Microsoft KB Archive/883090

= Error message when you open a document file in Windows XP Service Pack 2 =

Article ID: 883090

Article Last Modified on 10/25/2004

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

-



Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry



SYMPTOMS
When you try to open a document file, such as a .doc or .wri file, in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), you may receive the following error message:

Cannot load Word for Windows 6.0 files

A document may open with WordPad and may have extraneous or garbage characters at the beginning and at the end of the file.



CAUSE
Rich Text Format (RTF) converters are disabled in Windows XP SP2.



RESOLUTION
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 enable RTF converters in Windows XP SP2, you must modify the registry. To do this, follow these steps:

 Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER. Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad

 Click Edit, click New, click DWORD Value, type EnableLegacyConverters, and then press ENTER. Right-click EnableLegacyConverters, click Modify, and then change the Value data to 1 . Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.

<div class="status_section">

STATUS
This behavior is by design.

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
The following programs have been reported to be affected by this problem. This list may not include all affected programs.

For information about how to contact your program vendor, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: winxpsp2 xpsp2

Keywords: kbtshoot kbappcompatibility kbprb kbgames KB883090

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.