See if this will solve the issue

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

--
Peter

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"Billns" wrote in message
...
I have both Office 2003 and Office 2007 installed on my XP Pro machine. Office 2007
is working just fine, but in the past month or so I see the Windows Installer
preparing to install message every time I start Word, Excel, Access, or Publishing
2003. All four programs open after a minute or so; in Word I get an error message:
"An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning properly. Please run
setup and select Repair." The other three programs do not display such a message. I
have not installed Powerpoint 2003.

I have tried running Setup from my Office 2003 CD, but I get another error
message: "Patch package could not be opened."

I tried running "Detect and Repair" from the Help menu in Excel 2003 and got the
same patch package error message.

Is there an easy solution to the problem or is it time to give up on the earlier
version? I use Office 2007 much more often than 2003.

I have downloaded the Windows Installed CleanUp utility as suggested in another
thread, but I'm not sure whether running that will help.

Bill