Two Office 14 Folders

jsquareg · 29 Jun 2011

I just installed Office 2010's Sp1 (32 bit) on my laptop and desktop. In both cases the installation went very smoothly. Now I notice I have to Office 14 folders on each machine. One of them in C:\Program File\Microsoft Office and the other in C:\Program File(X86)\Microsoft Office. The only parts of Office 2010 I have installed are Word, Excel and Outlook. Both machines are 64 bit. I've no idea whether or not there were two folders before I installed SP1.

Why do I have an Office 14 Folder in Program Files as well as in Program Files (X86) and can I delete the one in Program Files?

Thank you very much.

Barman58 · 29 Jun 2011

This is perfectly normal in X64 - the reason is that even the x64 version of office uses some x86 components,

The system is just following the rules and installing native x64 applications in the program files folder and x86 in the program files (x86) folder.

of course if you only have the x86 version installed there could be an issue, I have seen this type of issue with application updates that are hardwired to install in the program files folder, but I would not expect this from Microsoft

jsquareg · 29 Jun 2011

Thank you.

I thought my Office 2010 installation was 32 bit. I downloaded the 32 bit SP1 As I understand your answer, the 32 bit version on Office will use some 64 bit stuff if it is on a 64 bit machine. Is this correct?

Thanks again.

Barman58 · 29 Jun 2011

The x64 will use some x86 components, but I do not think the opposite will apply, it would appear that the update has been applied to the program files folder rather than the (x86) folder in error.

I don't think that this will cause any issues as long as the update is working, I do not have an x64 install to check this at present, but it would be interesting to hear from others if this is normal for this situation

Have asked for confirmation from others

Arc · 29 Jun 2011

Nigel, Office 2007 32 bit is installed in both the Program Files and Program Files(x86) , in my system . But the contents of the folders are different .

Barman58 · 29 Jun 2011

Arc said:

Nigel, Office 2007 32 bit is installed in both the Program Files and Program Files(x86) , in my system . But the contents of the folders are different .

Thanks :)

Looks like this is normal for the install on x64

stormy13 · 29 Jun 2011

Arc said:

Nigel, Office 2007 32 bit is installed in both the Program Files and Program Files(x86) , in my system . But the contents of the folders are different .

And those folders go the opposite way when you install the 64 bit version,

The Office 14 folder contains nothing but a bunch of dll's. Think you will find that it is there for compatibility reasons between 32 bit and 64 bit programs that interact with Office.

Now need someone with 64 bit Windows and 32 bit Office 2010 and see if they have the same as I do only reversed; the Office 14 folder in Program Files, with the main Office folder in Program Files (x86).

Golden · 04 Jul 2011

stormy13 said:

Now need someone with 64 bit Windows and 32 bit Office 2010 and see if they have the same as I do only reversed; the Office 14 folder in Program Files, with the main Office folder in Program Files (x86).

I can confirm that under Windows 7 x64 and MSOffice2010 32bit my folder structure is exactly opposite to what Stormy has shown.