microsoft word issues

I spent 2 hours on the phone today with Dell support, then another 4 with Microsoft.  Yes, really.  I started at 8:30am, and wasn't off the phone until after 2pm.

 

About 4 hours into it, I was the one who noticed that the "Event Viewer" (Administrative tools->Event Viewer) started registering messages under "Application" which looked like:

 

"Source: SideBySide"

"Activation context generation failed for "C:\Windows\WindowsShell.Manifest".Error in manifest or policy file "C:\Windows\WindowsShell.Manifest" on line 0. Invalid XML Syntax".

 

These messages starting occurring the same day the problem started (word dies while saving a document).  Further, each time I would start word, attempt a save and crash, another one of these error messages would be logged.

 

Finally, cause and effect!

 

However, neither Microsoft Office Support nor Microsoft Vista Support could explain what this file was, why it was there, or how to fix it.  In fact, I don't think they knew anything other than "winword /a" and "reinstall Vista".

 

(I did try the register/unregister trick that was suggested above, but it didn't fix the problem either).

 

So it sounds like it is something to do with "Activation" and piracy control, but exactly how or what remains a mystery.  And, of course, these are all legal copies, pre-installed by Dell, on this lap-top which isn't even a month old.  And nothing quite explains why these SideBySide error messages started appearing on 10/25/2007 at 8:47PM, except that there was a reboot near that time.

 

I should add that this is my Daughter's computer.  She runs as a restricted user w/o admin rights or even an admin account password (i.e., my account).  So, in theory, there's nothing she could have done to wedge Vista so badly, right?  (McAfee scan, spyware check, etc. was 100% clean both before and after all this).

 

Here's the point you've been waiting for: what finally fixed it was a "system restore" to the last check-point before the first error message given above.

 

It took a little to recover from the system restore (McAfee got corrupted somehow, needed to be reinstalled), but things appear to be working again.

 

I will keep my fingers crossed.

 

If anyone can add some technical color to what's really going on here, that would be great.

Ok, I found the error files in the Event Viewer, however it doesnt look like they are in the same form as the ones you encountered PeskyEye. It seems like the problems started 9/7/2007 at 11:37:35 AM. That sounds about right, becuase that was right around when I had to write my first paper of this school year, and I got the computer during the summer. Now I would like to do a system restore, but for some reason, even after clicking "show results older than 5 days", I can only go back as far as 10/16/2007, which will help me in no way. So does anyone know how to make it go back further, or any other ideas on this problem?

Can you post what error message you are seeing in the Event Viewer?

 

I assume these are "Error" message types.

 

You should also verify that a new error message of this type appears whenever you make word crash, which provides a little more understanding that the error is correlated to word crashing.

 

I think windows automatically deletes old restore points, so you may not be able to use "System Restore" to go back far enough in time to fix the problem.

 

But all hope is not lost, perhaps there is a direct work-around once we can understand what the error is.

Alright, here is the error message in Event Viewer -

 

 Log Name:      OSession
Source:        Microsoft Office 12 Sessions
Date:          10/31/2007 1:47:30 PM
Event ID:      7001
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Chris-PC
Description:
ID: 0, Application Name: Microsoft Office Word, Application Version: 12.0.4518.1014, Microsoft Office Version: 12.0.4518.1014. This session lasted 25 seconds with 0 seconds of active time.  This session ended with a crash.
Event Xml:
http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
 
   
    7001
    2
    0
    0x80000000000000
   
    85
    OSession
    Chris-PC
   
 
 
    0
    Microsoft Office Word
    12.0.4518.1014
    12.0.4518.1014
    25
    0
 

 

 

That is the detailed report of it, the general report is the part in the middle after "ID:" .  And yes, they are certainly correlated. Every time that I try and save something, I get the error and it shuts down, then it shows up right afterwards in the Event Viewer.

If I may jump in...

 

Try the following:

 

 

Restart your PC and see if the problem is solved.

Have you tried the following?

 

* Clean remove Office 2007
=================

1. Quit all running programs.
2. Download and install the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility.
 
Click << here >> to download (Choose Run to install)

 

3. After you have installed the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, click
Start>All Programs>Windows Install Clean Up.

4. Highlight Microsoft Office 2007 entry in the list and then click
Remove. Click OK and wait for the process to end. If any other stand alone
Office applications (such as Visio and Project) appear on the list, please
also remove them. Then, click Exit to close the Windows Installer Cleanup
utility.

5. Remove 2007 Office Windows Installer files and registry entries, using RegEdit. This
includes: (If you need help with this, let me know)
a. Remove the installation files, and stop the 2007 Office services
b. Remove the 2007 Office registry subkeys
c. Remove the 2007 Office installation files and folders
6. Restart Windows and reinstall Office 2007.

Allan,

Don't think the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility is a good idea in this case. If you look at the contents of the "Readme.txt" file near the bottom of the article, it says specifically:

 

" *** NOTE: The Windows Installer Clean Up Utility should not be used to remove the 2007 Microsoft Office System"

My instructions come from the Microsoft Partner's technical support site.

 

To quote a post on the site from a user who had a very similar problem =

 

I used the Installer Cleanup Utility and removed some Office 2007 programs that were not shown in the normal add/remove programs menu, then reinstalled Office 2007 and it worked perfectly

Well that's good to know. I've used this utility several times on various systems and it does work as advertised. Wonder why MS includes this warning in the article?

Hey, when I try and run that Windows Cleanup Utility I keep getting a "Windows Script Host" error and the install automatically shuts down. In the error it also says something about how the permission was denied, amongst other things that I do not understand. I'm starting to wonder if there is some kind of virus on this thing.

Have you tried creating a new Administrator rights user profile and seeing if the problem with Word does not occur?

Alright, I got some great news. This problem does not occur in the Guest profile or acount. I think this is a good thing anyway. I tryed to create a new administrator account, but for some reason my ccomputer did not want to let me (whenever I tryed to click on the "Create new user account" my computer did absolutely nothing). So is there some type of command I can put in to get directly to that create account page, or does just knowing that it does not happen in the Guest profile help enough?

OK, now we know it's related to the account. That is probably why you cannot create another account through control panel.

 

Try going << here >> and downloading the free tool to tweak the User Account Control.

 

If that does not work, you may have to log in in Safe Mode. (I'm not sure if you can create accounts in Safe Mode)

Hey, I installed that UAC thing and I cannot get it to make a difference on anything. It still wont let me click on the "Create a New User Account". Also I dont know how to get into safe mode and if/when I get into safe mode, what am I supposed to do from there?