WD97: Err Msg: "This document cannot be registered"

ID: Q198374

The information in this article applies to:
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Microsoft Word document, one of the following error messages appears:

This document cannot be registered.

-or-

This document cannot be registered. It will not be possible to create links from this document to other documents.


CAUSE

This problem may occur for one or more of the following reasons:

Case 1

The Windows registry has been corrupted.

Case 2

The Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) files have been damaged or incorrectly updated and are incompatible.


RESOLUTION

Do the following steps as appropriate for your situation.

To Correct the Windows Registry

Use one or more of the following methods to resolve this problem:

Method 1: Run Setup with the /y Switch to Correct the Registry

Setup /y is a switch used by Office Setup and Office program Setup files. It allows a reinstallation of Office without performing file checks or actually reinstalling the files. Setup /y re-registers all Office components and returns the settings to their default values in the registry.

To resolve this problem, try running Setup /y for Word or Office to repair registry corruption.

To run Setup with the /y switch, follow these steps:
  1. Insert the Word or Office CD into the CD drive. If you installed Word or Office from floppy disks, insert the Setup Disk 1 in your computer's floppy disk drive.


  2. Click Start and then click Run.


  3. In the Open box, type the following
    <drive>:\setup /Y
    where <drive> is the letter of the drive that contains the CD or Setup Disk 1.


  4. Click OK.


  5. Click Reinstall.


This re-registers Word (and all Office programs, if you run Office Setup).

If this procedure does not work, you may need to remove Word, run OffClean from the Microsoft Office CD within the ValuPack folder, and then reinstall Word.

For additional information about the OffClean utility, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q158098 OFF97: Setup May Remove Older Components

Method 2: Use the Eraser Utility and Reinstall

To use the Eraser utility and reinstall Word, follow these steps:
  1. Run Setup for Word or Office and use the Remove All option.


  2. Run the Eraser 97 utility to remove all remaining Office/Word files and to delete corresponding registry entries.


    3. For additional information about the Office 97 File and Registry Eraser Utility, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    Q176823 OFF97: Utility to Completely Remove Remaining Office 97 Files
  3. Re-install either Word 97 or Office 97 for Windows.


Method 3: Rename Winword8.srg and Modify the Registry

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 rename the Winword8.srg and delete the Word CLSID registry entries in the Windows registry, follow these steps:
  1. Quit Word and all Windows programs.


  2. Rename the Winword8.srg file to Winword8.old.

    NOTE: The Winword8.srg file is located in the following folder by default:


    3. <drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
  3. Click Start, and then click Run.


  4. In the Open box, type Regedit, and then click OK:


  5. In the Registry Editor, open the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.8\CLSID


  6. On the right side of the Registry Editor, click to select the default string.


  7. On the Edit menu, click Modify.


  8. In the Edit String dialog box, select the contents of the Value data box, and then press CTRL+C to copy the value to the Windows Clipboard. Click Cancel to close the Edit String dialog box.

    NOTE: The Value data for the Word.Document.8 CLSID should appear as the following:

    {00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}


  9. Move to the top of the Registry and select My Computer.


  10. On the Edit menu, click Find.


  11. In the Find What box, press CTRL+V to paste the value from step 8, and then click Find Next.


  12. Delete the string or key for each occurrence of the value.

    NOTE: Many of the value occurrences will be set as the Default string. Delete the value for the Default string; do not delete the Default string. To delete the value for the Default string, click to select Default. On the Edit menu, click Modify. Select the value in the Value data box, and then press DELETE. Click OK to close the Edit String dialog box.


  13. Press F3 to continue to find and delete all occurrences of the Word.Document.8 CLSID.


  14. When you have finished searching the registry, click Exit on the Registry menu.


  15. Re-install either Word 97 or Office 97 for Windows.


To Correct the Windows OLE Files

To correct this problem with the Windows OLE files, rename each of the Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) files and then reinstall the files.

To Rename the OLE Files

Rename each of the following files located, by default, in the C:\Windows\System folder. To rename a file, do the following steps:
  1. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the file or folder you want to rename.


  2. On the File menu, click Rename.


  3. Type the new name, and then press ENTER.


NOTE: Rename each of the files by changing the extension to *.old or adding Old to each file name. For example, rename Ole2.dll to either Ole2.old or Oldole2.dll. A file name can contain up to 255 characters, including spaces. It cannot contain the following characters:
\ / : * ? " < > |

To Reinstall the OLE files

To reinstall the OLE files, use one of the following methods:

Method 1: Extract the OLE Files

Manually extract the OLE files from your Windows disks to your \Windows\System folder.

For additional information about how to extract Windows files and where the OLE files can be found, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q129605 How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
Q188433 Windows 98 CD-ROM Directory Listing (6 of 14)
Q191057 Windows 98 DMF Floppy Disk Directory Listing (4 of 6)
Q135538 Windows 95 CD-ROM Directory Listing (3 of 5)
Q135544 Windows 95 DMF Floppy Disk Directory Listing (3 of 4)
Q141603 Windows 95 Non-DMF Floppy Disk Directory Listing (3 of3)
Method 2: Install PowerPoint Viewer 4.0

When you install Microsoft PowerPoint View 4.0, the Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) files are installed automatically. To install Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 4.0, double-click Vsetup.exe located in the following folder on your Microsoft Office 97 for Windows (or Microsoft Word 97 for Windows) CD-ROM disk:
<drive:>\ValuPack\PPT4VIEW
NOTE: <drive:> is the drive that contains your CD-ROM.

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbdta word97 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: August 10, 1999