Microsoft KB Archive/112587

= Setup Error Message "Cannot Change Properties of " =

Article ID: 112587

Article Last Modified on 1/18/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 4.0a
 * Microsoft Project 98 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Project 4.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Project 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 6.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 6.0a

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This article was previously published under Q112587



SYMPTOMS
When you use a network administrative setup (setup /a) to install one of the Microsoft applications listed above on a network drive, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Cannot change the properties of SETUP.INI

-or-

Cannot change the properties of the file named _MSSETUP.EXE

-or-

Cannot change attributes of SETUP.INI



CAUSE
You receive one of these error messages if either of the following is true:
 * The Setup program is unable to change the attributes of the file to READ-ONLY (possibly because you don't have the appropriate write privileges to do this). -or-


 * The Setup program is able to change the attributes of the file to READ-ONLY, but the network returns the message that the change was not successful.

This error message has been received on Novell networks, as well as on other networks, such as PCNFS and LanManX.



WORKAROUND
If you receive this error message, do the following to correct the problem:

Delete the Original SETUP.INI from Your Drive
If you receive the error message above, restart the workstation and rerun the Setup program. If Setup, continues to fail, it may be because the original SETUP.INI file is still present as a Read-Only file. To resolve this problem, delete the original SETUP.INI file from your hard disk. Remember that Office MUST be installed to an empty directory.

Modify NET.CFG or SHELL.CFG Files (Novell Only)
 Locate the file SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG on the workstation from which you are running the administrative setup of Office 4.0. If this file does not exist, create it using a text editor and place it in the same directory as NETX.COM.  Open the SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG file in a text editor. In the DOSREQUESTER section, change the line that reads

READ ONLY COMPATIBILITY=ON

-to-

READ ONLY COMPATIBILITY=OFF

If this line does not exist, create it. The entry must be indented (default 3 spaces) or it will be seen as an invalid section heading and not be used.

Example:      NETWARE DOS REQUESTER READ ONLY COMPATIBILITY=OFF NOTE from Novell: DOS Requester version 1.20 fixes this.      Read Only Compatibility = Off | On  (default Off) This is not a new parameter, but the default has been changed with release 1.20 of the DOS Requester. In the last major release of the Requester this parameter defaulted to On. However, this default setting caused problems with a number of applications, so the parameter is now set to Off by default.  If the workstation is using the NetWare VLM shell version 1.1, (Netware 3.11), continue with the steps in the following section "VLM version 1.1". If you are not running VLM version 1.1, continue with steps 4-6 below.

NOTE: In many cases, the procedure described in the section "VLM Version 1.1" will not be required. This process is time consuming. Continue with steps 4 through 6 below and perform the VLM procedure only if the problem persists. Log off of the network, restart the workstation and connect to the server again. Log on to the network, start Windows, and run setup /a from the Microsoft Office integrated Setup to install the application. The MSOFFICE directory must be empty for successful installation to occur.</li> When the application is installed, change the option in the SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG file back to =ON in case there are applications on the system that require this setting.</li></ol>

VLM Version 1.1
If you are using VLM version 1.1, you can obtain this updated version of the VLM shell. Novell has made these files available on CompuServe in the NOVFILES forum and on FTP.NOVELL.COM. VLMUP2.EXE (a self-extracting file) contains all the updated VLMs (Pre-release v1.20), the updated ODI drivers (LSL.COM and IPXODI.COM), the updated MLIDs, and other associated files. To find the version of VLM that you are using, type the following at the MS-DOS prompt:

VLM /d

If this command presents too much information at one time, type the following:

VLM /d | more

NOTE: The pipe symbol (|) and the word "more" direct the command to display information one screen at a time

VLM Version 1.1
If you are running VLM version 1.1, use the following steps to resolve this problem. (Note that these steps should be taken AFTER you complete the first two steps in the "Modify NET.CFG or SHELL.CFG Files" section above):
 * 1) Remove the VLM shell and use the NETX shell to complete the administrative setup. If you cannot use NETX, you can install the VLM shell version 1.0. However, because reinstalling VLM version 1.0 is very time consuming, using NETX is the preferred method.
 * 2) Log off of the network and restart the workstation.
 * 3) Log on to the network, start Windows, and run setup /a from the Microsoft Office integrated setup to install the application. The MSOFFICE directory must be empty for successful installation to occur.
 * 4) When the application is installed, change the option in the SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG file back to =ON in case there are applications on the system that require this setting. You can then use the VLM shell version 1.1 again without experiencing any problems.

Note that VLM is the latest version of the shell from Novell, replacing NETX. The VLM shell ships with Netware versions 3.12, 4.00, 4.01, 4.02 and Personal Netware. However, this shell can be used on any version of Netware.

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
READ ONLY COMPATIBILITY is an option used by the Novell workstation redirector, NETX.COM. This option determines whether or not an attempt to open a read-only file for write access fails. Prior to Novell NetWare version 2.1x, a program could open a read-only file for write access without generating an error message. With NetWare version 2.1 and later versions, write access is not granted when opening a read-only file. With the READ ONLY COMPATIBILITY option in the SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG file set to ON, the workstation redirector allows write access to a read-only file without generating an error message.

The products included here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

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Keywords: KB112587

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