MS Word not in default file associations list

I have installed MS Office Professional 2003 on Windows 7. I cannot get Word to associate with .doc files to open files from Windows. Word is not there as an option to choose as a default program in "Open with" or via "Associate a file type...". I can browse to find WINWORD.EXE within Office11, but when I click "Open" nothing happens! I can open Word, and then open .doc files from within Word but not from Windows. Any advice welcome....

Try repairing or reinstalling office 2003.

Thanks Bill2 but I've tried that already!

Thanks - OK - done that - it said it was configuring Office. But still can't choose Word as the default for .doc. Other file types have Word as the default and they work fine. This is so frustrating!

In regedit, navigate to the following key and highlight it:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc

Then look at the values in the right pane, what do they say?

(Default) REG_SZ doc_auto_file
Content Type REG_SZ application/msword

Try this. Backup the following registry key first (right click the key, then click Export):

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc

Then in the right pane, click on the "Default" you mentioned earlier and modify its data to:

Word.Document.8

Close regedit, now check.

Just found further folders and files within the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.doc as follows:

.doc/OpenWithList (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
.doc/OpenWithList/wkswp.exe (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
.doc/PersistentHandler (Default) REG_SZ {98DE59A0-D175-11CD-A7BD-00006B827D94}
.doc/Word.Document.8 (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
.doc/Word.Document.8/ShellNew (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
.doc/Word.Document.8/ShellNew FileName REG_SZ winword8.doc

So, is it the first one - in .doc and not in any subsequent folders - that I change the Default file?

Thanks so much for your help with this.

The first one, exactly the one i asked you to check the value of.