Aaron Rykhus - News and info on Office client apps

2007 Chart crash update

Aaron Rykhus — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:33:00 GMT

In a previous post an issue where PowerPoint hangs while working with charts was discussed. A fix for this issue was originally planned for release as part of the August Cumulative Update. There were problems with the first fix.

There's an updated hotfix, the KB article is:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975021

To get the hotfix click on View and request hotfix downloads at top of that KB article, accept terms, fill out form and submit.

2007 Chart Crashes or Hangs after Office 2007 SP2 or Feb/April CU Applied

Aaron Rykhus — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:17:00 GMT

An issue has recently been discovered in PowerPoint 2007 where the application will hang while working with a 2007 chart object (not the legacy MS Graph chart). The PowerPoint product team is aware of this issue and a fix is planned for the August timeframe. Please be advised this date can change based on a number of factors.

The hang occurs as a result of the following behaviors after installing Service Pack 2:

1. Clicking very fast multiple times in a chart object

2. Using the arrow keys on the keyboard to quickly navigate through the object

3. Quickly copying and pasting entire charts or chart elements

The error signature for this hang may include references to OfficeLifeBoatHang as the Event Type.

There's an updated hotfix, the KB article is:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975021

To get the hotfix click on View and request hotfix downloads at top of that KB article, accept terms, fill out form and submit.

New KB to fix Office Live Add-in pop-up repeats

Aaron Rykhus — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:38:00 GMT

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969144

This has a "Fix It" link that automates the manual registry editing part in the last post.

'Get Started with Office Live' (add-in) window keeps popping up after first startup of Word/Excel/PowerPoint (2007)

Aaron Rykhus — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:31:00 GMT

Before you read below, this is fixed in version 1.4 of the add-in:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=36bac9da-1ee4-40df-b06c-a327269f2b63&displaylang=en

There's also a knowledge base article for this issue http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969144 that contains a link to an automated fix. Click on the "Fix it" icon in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969144 for the automated fix.

There was a new update 'Office Live Add-in' that we started offering through Microsoft Update recently for Office 2007. We've discovered that if you're not the user on the machine that installed it (e.g. install add-in, another user logs on), have 'Do not show me this message again' checked, click close, then close the application, you still get the popup each time you start Word, Excel, or PowerPoint in Office 2007. No other applications use that add-in so you shouldn't see the problem in other add-ins. I've only confirmed this myself on Windows Vista but in theory this would affect any OS version that has Office 2007 installed with the Office Live Add-in. I have since reported this to the Office Live team.

The add-in can be installed either via Microsoft Update under the Optional Updates section (meaning you have to opt-in, not checked by default), or by downloading from the Microsoft Download Center in the Office Live Update 1.3 package.

Symptom:

You have Office 2007 installed and start Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. You get the message below “Get Started With Office Live”, you have the checkbox “Do not show me this message again” checked and click the Close button. However, each time you start Word, Excel, or PowerPoint after checking that box the message still pops up.

Screenshot of popup

Keeps popping up every time you launch either Word, Excel, or PowerPoint (2007) even though you check ‘Do not show me this message again’

MESSAGE TEXT

[Title] Office Live Workspace

[Body]
Get Started With Office Live

Thanks for installing Office live add-in via Microsoft Update. You can now get started using Office Live Workspace.

This Office Live Workspace lets you:

-Access and view documents from almost any computer with a Web browser
-Open and save online documents directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

[checkbox] Do not show me this message again [buttons] Continue | Close

Cause:

The add-in was installed under another user account and the OfficeLive registry subkey necessary for that checkbox entry to be logged in the registry is not created for other users. You need to manually create the OfficeLive subkey under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft for any user on that computer that wants to suppress that add-in by checking the box. After the OfficeLive subkey is created the appropriate registry entry FirstRunDontShow will be created once Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are started and if the checkbox is selected it will no longer show on subsequent launches of those applications.

The issue can be resolved by adding a base registry key named OfficeLive under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft subkey, once that key has been created the next time you start Word it should create two new DWORD entries (FirstRunCredsDeleted and FirstRunDontShow), both set to 1.

Solution:

Install Office Live Update 1.4

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=36bac9da-1ee4-40df-b06c-a327269f2b63&displaylang=en

Registry FIX

Steps:

WARNING : If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Logged in as the user that has the problem, click on Start, clcik Run, type regedit, click OK.

2. On the left pane expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Software, select Microsoft.

3. From the Edit menu point to New and select Key.

4. Type OfficeLive and press the Enter key.

5. Close Registry Editor.

6. Start Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you'll get the prompt, make sure 'Do not show me this message again' is checked, click Continue.

7. Close the application (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), the registry DWORD values should be created under OfficeLive for that user.

MORE INFO:

Microsoft Update - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100803331033.aspx

Office Live - http://www.officelive.com

Windows Registry for Advanced Users - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986

We now have a KB (961223) for the "No Disk" error in Word/PowerPoint

Aaron Rykhus — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:03:00 GMT

If you're getting this error: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:."

*In this case drive D is the CD-ROM drive and PowerPoint is the application you're starting.

See this knowledge base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961223

Finding useful crash data and Windows Error Reporting (WER)

Aaron Rykhus — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Also check out http://blogs.msdn.com/wer/pages/faq.aspx#weronpc

Application Log

Whenever an application crashes (faulting application) you should get the message <application name> stopped working. Once that occurs the crash details get logged in the Application Log as an Error event. If the report is sent to Microsoft the Application Log will also have an Information event that contains a Bucket ID.

On Windows Vista, you can open Event Viewer by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Event Viewer.? If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Expand Windows Logs and select Application to select the Application log:

Look on the right, a crash in an Office application should be an Error under the Level column, Application Error under the Source column, and 1000 under the Event ID column.

Crash

Example: crash from Outlook

Fault Bucket (bucket ID)

If the report was sent to us (Microsoft) there should be an Information event with Windows Error Reporting under the Source column and event ID 1001, with all the data gathered in the details.

On support calls, the piece of data that's most important to me is the Fault bucket that's reported. I'll usually refer to it as the bucket ID.

Problem Reports and Solutions (new in Vista)

A new feature in Windows Vista is Problem Reports and Solutions in the Control Panel under the System and Maintenance category (if you don't have Classic View turned on). This will contain all the crash and hang events that occurred on a computer along with settings to configure reporting to Microsoft.

To open Problem Reports and Solution in Windows Vista (not in previous versions of Windows:

1. Open Problem Reports and Solutions by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Problem Reports and Solutions.

2. In the left pane, click View problem history.

3. To view problems by product, date, problem type, or solution status, click the column name.

Bucket ID is the same as the Fault bucket in the application log event. I prefer using Problem Reports and Solutions versus Application Log to get crash details.

More info:

Where it's stored:

http://blogs.msdn.com/wer/pages/faq.aspx#weronpc

See problem reports for this computer

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/74274b33-52ea-40a4-bed5-9444c2a178a31033.mspx

Windows Error Reporting and the Problem Reports and Solutions Feature in Windows Vista

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709644.aspx

Choose the information to send when a problem occurs

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/15d43eb3-45fd-4248-8bd5-2ed92ee298961033.mspx

Open Event Viewer (Windows Vista)

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/a99f69c1-935f-4116-ba5f-33d8800ef9da1033.mspx

How to create a user-mode process dump file in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931673

How to use ADPlus to troubleshoot "hangs" and "crashes"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286350

Shared Office Components and Office Tools in Visio

Aaron Rykhus — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:47:00 GMT

Here's how to get a list of all the shared Office features that Visio 2007 uses, and be able to enable or disable the feature.

1. Open Programs and Features from the Control Panel.

Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features

2. Select Microsoft Office Visio <Standard/Professional> 2007

3. Click 'Change' at the top

4. Make sure 'Add or Remove Features' is enabled:

and click Continue

5. You'll see two nodes (items)

6. Expand each item for a list of features

Activating Visio

Aaron Rykhus — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:17:00 GMT

Many people may not realize that since Visio version 2002 the activation (and setup) is the same as any other Office suite or standalone application. In support we hear a lot of activation and licensing questions on Visio, and some don't realize that Visio is part of the Office family, hence you get the same Office Shared Features (Clip Art, Spell Check, etc...) and Office Tools (Picture Manager, etc...) . However, Visio is not "bundled" in any suite, it's a "standalone" application with the Office branding.

Understanding this similar functionality makes things easy(ier) when troubleshooting Visio activation. The same basics in troubleshooting Office activation apply. The three things I always ask when troubleshooting Office/Visio activation:

1. Ensure Windows Date/Time are correct.

2. Check to see if you have the trial or the full product (should say in Add/Remove Programs), trials can only be activated once.

3. Delete the licensing file (it's a hidden file under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Microsoft\OFFICE\DATA in Windows XP. In Vista the Documents and Settings folder is now called Users at the root of C, or whatever the system drive is). The filename varies from version to version.

Office/Visio 2007 - opa12.dat
Office/Visio 2003 - opa11 dat
Office XP/Visio 2002 - data.dat

More info.

KB 919895: How to troubleshoot problems that you may experience when you try to activate a 2007 Office product

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919895

Microsoft Product Activation

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/mpa.aspx

Activation and registration of a Microsoft Product

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326851

"No Disk" message launching PowerPoint 2003 or 2007

Aaron Rykhus — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:34:00 GMT

UPDATE - we've got a knowledge base article with more information on this issue, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961223

Symptom

Start PowerPoint 2007 and get error message:

---------------------------------------

POWERPNT.EXE - No Disk

There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:.

Cancel | Try Again | Continue

---------------------------------------

*In this case drive D is the CD-ROM drive.

Environment:

.NET Framework 3.0 and higher (shipped with Windows Vista, separate download with Windows XP)

Cause

Narrowed down to be the Microsoft XPS Writer printer object set as the default printer when PowerPoint is launched.

WORKAROUND - Make sure PowerPoint is closed and change the default printer to something else. For example, if you have OneNote installed you can change to the Send To OneNote printer.

Help file with steps on setting setting default printer - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101028871033.aspx

Resolution

Uninstall/Re-install the Microsoft XPS Document Writer printer in the Printers folder in Windows:

1) Control panel
2) Click on Printers in Classic View
3) On menu bar clicked on "Add a Printer"
4) On the dialog box that pops up - click on "Add a local printer"
5) Selected "Use an existing port:" and selected "XPS port: (local port)" from
the drop down menu -- clicked next
6) In the dialog box that pops up select "Microsoft" under Manufacturer and
"Microsoft XPS Document Writer" under printers
7) Click next and on next page select Replace the current driver
8) Click next and finish

More Information

About Microsoft XPS Document Writer - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa964988(VS.85).aspx

UPDATE - we've got a knowledge base article with more information on this issue, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961223

Welcome!

Aaron Rykhus — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:18:06 GMT

I'm a support engineer for Microsoft in the Office realm supporting PowerPoint, Publisher, and Visio. In the coming months I will be posting content on this site but in the interim it will be kind or bare.

Goals of this blog:

Common/Known issues
Tips and tricks
News, links and references
Screenshots/demos
Howto's

Non-Goals of this blog:

This blog does NOT provide support. If you need help with a problem involving a Microsoft product please call 800-MICROSOFT or go online to http://support.microsoft.com/oas and choose the application you are having a problem with and submit a support request online. That way there's a guarantee a support professional will help you on your issue.

If you do not require assisted support you can checkout the self-help options on http://support.microsoft.com.

Don't forget about Online Help in each Office application, just press the F1 key.

There is NO guaranteed responses to posts on this blog so please see the first non-goals bullet point and contact support if you need help.

I welcome any feedback and suggestions. If you have an idea for a topic I'd love to hear it.