Office suite no longer working

[jtfirelm]

I have home office 2007 for vista, when i try to open the word or any of the other office program it pops up with box windows installer. After this runs it pops up with "This update package could not be opened." I tried putting the disc back in to do a repair install but the disc is not reading. I am at a lost about what to do so any advice would be good.
thanks
jack

 

[Lorien]

When you say the disk is not reading, do you mean nothing at all happens AND that you can't even see the disk in Windows Explorer to select the repair program if it isn't starting automatically or that it gives you an error message (and if so, what exactly word-for-word)? And if you do try find the repair program in Windows Explorer, what happens when you double-click the icon? Absolutely nothing or does the CD drive at least spin up and then do nothing or do you get some type of error message (again, what word-for-word)?

I'm assuming this is a retail version of the product and not a trial version that has simply expired (if so, you just need to purchase the retail product and install it to replace the trial). Has it ever worked on the system or have you just now installed it for the first time? Was there a prior version of Office installed before you installed this one and if so was this an upgrade or a clean new installation (and if a clean new installation, was the prior version COMPLETELY removed before you installed the new one)?

Compliments of Vinay - G Microsoft Support:

First, try the following steps:-
1. Click on start ->run (or Start / All Programs / Accessories / Run).
2. Type in services.msc and click ok.
3. Search for windows installer and right click and change the status to automatic and click on start.

Now try opening Word. If you still get the windows installer prompt then unregister and reregister windows installer.

1. Go to Run agan as above.
2. Type msiexec.exe /unregister (note the space) and click on ok.
3. Type msiexec.exe /regserver (note the space) and click on ok.
4. You will not see anything on the screen as it is a background process.

Now try to open the office application and you should be able to open it without the windows installer prompt.

If that doesn't work, try to fully uninstall the current product using the following: How do I uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if I cannot uninstall it from Control Panel? instead of the uninstall button. If fully uninstalled, it should allow you to re-install from the disk (the problem with the disk is most likely that it detects a current installation and so is not functioning). If that doesn't work, try: How to manually uninstall the 2007 Office system if you cannot uninstall it by using the "Add or Remove Programs" feature which is a bit longer and more manual, but should thoroughly remove the prior installation and allow you to re-install the product from the disk.

I hope this helps. If not, there may be an issue with Windows Installer - but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

Good luck!

 

[jtfirelm]

Thanks for your help. The disc is read by the driver and shows up in my computer but when i double click on the icon it thinks for a bit and then does not show up with anything. There is no error message This is a retail copy and has been working on my machine before. This is the first lot of office on this machine.
I tried both of your solutions first one nothing changed and the same message came up before "This update package could not be opened. Verify that the update package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid windows Installer update package". The next solution does stop the installer coming up but the error message still pops up.
I would like to leave the whole uninstall thing to the last as I am not sure if I need a new product code and such.
I just remembered that updates were not being installed before this and I went to the Microsoft website on a solution. It said that some registry entries were missing and they needed to be replaced. So I did that. Could this be the cause of the problem if so how do I fix it?
Thanks
Jack