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Resolved Question

Problem installing Office Starter 2010

Feb 7, 2015 2:44AM PST

Hi

My first post; apologies for length!

My son is studying in Japan and last week the hard drive on his laptop had to be replaced. His old one came with Office Starter 2010 pre-installed; he was very happy with it and therefore one of the first things he did was download Office Starter 2010 (it's available at several reputable sites).

His problem is that it won't install - it always gets stuck at exactly the same place: the very beginning of Step 3 (of 4): "installing prerequisites".

Googling the problem shows that other people have experienced similar problems, but there seems to be no definitive reason/solution.

He's tried installing it in Safe Mode.
He's tried altering the OS compatibility.
He's tried the Microsoft 'Fixit' that we found on a website.
He's done the Fixit manually, but the registry key already had the value data it was meant to have.

We don't know if there are bits of the programme partially installed, which might stop future installation attempts from working.

He could buy an up to date version of Office in Japan, but then the base language will be in Japanese. Not a disaster as he is studying the language, but not ideal.

He is just so frustrated at not being able to install the program he's used to/likes, and I feel frustrated that I can't help him, that I can't find the answer online.

His OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, all up to date. I think that Office Starter 2010 might only be available in 32 bit (?) but even so, it should install on a 64 bit machine, shouldn't it?

Laptop:
Toshiba Satellite C855-18D
Exact laptop, and all its specs:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008CO24DC?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

Thanks for reading.

Louise

N.B.
His Windows 7 is in Japanese - it was all the Kyoto repair shop had. I can't see that this would affect the installation, though? He's installed several other things since the hard drive replacement, and they've all installed okay.

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Lemonskinny has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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I think it's the usual.
Feb 7, 2015 2:54AM PST

We begin with the fact that this version was phased out. http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-begins-phasing-out-starter-edition-of-its-office-suite/ so all bets are off as to installing or activation as Microsoft is working to move off old things to Office 365, etc.

There's that.

It also uses Click To Run and that can be a problem if your OS is one language and the Office is another.

That's no less than 2 hurdles then we have an older OS and machine that could be damaged by malware or over protected by some security suite.

-> Did you try LibreOffice?
Bob

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PS. That machine noted.
Feb 7, 2015 2:56AM PST
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Thanks for help
Feb 7, 2015 8:07AM PST

Hi, and thanks for replying.

Yes, I've learnt along the way that it was phased out by Microsoft, but as it's still available for download on several sites and some people seem to be successfully downloading it and installing it on Windows 7 64 bit machines, we are puzzled as to why it's not installing for my son.

"It also uses Click To Run and that can be a problem if your OS is one language and the Office is another"
- I didn't think the language could affect it, so that's interesting to know.

I honestly don't think malware was a problem on the old drive as I installed Kaspersky on it. He has yet to install Kaspersky on the new hard drive: he wants it on there again, but wanted to make sure it didn't interfere with the Office installation.

Did you try LibreOffice? - Good suggestion, but I've already told him about LibreOffice and OpenOffice (and GoogleDocs and OfficeOnline!) but unfortunately none of them meet his needs re kanji and adding furigana. LibreOffice does have an extension or plug-in for furigana but it is a poor cousin of the Phonetic button in Word.

<i>"Microsoft Office Starter 2010 is pre-installed" so that brings up other
issues such as this may be already installed or have remnants that
cause a new install to fail. Try REVO UNINSTALLER to dust off the old
app.</i>

It was only the old hard drive which came with Office Starter 2010 pre-installed; the new hard drive doesn't have it. But, the failed installation attempts on this new drive may well have left some remnants about, so the Revo Uninstaller might come in very useful for removing those, thanks. Is it easy to use? I'm no tech expert but my son is worse!

I wish he could buy a download of Office 2013 from Amazon.co.uk but he'll run into problems when he tries to activate it, as the codes are geographic-specific. Yes, he could choose telephone activation and speak to a person and explain, but I'm not sure how confident he is yet at speaking re technical stuff to a Japanese person.
And if he buys it from Amazon.co.jp, he'll get a Japanese-based Office.

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Plain Windows 7.
Feb 7, 2015 9:24AM PST

I've lost count of troubles with repair shop installed OSes. There are folk that want a clean install and then troubles follow. For me, I can live with what the maker supplies. Cheaper and so on.
Bob

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Answer
Re: Office 2010 starter
Feb 7, 2015 3:23AM PST

You forgot to tell how Windows 7 was reinstalled on the new hard disk.

But since Bob notes Office Starter was pre-installed I assume it wasn't done by using the Toshiba supplied recovery disks. The easy solution should be to order and use those.

Kees

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Thanks
Feb 7, 2015 8:15AM PST

Hi Kees

I'm in England and he's in Kyoto, but as far as I know, he took it to a computer repair shop where the man swapped the old drive for a new one ( HGST - which is Hitachi, now owned by Western Digital - I asked my son to look in Device manager) and then put Windows 7 Home Premium onto the new drive. Just plain - no bloatware, or extra features. But it's in Japanese. Only in Ultimate and Enterprise can the OS language be changed.

When I bought the laptop from Amazon in October 2012, it was not supplied with a recovery disk. But I believe I could order one from Toshiba, so I'll look into how much they are. Though, thinking about it, I'm not sure if the disks they sell contain the full OS, or if they just contain tools to try and fix the laptop. I'll investigate - thanks for suggestion.

Louise

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Answer
w7 and only in Japanese
Feb 7, 2015 9:48AM PST