WD97: File/Open Causes I/O Error or Folders Appear Incorrectly

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you click Open on the File menu, one of the following may occur:

• When the current folder has subfolders, all subfolders except the last may be displayed as question marks or squares. If you double-click any of the subfolders that appear as question marks or squares, the following error message may appear:




An unexpected error occurred - I/O Error 0

-or-


• You may receive the following error message:




An unexpected error occurred - I/O Error 6

CAUSE

These problems are caused by corruption in the Windows registry.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
To correct this problem, use the following steps:

1. Quit Word 97 and all other open Windows applications.



2. On the Windows Start menu, click Run.



3. In the Open box, type RegEdit, and then click OK.



4. In the Registry Editor, select the following registry key:




HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Word\Settings\Open\File Name MRU

5. On the Edit menu, click Delete.



6. On the Registry menu, click Exit.
   
   NOTE: When you quit the Registry Editor, the changes are saved automatically.



7. Shut down and restart Windows.



8. After you restart Windows, place your Office 97 or Word 97 CD in the CD-ROM drive.



9. On the Start menu, click Run.



10. In the Open box, type the following line, and click OK.




D:\Setup.exe /y

NOTE: D:\ is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive.

Setup starts in Maintenance Mode.


11. Click Reinstall, and allow Setup to complete. Setup does not copy any files to the system. Running Setup with the /y switch only updates the Windows registry settings.

Q161631 WD97: How to Reset Word 97 MRU Lists

Additional query words: I/O error question questionmark questionmarks mark marks fileopen ? directories subdirectories subdirectory filename name square dialog

Keywords          : kbother kbusage kbdta winword word97 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: August 9, 1999