WD: Error This document Cannot Be Registered

 Last reviewed: March 9, 1998
Article ID: Q176444
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Microsoft Word document, you may receive the following error message: 

   This document Cannot be Registered. It will not be possible to create
   links from this document to other documents.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the Windows registry has been corrupted.

RESOLUTION

Method 1: Re-run Setup /y to Correct 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 the Start button 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 will re-register Word (and all Office programs, if you run Office Setup).

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

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

   ARTICLE-ID: Q158098
   TITLE     : OFF97: Setup May Remove Older Components

Method 2: Use the Eraser Utility and Reinstall (Word 97 Only)

To resolve this issue, do the following steps:

  1. Run Setup for Word or Office and Remove All.

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

For more information about the Eraser utility, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q176823
   TITLE     : OFF97: Utility to Completely Remove Remaining Office 97
               Files

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

    STATUS

    Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

    MORE INFORMATION

    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 will re-register all Office components and return the settings to their default values in the Registry. 

    Keywords          : word7 word95 word97 kbsetup
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,7.0a,97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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    Last reviewed: March 9, 1998
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