MS Office 2003 won't uninstall

katy2446 · 02-04-2009, 03:37 PM

I am running a Dell Dimension 8300 and have Microsoft Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition installed. The programs are not working correctly so I thought I would uninstall it and reinstall it. I have a legitimate copy of this program with a license key. when I go to add/remove programs and try to either uninstall or repair the program , the window comes up that says preparing to remove.....then I get this window that says:
this patch could not be opened...verify that the patch exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify this is a valid windows installer patch package
What does this mean? Now when i try to open one of the office applications it gives me a window that says: preparing to install.............and after a minute or so I get the same message that is above in italics. I have put the installation disk in but it doesn't install....get same message.

HELP

clare voyant · 02-04-2009, 04:08 PM

it may be worth your while to give the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility" a try, i have found it very useful for similar situations. look here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
good luck !

katy2446 · 02-04-2009, 07:38 PM

well I solved the problem.....I just kept going back further and further with restores and finally hit a point where things were working correctly? as to how they got messed up. not a clue. to make sure things were right I uninstalled and reinstalled successfully. I downloaded the installer cleanup utility and read about it....might prove hand to have in the future.
thanks for the info---considering the problem cleared up....sitting back now and waiting for the next problem LOL

02-04-2009, 03:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
katy2446 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2 OS: windows 98SE	MS Office 2003 won't uninstall I am running a Dell Dimension 8300 and have Microsoft Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition installed. The programs are not working correctly so I thought I would uninstall it and reinstall it. I have a legitimate copy of this program with a license key. when I go to add/remove programs and try to either uninstall or repair the program , the window comes up that says preparing to remove.....then I get this window that says: this patch could not be opened...verify that the patch exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify this is a valid windows installer patch package What does this mean? Now when i try to open one of the office applications it gives me a window that says: preparing to install.............and after a minute or so I get the same message that is above in italics. I have put the installation disk in but it doesn't install....get same message. HELP

02-04-2009, 04:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
clare voyant Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 73 OS: xp pro, sp3	Re: MS Office 2003 won't uninstall it may be worth your while to give the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility" a try, i have found it very useful for similar situations. look here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 good luck !

02-04-2009, 07:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
katy2446 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2 OS: windows 98SE	Re: MS Office 2003 won't uninstall well I solved the problem.....I just kept going back further and further with restores and finally hit a point where things were working correctly? as to how they got messed up. not a clue. to make sure things were right I uninstalled and reinstalled successfully. I downloaded the installer cleanup utility and read about it....might prove hand to have in the future. thanks for the info---considering the problem cleared up....sitting back now and waiting for the next problem LOL