OFF97: Cannot Find MSO97.DLL Starting Program

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Project 98 for Windows
• Microsoft Windows NT, versions 3.51, 4.0

SYMPTOMS

On Microsoft Windows NT, when you attempt to run one of the Microsoft Office programs listed at the beginning of this article, the following error appears and the program does not run:

   The dynamic link library MSO97.DLL could not be found in the
   specified path
   C:\Excel;.;C:\Winnt\System32;C:\Winnt\System;C:\Winnt;.

CAUSE

This problem will occur if both of the following conditions are true:

• You ran the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program, and selected Custom installation with the following options:

  Microsoft Access Data Access Office Tools

  -and-

• You ran the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program again, selected another Microsoft Office program (such as Microsoft Excel) and installed it to a location different from the other Microsoft Office programs.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, add the path of the Mso97.dll file to the operating system's environment search path. The Mso97.dll file should be located in the Office folder in the folder in which you installed the Microsoft Office 97 programs, for example "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office." To locate Mso97.dll, search your hard disk using Windows Explorer or click the Start button on the taskbar, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.

To add the Mso97.dll path to your Microsoft Windows NT system environment path, use the appropriate procedure for your version of Windows NT.

Microsoft NT 4.0

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and click Control Panel. Double-click the System icon and then click the Environment tab.

2. Under System Variables, click Path.

3. In the Value box, append the path to Mso97.dll to the existing path. For example, if Mso97.dll is located in the default folder, for example "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office," after you add this path, the Value box would appear as

         %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft
         Office\Office;
   

   NOTE: Be sure to add a trailing semicolon after the path. Failing to do so will cause problems when other programs append to this path.

4. Click Set, click Apply, and then click OK.

Microsoft NT 3.51

1. In Program Manager, open the Main group. Double-click Control Panel and then double-click the System icon.

2. Under System Environment Variables, click Path.

3. In the Value box, append the path to Mso97.dll to the existing path. For example, if Mso97.dll is located in the default folder, for example "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office," after you add this path, the Value box would appear as

         %SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;C:\Program Files\Microsoft
         Office\Office;
   

   NOTE: Be sure to add a trailing semicolon after the path. Failing to do so will cause problems when other programs append to this path.

4. Click Set, and then click OK.

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.