Can only access MS Office help files as an administrator

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  1. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 64 bit
       #1

    Can only access MS Office help files as an administrator


    I successfully installed MS Office 2007 on my system. The problem is that unless I run MS Office programs as an administrator, I don't have access to the help files. When I log in as Administrator, I can view the help files.

    When I changed the compatibility setting in MS Office programs to run them as an administrator, I can view the help files after I log in as a standard user. However, a data file that I select in Windows Explorer won't open in the program. I would first have to open the program, then open the file.

    I tried modifying the Registry so that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e would include "%1" after the "/e". I did the same for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open. That had no effect on the result.

    I also tried changing the ownership of the MS Office program files to myself as a standard user. That didn't work either.

    Is there a way I can modify the file permissions so that I can open an MS Office data file in Windows Explorer and access the help files without having to log in as the Administrator? Again, the problem isn't that I can't access the help files or that they aren't installed; it's that I can only access them as the Administrator.
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  2. Posts : 9,746
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit sp1
       #2

    Have a look through this Seven Forums thread, that deals with much the same as your problem.

    All MS Office Pro features work with Admin but not with admin user

    It seems that it is a security measure to prevent a standard user accessing certain files or being able to change administrator settings in Office.
    Experiment with your administrator settings.
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  3. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Ranger4, you referred to my posting in January, when I had to reinstall several programs due to a hardware-related system crash. It does appear that I had much the same problem with MS Office then as I'm having now. There were a couple of differences then, though, such as the fact that I had access to the MS Office help files as both myself and the Administrator, as long my user type was Administrator. All I want now is to have access to the files as myself, as I had before.

    You suggested experimenting with my Administrator settings. How would I do that?

    You also mentioned that my problem this time is due to a security measure designed to prevent a standard user from being able to change administrator settings in Office. I wasn't aware that there are administrator settings in Office. Were you referring to the Office administrative installation? I read about that installation and found information about trusted settings, but nothing that referred to customizing help file access.
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  4. Posts : 9,746
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit sp1
       #4

    I had not realised that your was the post that I had suggested you look at. Sorry for the error there.

    The only admin setting that you can change are in User Accounts, accessed via Control Panel. When in User Accounts there are settings you can change in Change User Account Control Settings. Mine is set at the Default setting & I use an Administrator Account & I don't have any problems accessing Help files in Office.

    There are no User Account settings in Office that I am aware of.

    Other than what I have suggested to assist, I cannot suggest anything else.
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  5. Posts : 1,839
    Windows 7 pro
       #5

    Open options and then trust center, click on trust center settings button and then go to privacy options. Close both windows. Now click on the help center button. Its the blue button with the exclamation mark. Make sure that in the lower right-hand corner it says connected to office online.
    Last edited by townsbg; 22 Jun 2016 at 21:09.
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  6. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Ranger4 said:
    I had not realised that your was the post that I had suggested you look at. Sorry for the error there.

    The only admin setting that you can change are in User Accounts, accessed via Control Panel. When in User Accounts there are settings you can change in Change User Account Control Settings. Mine is set at the Default setting & I use an Administrator Account & I don't have any problems accessing Help files in Office.

    There are no User Account settings in Office that I am aware of.

    Other than what I have suggested to assist, I cannot suggest anything else.
    Thanks for the suggestion about the default user account control setting. There was no error that you made by referring me to my own posting. It may have been relevant to my current problem. I haven't determined how yet.

    Changing the UAC setting to the default made no difference for me as far as this problem is concerned. I decided to uninstall and reinstall MS Office to install administrator options with the setup / admin switch. However my Office installation disk doesn't have the admin folder so I don't have that capability. After I reinstalled MS Office I discovered that I can no longer access the Help files even as the administrator. The permissions for the Admin account are set to full control for MS Office. I have no idea what could be preventing access to the help files this time. I thought about file damage when installing the program, but Windows reported that the installation was successful. I did notice that an error was reported in my Event Viewer for MsiInstaller: "Microsoft Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies. The application tried to modify a protected Windows registry key \Software\Classes\CLSID\{25336920-03F9-11CF-8FD0-00AA00686F13}\InprocServer32." I also tried running MS Office programs in compatibility mode for Win XP, but that made no difference either.
    I haven't seen information about this specific problem appear anywhere else. If you have any ideas about what I can do to solve this problem, I'd appreciate hearing them.
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  7. Posts : 74
    Windows 7 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    townsbg said:
    Open options and then trust center, click on trust center settings button and then go to privacy options. Close both windows. Now click on the help center button. Its the blue button with the exclamation mark. Make sure that in the lower right-hand corner it says connected to office online.
    Thanks for your suggestion, but I couldn't find the help center button. Perhaps it's not available to me since I'm using Office 2007. Anyway, if you were suggesting that I use Office Online, it wasn't the solution I was looking for since I want to read the help files on my system that were supposedly installed with Office 2007.

    I'm unable even to access the help files as the administrator since I reinstalled MS Office this morning. If you can help with this I'd appreciate your advice.
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  8. Posts : 9,746
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit sp1
       #8

    Is there anything in these websites that might help you. These are only suggestions.

    https://support.office.com/en-us/art...8-85a4e8b36a60

    Detect and Repair Applications In Microsoft Office 2007
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  9. Posts : 9,746
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit sp1
       #9

    A thought has come to mind that it might be worthwhile completely uninstalling Office 2007 again using the methods in the MS website.

    Office can sometimes be very hard to completely uninstall. If you just used the usual Control Panel method from Programs & Features to uninstall it, the problem you are having with the Help files may remain lurking there with the new reinstall.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/928218
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  10. Posts : 1,839
    Windows 7 pro
       #10

    Try installing the help files as per Ranger4's suggestion. I have them installed on office 07 and I have the help program. If that doesn't work follow Ranger4's suggestion to completely remove and reinstall office.
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