Solved Can no longer open Office docs directly

[briana]

My computer will no longer let me open any Microsoft document (Word, Excel, or Powerpoint) by clicking on the document directly. I have Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 (aka Office 15). In order for me to access any doc, I have to open the application itself (e.g., via the start menu pin) and then search for the document I want.

When I do try to double-click on a document directly, the following happens. A Windows Installer window pops up and prepares to install something. Several minutes later, I get an error message that says, "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed."

I assume I have two problems. One, the separate issue of a faulty windows installer, along with the issue of not being able to click on a document to open it. I'm hoping there is a relatively easy fix to the latter because doing a total uninstall/reinstall of Office isn't at all appealing.

 

[strollin]

If you go into Programs & Features like you're trying to uninstall MS Office, you should find a button labeled "Repair" or "Modify". I would first attempt to repair the current installation of MS Office.

You might also try opening an Administartive command prompt and enter the command: sfc /scannow which will scan and repair your system files.

 

[briana]

Thanks for the suggestions; I hadn't thought of the first one. Under Programs and Features, the only options for Microsoft Office are uninstall or change. So I clicked on change, though nothing seemed to happen.

I had tried to do the sfc / scannow, but it only got through ~20% of the verification stage before aborting and saying the scan could not be completed.

 

[Ranger4]

You will need to get the scan fully completed, before attempting to get Office running properly.

Open Programs & Features, scroll down to Microsoft Office, Right Click on it & select Change, that should open a couple of Repair Options you can run.

Is Office fully up to date?. If not update it.

As far as I know Office Professional Plus is a multi user version that is used by schools & businesses, so it would be advisable to check that you are still covered by the Office license holder.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Perhaps your files are not correctly associated with MS Office.

Here's how to fix this problem in Word (Excel and other programs will be fixed in the same way):
* Rather than double clicking on a document, right-click on it and choose Open With.
* Select "Choose Another App".
* Browse to where the executable for Word is (WINWORD.EXE), and then tell it to always use that program with this type of document.
* For Word, you'll need to do these steps for both a .DOC and a .DOCX file, in order to make sure that both types of documents open with Word.

 

[strollin]

From Briana's description, I don't think it has to do with the file extension associations.
briana - Can you give more info regarding what the installer is attempting to install? It might help us troubleshoot the issue.

 

[briana]

Okay, so I freed up some disk space and was able to run the scf scan to completion. It said it had found and repaired some issues. But alas, it didn't fix the Office problem. I also ran an MSI troubleshooter that found and fixed some broken issues, but also didn't fix the issue.

I have no idea what Word/Excel is trying to install when I double click on a document, but I still get an error message. The error message from yesterday was, "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed." Since I ran the scans today, the error message I now receive when trying to open a document says, "Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid."

Then I checked to see if Office had been updated as suggested above. It turns out MS Office hadn't been updated since December 2015! It had been set to automatically install updates, so I never noticed that it had stopped. (The Office software was validly/legally purchased by me, and it has only been installed on one device, my current laptop.) Attempts to update Office were unsuccessful; I don't know how to get two years' worth of updates at once.

I suspect I may have to uninstall Office and reinstall, but I'm nervous. I have the Product Key, and I have a backup of my laptop on a flash drive of which Office is a part. But I don't know how to install it from the flash drive.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Try my suggestion of File Asssociations that I posted above (#5). If that fixes things, you're done. If not, you've lost only a minute of your time.

 

[briana]

Try my suggestion of File Asssociations that I posted above (#5). If that fixes things, you're done. If not, you've lost only a minute of your time.

Oh yes, that was one of the first things I checked after googling the issue. If only that had been the issue! Thanks for checking.

 

[Ranger4]

I

suspect I may have to uninstall Office and reinstall, but I'm nervous. I have the Product Key, and I have a backup of my laptop on a flash drive of which Office is a part. But I don't know how to install it from the flash drive.

If you want to reinstall Office you will have to use the original installation DVD. Firstly you will have to uninstall the existing Office installation, which you can do from Programs & Features. Make sure you reboot the computer after the uninstall & before reinstalling. Your existing Office documents & files should still work with the re installation.

Having a back up of your laptop on a flash drive will need some software to be able to boot the laptop for it to be installed.

Most people, including myself on this Forum use Macrium Reflect to create images of their computer operating systems. Backing up your computer is probably one of the most important things you need to do. If you wish to check out Macrium Reflect this website should help.There is a free version as well.

Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

 

[briana]

My laptop doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. I downloaded the relevant Office files from Microsoft back in 2013. I believe I saved those files, as I remember being advised to do so, but I don't know how to distinguish them from the program files.

 

[Ranger4]

Office Pro Plus 2013 requires an enterprise license, which is what I mentioned above. Were you working for an enterprise such as a school, or attending one & you were able to get a copy of Office Pro Plus using their enterprise license. It would still have come with an activation code.

If you have no further association with the provider of your Office installation then it's possible your Office installation is invalid. That could explain the updating failure & it not working properly now.

It's also likely that if you do manage to reinstall Office it will fail to activate if you no longer have any association with original enterprise.

 

[strollin]

I think you have good cause to be nervous about uninstalling and re-installing Office. Have you attempted to contact MS?

I think Ranger4 is on to something. The transform files that the installer is complaining about not being able to find the path to are Office custom install files used by organizations to customize an Office installation. Maybe those transform files were on a network drive that you no longer have access to.

 

[briana]

I got the software through the Student Store when I was in grad school. I graduated & left town 3 years ago, so I haven't had access to whatever I might've had access to in quite a while. But I can see how it could be related.

I think I'll set a restore point and attempt an uninstall/reinstall in the next day or so, whenever I'm feeling lucky. If it doesn't work, I'll just go back to the restore point. (I know Office had been working normally a month ago, but unfortunately I'd gotten rid of all previously set restore points in an attempt to free up disk space. I suspect I might've been overzealous in my attempts to satisfy the "low disk space" warnings.)

I posted on Microsoft's forums about my issues, but without much response.

 

[Ranger4]

I got the software through the Student Store when I was in grad school. I graduated & left town 3 years ago, so I haven't had access to whatever I might've had access to in quite a while. But I can see how it could be related.

Right that explains everything. The version of Office Pro Plus that you have was licensed under the grad school that you were enrolled in. This is a fairly usual way this is done & it provides you with a free copy of Office while you are at the school using their Enterprise Licence which Microsoft make available to such schools specifically for this purpose. However, once you leave the school your usage of the software becomes illegal.

This is why your Office Pro Plus has ceased to work properly & if you uninstall & reinstall it it will very likely not activate.

If you wish to continue using Microsoft Office you will have to either purchase Office 2016 or subscribe to Office 365 which is a subscription version with a monthly or annual fee. All your existing Office spreadsheets, documents & database files should work with the later version of Office.

 

[strollin]

If you can't get your Office installed and activated again you will have the choice then of purchasing MS Office as Ranger4 explained but you could also try one of the free office suites such as Libre Office or Open Office. They are both open source and can read/write MS Office files.

 

[briana]

Right that explains everything. The version of Office Pro Plus that you have was licensed under the grad school that you were enrolled in. This is a fairly usual way this is done & it provides you with a free copy of Office while you are at the school using their Enterprise Licence which Microsoft make available to such schools specifically for this purpose. However, once you leave the school your usage of the software becomes illegal.

This is why your Office Pro Plus has ceased to work properly & if you uninstall & reinstall it it will very likely not activate.

If you wish to continue using Microsoft Office you will have to either purchase Office 2016 or subscribe to Office 365 which is a subscription version with a monthly or annual fee. All your existing Office spreadsheets, documents & database files should work with the later version of Office.

It wasn't free, though, only discounted.

 

[Ranger4]

You could try phoning Microsoft & ask them about your situation & see what they have to say.

 

[briana]

Just to update the thread, I went ahead and uninstalled Office. It wouldn't uninstall from Programs & Features, so I had to get the Fix from Microsoft to uninstall it. I thought for sure this process was doomed at this point. Luckily I was able to find the thumb drive where I saved the original downloaded Office files back in 2013. So after the uninstallation, I inserted the thumb drive and copied the file folder for Office 2013 Pro Plus. The reinstallation was a breeze. It took maybe 5 minutes and eventually asked me for my Product Key, which I had. And now everything seems to be working just fine. All the icons were restored, and all documents open normally.
Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[strollin]

Great news! Thanks for letting us know you got it working again.