Microsoft KB Archive/221354

= You receive a "There was a problem starting the Office Assistant" error message when you run an Office 2000 program =

Article ID: 221354

Article Last Modified on 1/24/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q221354



SYMPTOMS
When you start one of the Office programs, the following error message appears:

There was a problem starting the Office Assistant. Would you like to try reinstalling it?

When you click Yes, the Windows Installer runs and the following error message appears:

The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disc that is not available.

Insert the 'Microsoft Office 2000 Disc 2' disk and click OK.

If you click Cancel in this message, the Office Assistant does not appear. This problem occurs even though you chose to install all of the Office Assistants to run from your computer for Microsoft Office 2000 Premium.



CAUSE
This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:
 * You installed Microsoft Office 2000 Disc 2 after installing Disc 1.
 * The Office Assistant for Disc 2 is set to Run from CD-ROM
 * Disc 2 is not available.



RESOLUTION
To run the Office programs and the Office Assistant without these errors, run the Setup program for Disc 2 and change the install location of the Office Assistant to Run from My Computer instead of Run from CD-ROM. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Close all programs and run Microsoft Office Disc 2 Setup in Maintenance mode.
 * 2) In the Microsoft Office 2000 Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Add or Remove Features.
 * 3) In the Microsoft Office 2000: Update Features dialog box, click the plus sign (+) next to Office Tools to expand the features list. If the sign is already a minus sign (-) the features list is already expanded.
 * 4) Click the symbol next to Office Assistant, and then click Run from My Computer in the list that appears. Click Update Now.



MORE INFORMATION
When you install Disc 2 of Microsoft Office and choose Run from CD for the Office Assistant, the installation location for the Office Assistant will change to point to the CD-ROM. This will occur even though you may have installed the Office Assistant for Run from My Computer on Disc 1. The last installed location for a feature will be the location that is used. To correct this problem, run Setup in Maintenance Mode for Disc 2 and change the install mode for the Office Assistant to Run from My Computer.

Additional query words: OFF2000 XL2000 WD2000 ppt2000 acc2000

Keywords: kbtshoot kbstartprogram kberrmsg kbprb kbsetup KB221354

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