OFF2000: "The Application Failed to Initialize" Error Briefly Displayed Before Restarting Windows

ID: Q217605

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 2000, used with:
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you start one of the Microsoft Office 2000 programs for the first time, Windows Installer may start, and you are prompted to restart your computer. When you click Yes, an error message similar to the following is briefly displayed:

The application failed to initialize because the window station is shutting down.

Note, you are not prompted to dismiss the error message. It quickly disappears right before Windows restarts.

CAUSE

This error message occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

You are using Windows NT 4.0.

You have the Windows Desktop Update installed along with Internet Explorer 4.01 and SP1 (or higher) for Internet Explorer 4.01.

A member of the Administrators group advertised Office 2000 by running Setup with the /j switch.

You click one of the Office 2000 shortcuts on the Programs menu for the first time.

RESOLUTION

You can ignore this error message and your Office programs will still have complete functionality.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: OFF2000


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbdta 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 13, 1999