OFF98: Office Program May Not Start the First Time You Use MOM

• Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft PowerPoint 98 Macintosh Edition

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**                           - WARNING -                           **
**     THE INFORMATION BELOW IS PRELIMINARY AND HAS NOT BEEN       **
**     CONFIRMED, EDITED, OR TESTED BY MICROSOFT. USE ONLY         **
**     WITH DISCRETION.                                            **

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) to start any of the Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition programs listed at the beginning of this article, the program may not start. However, if you try to start the same program from the Microsoft Office Manager a second time, the program starts.

CAUSE

An Office 98 program may not start the first time you click it on the Microsoft Office Manager menu because a process called the "first run installation process" may have been started when you click the Office program on the menu.

Normally, if the first run installation process is started for any reason, the program that you attempt to start is stopped to allow the first run installation process to finish, and then the Office program is restarted. However, the first run installation process may not be able to restart an Office 98 program if you have started that program from the Microsoft Office Manager menu.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, try clicking the program again on the Microsoft Office Manager menu. The program should start the second time because the first run installation process does not run again.

This problem may be due to some corruption in the desktop file; therefore, you may want to consider rebuilding the desktop. To rebuild the desktop, follow these steps:

1. Restart the computer.

2. When the welcome screen appears as the computer is restarting, press and continue to hold COMMAND+OPTION.

3. When you are prompted to rebuild the desktop file, release the keys and click OK.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of the Microsoft Office Manager and the first run installation process.

MORE INFORMATION

The first run installation process is started the first time you start any Office 98 program after you perform a drag-and-drop installation of Office 98. This process usually runs only once. However, if certain critical files are missing from the System Folder:Extensions folder on the computer, the first run installation process automatically runs when you start an Office 98 program.

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

   ARTICLE-ID: Q179217
   TITLE     : OFF98: Using First Run Installation to Troubleshoot Mac
               Office