Errors Launching MS Excel After Installing Office 4.2.1a 4.2.1b

• Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, versions 4.2.1, 4.2.1a, 4.2.1b

SYMPTOMS

After you install Microsoft Office version 4.2.1a or 4.2.1b, you may not be able to launch Microsoft Excel. If you try to launch Microsoft Excel from the Office Manager menu, you may receive the following error message

   Could not continue because a resource is missing

If you try to launch Microsoft Excel from the Microsoft Excel icon, you may receive the following error

   The document "Microsoft Excel" could not be opened, because the
   application program that created it could not be found

If you click Get Info (on the File menu) on the Microsoft Excel icon, the Microsoft Excel Info window may list Microsoft Excel as being a "document" rather than an "application program."

CAUSE

You may experience these problems, if all of the following are true:

• You have Microsoft Excel version 4.0 or earlier on your computer.

  -and-

• You have either Microsoft Office version 4.2.1 or version 4.2.1a on your computer.

  -and-

• You install a newer version of Microsoft Office into the same folder as the version that is currently on your computer without first removing the earlier version. For example, you have Office 4.2.1a on your computer and you install Office 4.2.1b into the same folder as Office 4.2.1a.

  -and-

• When the Office Setup program states that it detected an earlier version of Microsoft Excel, you click the Yes button to remove this earlier version.

RESOLUTION

To resolve the problems described above, run the maintenance Setup program for Microsoft Office, and choose the Reinstall option. Once the maintenance Setup finishes, you should be able to start Microsoft Excel.

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.