Installing Office XP on New Windows 7 Laptop

Hi,

First post here, so please be gentle!

I've just bought a brand new lap top for my daughter to take to Uni -it's got Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit on it. It came pre-installed with a trial version of Office 2007 but as I have Office XP, I have tried to install that instead.

The first issue was that I was getting a message about permissions being set that would not allow me to install Office XP.. Turned off UAC and that allowed me to install it- the installation went fine and I got the message it was installed correctly.


However, when I click on any of the compenent programs (i.e. word), I get a dialog box appears with 'preparing to install' then 'please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office XP'. This appears to complete but the program doesn't open. I go back to programs>Microsoft Word and it just repeats the process. This happens on all of the component programs.

I'm probably doing something very simple wrong, I know, but if anyone has any pointers that might help, please let me know

Thanks

Try to access in safe mode, see how that goes.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/69585-safe-mode.html

If that does not work, try in safe mode with this administrator
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html?filter[2]=User Accounts

Opps: Oh yeah; you must install using the "Run as Administrator"

Nope, you are not doing anything wrong. This is something I completely HATE about Office XP. MS brilliant idea of having the software install but not install any of the custom settings so that the software would run a mini-install for each user on the machine. What a nightmare especially in a Domain and with 1000 of non-domain laptops. UGH!

Here is what you need to do:

Re-install Office XP, use custom install, select EVERYTHING to run on the hard drive, NOT install on first run. After the install completes, LEAVE the CD in the drive and open every application letting it run the mini-installer for each application. Next install all service packs, you will need the CD in the drive for this to run easily.

If you have several accounts on the machine logon as each account and run every application with the CD in the drive. After you have done that POWER OFF the machine. Power it back on and repeat running every application, you should not see the mini-installer anymore if you do run though it again until it stops popping up. When you have that all working you can put the CD away and Office XP will work.

Good Luck.

Thanks guys..

Did the re-install as suggested (uniinstalling the previous install first). Made sure EVERYTHING was installed to run from computer.

As soon as the installation finished, and without any input from me, the windows installer appeared on screen and went through an endless loop of 'Preparing to install' and 'please wait while Windows Configures Office XP'.. This went on for 45-50 minutes and showed no sign of stopping so I stopped it, re booted and it started automatically again on the re-boot!!!

I've uninstalled it completely for now - I did right click on Word in the start menu and went to properties.. I did notice on the there it said 'will install on first use' ..could it be a problem with the Windows 7 installer not being compatible with this program?

Windows 7 compatibility center
Windows 7 Compatibility for Microsoft Office XP Professional 2002: Drivers, Updates, Downloads

You might try Open office it's free and is compatible with Microsoft office.

http://www.openoffice.org/

thats odd because that link seems to indicate the program is not compatible with Windows 7 yet I've seen a lot of posts from people who have it running.

The lap top does have Microsoft Works but my daughter really needs Power Point for her Uni course work - I was thinking about open Office but don't know how good their powerpoint presentation program is

Their presentation is in my opinion as good as Microsoft. It is free just give it a try and see if it is in your opinion.

Open Office's presentation is on more or less on par with MS Powerpoint 2002 in terms of features, but I find it harder to use, especially if you are used to Office XP. Just to let you know, since she is a student she could get Office 2010 Professional Academic for $80-100, depending on where she gets it. Its exactly the same as the regular Professional version, except that it is intended for use by students, not Professionals (as the name suggest). It is a pretty good idea since some college courses want you to have the newer versions of Office (2007/2010) anyways.

We are in the UK and we do have the student versions available here too, but it just seems such a waste to ditch a perfectly good piece of software, one that she is familiar with and uses regularly.

I'm sure this will work with 7 but I'm not sure if you want to buy another office suite. Good luck. I wish your daughter well at school.
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User License) (PC): Microsoft: Amazon.co.uk: Software
I just looked at this link again and office 2010 is cheaper then 2007.

PS check with the university they may have it cheaper.

Thanks to everyone who's posted on this one. Thinks took a turn earlier today when I tried to install itunes on the laptop and it wouldn't install.. set the bells ringing that my earlier thought of it being an issue with the Windows installer might be true. I did a full factory re-set and lo and behold, Office XP installed perfectly.. as did itunes!!

So thanks all- I''ve passed on the info about the Student Edition maybe being cheaper at Uni... A week today, I lose my baby....but gain a room!!!!!

Hi there
Office XP will install and run perfectly -- install via "run as administrator".

Normally Home users are "already" the administrator so install goes without a problem.

Note that Office XP WILL require activation so if you've already activated it use the telephone activation and sya you've upgraded ONE machine to Office 2007 so you want to move Office XP to another machine.

No probs.

In fact even Office 97 will work fine on W7.

Cheers
jimbo