Note This list is not comprehensive. There may be other programs that are installed that may cause this issue to occur.

RESOLUTION

Before you install the service pack or the update, quit any program or service that is running that may interfere with the installation of the service pack or the update.

The following methods provide information about how to quit some of the most common programs and services that may cause this issue to occur. Use the following methods depending on your situation.

How to quit ActiveSync

To quit ActiveSync, end the Wcescomm.exe process. To end the Wcescomm.exe process, see the "How to end a process for a program that is running in the background" section.

Note A user or device that is connected to the service will be disconnected when you end the process.

How to quit an Office program

To quit an Office program, click Exit on the File menu. If the Office program is not visible on the screen, press ALT+TAB to switch to the Office program. Alternatively, click the taskbar button of the Office program.

Note A process of an Office program may continue to run in the background if a problem causes the program to close abnormally. If you suspect that a process of an Office program is running in the background, end the process. To do this, see the "How to end a process for a program that is running in the background" section.

How to quit Communicator 2005

To quit Communicator 2005, sign out of Communicator, close the program, and then exit the program. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. On the Connect menu, click Sign Out.
  2. On the Connect menu, click Close.

    Note When you close Communicator 2005, the program minimizes to the notification area.
  3. Right-click the Communicator 2005 icon in the notification area, and then click Exit.

How to end a process for a program that is running in the background

Important Ending a process can cause unwanted results. This includes system instability and a loss of data. When you end a process, it is not given the chance to save its state or other data before the process is ended.

To end a process of a program that is running in the background, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use Task Manager

To use Task Manager to end a process, follow these steps:
  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL.
  2. On the Processes tab, click process_filename, and then click End Process.

    Note In this method, process_filename represents the file name of the process that you want to end.

Method 2: Use the Taskkill command

To use the Taskkill command to end a process, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  2. At the command prompt, type taskkill /im process_filename and then press ENTER.

    Notes
    • In this method, process_filename represents the file name of the process that you want to end.
    • For more information about the Taskkill command, type taskkill /? at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
  3. At the command prompt, type exit to close the Command Prompt window.

How to prevent the computer from unexpectedly restarting when you deploy an Office service pack or an Office update

If you are an administrator who is deploying an Office service pack or an Office update, you can use a script to quit programs or services that may interfere with the installation of the service pack or the update.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

To use a script to quit programs or services, create a script that is similar to the following script. 
; TechNet Sample 2005
; http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/sept04/hey0927.mspx
; For more information about how to use scripts to manage processes, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
; http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/guide/sas_prc_overview.mspx

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject _
    ("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = 'Communicator.exe'")
For Each objProcess in colProcessList
    objProcess.Terminate()
Next

MORE INFORMATION

Frequently, the installation of an Office service pack or an Office update does not require you to restart the computer. However, there are scenarios in which you must restart the computer.

If you must restart the computer after you install an Office service pack or an Office update, the restart information will be included in the documentation that accompanies the Office service pack or the Office update. If you install an Office service pack or an Office update that requires you to restart the computer, the issue that is described in this article does not apply.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/21/2005
Keywords:kbsetup kbtshoot kbprb KB905726 kbAudEndUser kbAudITPRO
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