Getting Office to play nice

[drfsupercenter]

OK, so this is seriously stumping me.

I like Microsoft Office 2000... in my opinion it's the best one, and all the newer ones just add more bloat and less useful features.

But I know professors at the university require the students to use Office 2007... probably beause they're being paid off by Microsoft, or they like the Ribbon, or something.

Well either way, I'm trying to figure out how to have Office 2000 and Office 2007 side-by-side so that I could use both (not necessarily at once), but I want the ability to use both.

Well here's what's stumping me... I can install 2000 first, then tell 2007 to keep my older version, but if I open 2007 first, then 2000 pops up that "configure" menu like it needs to repair itself. And then if I open 2007 after 2000, it says it's installing features... and that process goes on and on and on after I open the other version. Same with PowerPoint, Excel, etc.

Has anybody figured out a way to *successfully* install both Office versions so they stop conflicting with each other? I know the university's public computers have both 2003 and 2007, and those seem to play nice... so why is 2000 any different? I know I could use Windows XP Mode, but that just makes it take longer to startup and eats my resources more than the super-bloated 2007 suite... so I'm kinda against doing it.

 

[Antman]

Information about using 2007 Office suites and programs on a computer that is running another version of Office

If you intend to use MS Access in both vers, there is a font that you need to delete also. I will lookup which one. brb

HATTEN.TTF

 

[Antman]

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you use Virtual XP to install MS Office 2000.

 

[drfsupercenter]

Hmm.

It's still not working. The problem is definitely this:

If you have two versions of Microsoft Word installed on the same computer, you experience a delay when you start Word 2007. This behavior occurs because Word 2007 auto-registers itself on the computer.

You can bypass the auto-registration. This enables Word 2007 to start faster. However, we do not recommend this because Word may not function correctly if it cannot auto-register itself.

However, I tried the registry fix and it still wants to auto-register itself, thus it's doing the same setup repair crap every time I start it after using Word 2000.

Any ideas why Microsoft's guide isn't working? I would use Windows XP mode, but I just don't think it's necessary - I've seen it working before... and so far it looks like it works fine, the only one that doesn't work is Word. (as far as I can tell, anyway)

 

[Antman]

The MS guide isn't working for you because no two computers are identical.

I use components from three different versions of Office - not because I want to, but because my support work requires it. I might have 100+ hours time on task just to make it work. And, it is subject to failure with updates - even if those updates do not seem to affect Office.

Then I discoverd VMs.

As short term option for you is - don't use Word 2k.

 

[Corpsecrank]

Another problem that can occur with multiple versions of office are related to licensing.

I had an instance where we took office 2003 out of a machine and then 2007 would not accept the license even though it was valid because there were bits and pieces of 2003 still in the registry.

So watch out for that because it is a real pain to correct it once it happens.

On a side note. Schools always move to the latest versions of software. This is why they require 2007. If they don't keep current and maintain some kind of uniform structure it creates chaos. You end up with a lot of problems from multiple version of software floating around. You get people who can't open files other people saved and when there is an issue it just becomes harder to trouble shoot it. So they usually require the latest versions of whatever software is being used.

 

[drfsupercenter]

Well yes, I could install the Compatibility Pack of Office...

Still, I wouldn't mind Office 2007 as much if it didn't save DOCX by default. That new format is stupid, I have never *ever* seen any Word document that wouldn't save in the old DOC. So you keep getting this n00b students (and even teachers) who save everything in DOCX even though it's just notes or something... Sigh.
If you like the Ribbon, fine. But why's everyone using DOCX? That just makes my life harder.

</rant>

So anyway, is it possible to stop Word 2007 from auto-registering itself? I know the university has both 2003 and 2007, and I don't think I've ever seen that problem... so what did THEY do? (Or is 2003 just different than 2000 about registering)

 

[Antman]

VirtualXP or any other VM is your safest, most reliable, trouble free method of doing this. You WILL have many problems maintaining your desired setup. I do this for a living and wrestle with it at times. The university has a geek squad to assist them, you have forums with their inherent delays and (mis)guidance.

 

[drfsupercenter]

Heh, I know the university has people, all I'm saying is they managed to make it work... why can't I?

The virtual PC thing just takes a lot longer than normally opening it because of the fact that it's using Virtual PC.

Is it possible to use VMWare to do XP Mode, instead of Microsoft's program?

 

[Antman]

I am not saying that you cannot make it work. You can. But, there is a high degree of probability that you will "have to make it work" time and time again. Maybe, maybe not. If you were a customer of mine, I would decline to support that option as a more reliable zero-cost option is available.

VirtualBox and VMware are solid alternatives to VirtualXP. You will need an XP license for those options. VirtualXP has "built-in" license for free. Your concern of a VM taking longer is valid, if limited in practical application. Waiting two minutes once a day is a worthy trade-off compared to possibly waiting several days in worst-case situation.

Please note that this thread is not getting the attention of experienced personnel willing to support the proposed configuration. I am not saying they are not out there, but it is an unnecessary headache.

 

[drfsupercenter]

Hmm... could I take the serial that my Virtual PC uses and stick that in VMWare? It should work, right? As I don't have a *spare* XP key...

I suppose I could email the tech services at my university and ask if they had to do anything special to make two versions of Word co-exist... there's really no reason they wouldn't tell me how they did it.

Or is Word 2003 easier to use alongside 2007 than 2000?

 

[drfsupercenter]

Ah, well, I got it.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5121/wordf.png

That registry thing from the very beginning actually worked perfectly. The problem was I typed it "NoReg" instead of "NoReReg", so it obviously didn't work. Now both versions of Office run perfectly side-by-side without using a VM!