Office: Directory Is "Invalid, Incomplete, or Write-Protected"

ID: Q121943

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.2, 4.2c, 4.3
Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft Office, you may receive the following error message

The specified directory: <directory name> is invalid, incomplete or
write protected.

This problem occurs when you specify a network directory as the installation destination directory. This behavior has been reported with the following networks:

DEC Pathworks 5.0 client and 4.2 server
DEC Pathworks versions 4.1, 5.0
Execustar version 3.5.12
IBM Lan Server version 3.1
LanMAN version 2.1a for UNIX
LanMAN version 2.2a on Unix
LanMAN version 2.1c
Lantastic version 6.0
PowerLan version 3.0

CAUSE

When a network destination directory is specified during the Microsoft Office setup, the Setup program will attempt to create a path that is four- levels deep with each directory name having a full eight characters and a three-character extension. It will then try to write a file at the end of this path. The following is a sample of the path that Office Setup would attempt to create if you specified with H:\MSOFFICE as the destination

H:\MSOFFICE\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\XXXXXXXX.XXX\FILENAME.123

If the Setup program cannot successfully perform this test, the error message, "The specified directory: <directory name> is invalid, incomplete or write protected" is returned. This can easily be tested by manually trying to create this four-level directory structure.

This is a design limitation of the network software.

WORKAROUND

To avoid this error, try either of the following:

Use a Shorter Directory Path

Try installing Microsoft Office to a shorter directory name. You can use this workaround with any installation type.

-or-
Map the Directory to a Higher Level

If the drive is mapped to the root level of a network drive, try mapping at a higher level. For more information about mapping drives on your network, see your network documentation.


Keywords          : 
Version           : 4.00 4.20 4.20c 4.30 7.00
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: June 2, 1999