Solved "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Hi Lorien

I just joined the Forum in hopes I can find some solution to my "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010. I saw your earlier posts and tried to no avail. Lots of time ahead this weekend hoping to find a fix - perhaps I should be redirected to a different forum?
Thanks,

Peter in Michigan

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Hello, and welcome to the Vista Forums!

Please have a read through this older thread by me. http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/283887-side-side-configuration.html

Try Lorien's advice, then mine, for the first two answers. If that does not solve the issue, keep going with my advice, and post an SFC log (sfcdetails.txt), and the sxstrace.txt.

Also, could you give us just a few more details. I assume that the error message is "The side for side configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix the issue" Can you please confirm that, and that it occurs for Microsoft Office only, as far as you are aware.

Thanks!

Richard

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Niemiro - thanks for your reply. As far as I can tell, the problem is only occuring in Office applications. I was aware of your earlier posts, and Loriens, and tried them to no avail. A friend directed me to them. I will attempt to post the log you suggested, though with the holiday here not sure if that will be soon. I'm leery to go to restore - should I be?

Here is an earlier post from today:

Can't open any Office 2010 applications - get the message: "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail."
A smarter than I tech friend pointed me to posts in this forum - and I followed advice to install updates to VC++ and Net Frameworks, with no success. Did a scan disk and was told corrupt files found could not be fixed - with details found at C:\windows\loop\CBS\CBS.log - don't know how to get there or what to do once I do.
I also uninstalled and reinstalled Office to no avail. I have done a check disk and defrag as well. I have not done a system restore, but started down that road, but reconsidered since it seemed more drastic than I might need. I have a tendency to screw things up, of course, so I'm holding back, and am starting to think about moving to Mac - to avoid hassles like these.

Vista Home Premium 64 bit

Thanks for any input and Happy Holidays to all.

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Asking about a mac on this forum is not going to get you an unbiased conclusion, because we are all die hard Windows fans, and would never switch away. In terms of a factory restore, it would solve the problem. We probably can solve it, but it could take quite a while. Microsoft Office is quite a crucial application. If you don't want to be without Office for any longer, then perhaps a factory restore is the right solution, as this is not going to be an easy fix.

Other than that, our friend was right. VC++ Runtimes is the commonest fix. Otherwise, we need to look at the logs.

STEP ONE:

Right, please run steps 1, 2A, 3 (about 15 minutes), 4, 5, and then Step 1 from the top yellow box, but only follow this last one if Integrity Violations were found. Please upload the new sfcdetails.txt from your Desktop. System Files - SFC Command

STEP TWO:

This step will be more helpful, but is more complex.

1: Get three different programs which all generate this error message lined up ready to run.

2: Open an elevated Command Prompt. Elevated Command Prompt

3: Type sxstrace trace -logfile:sxstrace.etl into the Command Prompt window, and press enter ONCE! Set it continue to log!

4: Start the first program. Let it generate the error message, and OK out of the error message. Once the program has closed, start the next program. Once this one has closed, start the last one. Make sure that all three generate an error. I need you to make absolutely sure that you do not run programs that work while logging!

5: Go back to the Command Prompt and press enter again to end the logging.

6: Type sxstrace parse -logfile:sxstrace.etl -outfile:%userprofile%\Desktop\sxstrace.txt and press enter.

Upload the file sxstrace.txt from your Desktop.

Please make sure to include both sfcdetails.txt, and sxstrace.txt in your next post.

Thanks!

Richard

Click to expand...

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Thanks - will attempt this

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

It worked! The VC++ downloads did the trick! Thanks so much for the guidance. At first, when prompted during install it asked if I wanted to: repair, or uninstall. I chose repair, thinking that's what I was trying to do. That was wrong. When I chose uninstall, it did do that, but then installed the update - that's where it was a bit confusing.

Thanks all for your help. Any idea what causes such a "side by side configuration" error?

re: "side by side configuration" problem in Office 2010

Excellent! Well done! Really excellent work! Do you know what the Side by Side configuration actually is? If you would like a full explanation, ask, and I shall write it tomorrow (I am perfectly willing to copy and paste a few of my old replies together for you tmz if you are interested) .dlls are shared code (generally) Some are more shared than others, and most applications on the computer use certain same .dlls. However, they all use different versions of the same name .dll. All of these differnt version are stored in special folders in C:\Windows\WinSxS. THe program gets re-directed to the exact version it wants, and all is well.

These special most program wide .dlls are the Visual C++ Runtimes. If any one of these different version .dlls gets corrupted, you get your error. It is quite difficult to find and fix that particular corruption, finding exactly the correct version of the file. But uninstalling and reinstalling the run times removes and re-adds the files, removing the corruption, and fixing the error.

If this is too brief, do ask!

Well done again!