OFF97: "Setup Error 168" Installing Office Under Windows NT

ID: Q173045

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
Microsoft Windows NT, versions 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft Project for Windows, versions 4.1, 4.1a

SYMPTOMS

When you install Microsoft Office 97 on a computer running Microsoft Windows NT version 3.51 or 4.0, you may receive the following error message:

Setup Error 168
Setup has encountered a problem updating your system registry.

When you click OK, you receive the following error message:

Microsoft Office 97 Setup was not completed successfully.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

You log on to a computer running Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0 by using an account that is a member of the Users group but that is NOT a member of the Administrators group.

-and-

You perform a Custom installation of Microsoft Office 97.

-and-

In the Custom dialog box, you change the folders used by any of the programs (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Access) to a folder other than the default folder.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, do either of the following:

Do not change the default folders of any of the programs included in Microsoft Office 97.

-or-

Before you run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program, log on to Microsoft Windows NT by using an account that is a member of the Administrators group. After you do this, run Microsoft Office 97 Setup.

NOTE: If you use the second method, you may encounter problems when you log on to the computer by using a different account, and then attempt to use any of the programs included in Microsoft Office 97. Use this method with caution.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Office 97.

MORE INFORMATION

When you install Microsoft Office 97 on a computer running either Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows NT, the Setup program creates the following key in the registry.


   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\8.0\BinDirPath

This key indicates where certain files that are used by Microsoft Office 97 programs are stored. The presence of this key is all that is usually required for the programs included in Microsoft Office 97 to work correctly.

However, if you change the folder in which any of the Microsoft Office 97 programs are installed, you must change the PATH value, so that the programs can find the files they need to run. On a computer running Microsoft Windows 95, the PATH value is stored in the Autoexec.bat file, which is located in the root directory on drive C.

Under Microsoft Windows NT, the PATH information is stored in the following key in the registry:


   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ControlSessionManager\Environment\Path

If you logged on to the computer by using an account that is a member of the Administrators group, the Setup program is able to change the value of this registry key. However, if you logged on to the computer by using an account that is not a member of the Administrators group, this key cannot be changed by the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program, and you receive the error messages described in the "Symptoms" section in this article.

The easiest solution to this problem is to allow the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program to install each program in the default folder; if you do this, Microsoft Office 97 Setup runs correctly even if you logged on to the computer by using a non-administrative account.

For more information about the Setup Error 168 message, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163277 OFF97: OFF97: Setup Error 168 or Tahoma Font is Not Present Error

Additional query words: OFF97 cannot install fails


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbsetup 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.1,4.1a,97; winnt:3.51,4.0
Platform          : WINDOWS winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 25, 1999