Sunday 30 October 2011

How to fix 'Microsoft Office 2010 encountered an error during setup'


How to fix 'Microsoft Office 2010 encountered an error during setup'
(If you happen to be having the same problem that I did)


Having trouble installing Microsoft Office 2010 on Windows XP SP3? Try my solution below.


It took me a very long time to find a solution to this problem, particularly given the lack of any error messages at all. Just the one saying there was a problem, but not what the stupid problem was! Thanks Microsoft, real helpful.


I checked my installation error logs, and found that installation started giving errors after saying "FILESINUSE: One or more (windowless) processes are holding files in use." But no information about which process(es) it was.



Anyway, after much internet and soul searching, I discovered this solution, by someone called MetaHazar.


In a domain environment, I had set the "Windows Management Instrumentation" service to start automatically in the Default Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, System Services, Windows Management Instrumentation. I had originally set this computer policy to ensure that WMI was running on all computers in the domain so that I could conduct a hardware/software inventory. What I'm discovering is setting this policy breaks many application installations including MS Office. By disabling this policy and opening a command prompt on the affected machine, typing 'gpupdate /force' and rebooting the PC, logging in as a domain administrator I can now install Office Pro Plus 2010 without error. SO, if you are in a domain environment, my suggestion is to review your GPO's for the WMI service setting and disable, even temporarily.



Here is my step by step version of what he said, for n00bs
1. Click Start, then Run...


2. Type 'services.msc' (without the inverted commas)


3. Find a service called 'Windows Management Instrumentation'


4. Right click on it and select 'Stop'


5. Right click on it again and select 'Properties'


6. On the 'General' tab, change 'Startup type' to 'Manual'


7. Click Start, then Run... again


8. Type 'cmd'


9. At the command prompt, type 'gpupdate /force'


10. Restart your computer and login as administrator



If you completed this without getting any errors, you hopefully also shouldn't get any when installing Office 2010. Good luck!

2 comments:

  1. I struggled for ages to find a solution to this, but this Microsoft Fixit did the job immediately:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/mats/program_install_and_uninstall

    ReplyDelete
  2. You may have a real time support regarding Windows and Google products in 800supportnumber.com

    ReplyDelete