OFF97: SR-1 Patch May Not Work Under Microsoft Windows 98

ID: Q184083

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 97 for Windows, Service Release 1 (SR-1)
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
Microsoft Access 97
Microsoft PowerPoint 97 For Windows
Microsoft Outlook 97
Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

When you run the Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 1 (SR-1) Patch, you may receive the following message:


   Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch has completed successfully. Thank you
   for upgrading to the SR-1 Release!

However, when you run any of the Microsoft Office programs listed at the beginning of this article, they do not appear to be updated. For example, the designation "SR-1" (without the quotation marks) does not appear in the About dialog box for each program. Or, problems that are corrected in SR-1 continue to occur.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if you attempt to install an earlier version of the Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch after Microsoft Windows 98 has aligned your Microsoft Office 97 programs. Typically, this will occur when either of the following sets of conditions is true:

You installed the following programs, in the following order:
- Microsoft Windows 95
- Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
- Microsoft Windows 98
When you installed Windows 98, it detected that Microsoft Office 97 was installed on your computer, and it automatically aligned your Microsoft Office 97 programs.

-or-

You installed the following programs, in the following order:
- Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
and the Windows 98 Task Scheduler ran the Winalign or Walign program before you installed the Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch.

Note that the Winalign.exe file is only available if you installed the Windows 98 Resource Kit.

Specifically, the problem occurs because the SR-1 Patch is unable to update files that have been aligned by Microsoft Windows 98. For a detailed explanation about the cause of this problem, please see the "More Information" section later in this article.

WORKAROUND

To correct this problem, download and run the updated Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 patch.

The updated US English SR-1 patch is available from the following address:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1fact.htm

If you are an International English user, download the updated SR-1 patch from the following address:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1international.htm

The updated SR-1 patch is designed to work under all supported operating systems (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 3.51 with Service Pack 5, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2) and works correctly even if your Microsoft Office 97 programs have been aligned by Windows 98.

Once you have downloaded the updated SR-1 patch, run the Sr1off97.exe program by double-clicking it. The patch should correctly update your Microsoft Office 97 files.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

The problem that is described in this article occurs because the Windows 98 Setup program sets options to automatically run certain maintenance programs after Windows 98 Setup is complete.

One of these programs, called Walign.exe, aligns (adjusts) program files, including the program files that are included in Microsoft Office 97, so that they load and run more quickly. Adjusting the program files changes the file size and internal structure; as a result, when you run the earlier Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch, the patch examines the program files and determines that they cannot be updated.

This failure to update the Microsoft Office 97 program files is reflected in the log file that is created by the Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 Patch. To view the contents of this log file, use Microsoft Windows Explorer to go to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder, and then double-click the following text file

97sr1_#.txt

where # is a number (for example, 0, 1, 2, and so on).

If the patch in not able to update some files, entries similar to the following exist in the file:


   Applying MODIFY File Patch for 'Microsoft Office\Office\EXCEL.EXE'
   warning wpt0036:
   Old File not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No
   update done since file contents do not match.
   Completed Patch!

You may also see tables that are similar to the following:


   File Patches Skipped: New Files Up-To-Date.... (   0)
   File Patches Ignored: Old Files Missing....... (   9)
                         Old Files Invalid....... (   2)

Note that the log file indicates that some old files are missing or are invalid; this may be the result of the file realignment.

The updated SR-1 patch, now available from the Microsoft web site, prevents these problems from occurring. Download the updated SR-1 patch from either of the following addresses:

US English:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1howtoget.htm

International English:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/Articles/sr1international.htm

Additional query words: OFF97 XL97 WD97 AC97 PP97 sr1 walign winalign win98 q189150


Keywords          : kbsetup offwinsetup 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: July 28, 1999