"Can I Commit?" error installing Office 2003 Pro

Hi all,

OK, I have come across the strangest problem ever... I've hit the MS Knowledge Base, Google, and fellow geeks I know to absolutely no avail.

I have to install Office 2003 Pro (from a Volume Key) on a brand new Lenovo R61i laptop. This machine was just opened and is as fresh as can be. I have installed this very copy of Office successfully and without issue on over a dozen other machines.

But for some reason, I cannot get it to install. Here's what happens. I start the installation and it gets halfway through. At the point where it "removes backup files ", I get an informational window pop up saying "Can I Commit? ". And that's it. That's all it says. I only have options to OK or Cancel. No matter which I do, the installation then fails and rolls back.

The error in the Event Viewer is as follows:

Now here's another oddity. At the point when that informational window is up, I can go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11 and actually open an app manually by clicking on the exe. And it'll work! But obviously I cannot keep the message up forever. And as soon as I OK or Cancel it, the installation gets rolled back and it's all gone again.

I've already run a chkdsk on the drive and that has not helped. Rebooting has not helped. I am fully updated through both Windows Update and System Update from Lenovo. I am getting no other errors in Event Viewer and the macnhine runs perfectly otherwise.

I have no idea what this is... Can anyone help, please? Thanks!

Chris

 

Nothin', eh? I thought it was a strange one... Well, I simply reformatted the laptop and started over. :-( I hate doing that, should always be a last resort. But I suppose it was. Works fine now!

Weird...

 

Glad you got it sorted out too.

For future reference, I did some research which seems to indicated it may have been a problem with .NET 3.0.
Removing, and reinstalling and updating .NET 3.0 may have resolved the issue.

 

I respect BilbO's comments and insight and would add that those new Lenovo's also come with a 60 day Office 2007 trial version which must be cleaned out before starting a 2003 installtion. This includes more than just the installer.