On Friday Dec 11 2009, Office 2003 started displaying following error message when trying to open files which are protected using Rights Management System(RMS)

"Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator"

Microsoft have released patches to resolve this issue. You can get the hotfix from following locations

Office 2003 Client

Description of the Office 2003 documents protected with AD RMS/RMS Hotfix package: December 11, 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=978551 

Word Viewer

Description of the Word Viewer documents protected with AD RMS/RMS Hotfix package: December 11, 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=978558

Excel Viewer

Description of the Excel Viewer documents protected with AD RMS/RMS Hotfix package: December 11, 2009

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=978557

Problem: - When attempting to open a Word document, users are getting one of following error

1)      Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc

2)      Cannot load Word for Windows 6.0 files

Cause: - This issue may be started happening after you applied following security update. You may be trying to open a file has the ".doc" file name extension, but the content is a plain text file or another kind of file that is not a Microsoft Word binary file.

Check follow KB for detail and updated information.

973904 MS09-073: Description of the security update for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003: December 8, 2009

Resolution: - The registry fix for this issue is already provided in the KB 973904. Following solution is the updated solution which is provided by Microsoft Word Team. You can use the following steps for the resolution.

Update:- Fix-IT solution for this registry changes is released. Check KB973904

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.

To resolve this issue, an affected user can unregister the mswrd632 converter by editing the registry as follows:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools

   \Text Converters\Import\MSWord6.wpc

   3. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
   4. Click Yes.
   5. Exit Registry Editor.

This change will effectively unregister the converter and disable it for third-party applications and for Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office will use its own text converters to open these kinds of files.

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In case you want to re-enable the converter, you can add an AllowConversion registry entry with a DWORD value of 1. After you set this registry key value to 1, third-party applications can load the Word 6.0/95 for Windows and Macintosh to RTF converter. Please be aware that setting this registry key removes the protection that was added by this security update. Therefore, it should be done only when you trust the source of the files that are loaded by this converter. You can also disable this converter by setting the registry key value to 0. 

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey. Or, create it if it is not present.
   
   For 32-bit versions of Windows

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows

   \CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad

   3. For Microsoft Windows on Windows 64 (WOW) mode

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\microsoft

   \Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad

   4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   5. Type AllowConversion for the name of the DWORD, and then press ENTER.
   6. Right-click AllowConversion, and then click Modify.
   7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
   8. Exit Registry Editor.