"Could Not Read From File..." Running Maintenance Mode Setup

ID: Q121802

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Setup, version 1.1
Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.2c, 4.3c
Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0c
Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0c
Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, version 4.0c
Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

When you run the Setup program in maintenance mode for one of the applications listed above, the Setup program fails to remove or add the requested item, and you may receive the following error message:

   Could not read from the file named a:\word2.cab

   Word2.cab cannot be decompressed and may be corrupted

Note that the error message that you receive may contain a different filename such as:

   Could not read from the file named b:\msoff13.cab

   -or-

   Could not read from the file named c:\msoffice\clipart\off42art.thm

Alternate error messages include:

   Unable to read from disk - retry

   The compressed file b:\msoff13.cab cannot be decompressed and may be
   corrupted.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you run Setup from the hard disk drive, either by choosing Office Setup And Uninstall from the Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) toolbar or by double-clicking the Setup icon in Program Manager, or by double-clicking the SETUP.EXE file in the applications Setup directory.

This problem occurs because the Setup program cannot read the distribution media format (DMF) disks when you run Setup in maintenance mode from the hard drive. The problem is that Setup either loads the DMF enabling code, or doesn't load this code based on whether the source drive, or the drive from which you run Setup is removable media or not. When you run Setup in maintenance mode from your hard drive, the DMF enabling code never gets loaded, and Setup cannot read the DMF disk.

WORKAROUNDS

To work around this problem, run Setup from Disk 1 of your Setup disks. As long as the setup table file (SETUP.STF) is registered correctly in the [MS Setup (ACME) Table Files] section of your WIN.INI file, the maintenance mode of Setup runs fine and the DMF enabling code is loaded properly.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q124970
   TITLE     : Troubleshooting DMF Issues

KBCategory: kbsetup kberrmsg KBSubcategory:

Additional reference words: 1.00 4.20c 4.30c 5.00c 6.00c

Last Reviewed: September 10, 1996