I fixed it!!! More below ...

[I didn't quote the whole message. Look above for my previous post from
"Tony Rony" for a full description of this issue along with other
observations I made.]

SUMMARY: If my situation is typical, then users with Vista Home Premium
should install Office Pro Enterprise Edition 2003 using their Administrator
account. I believe that installation of the various service packs and
updates should be performed via Microsoft Update, not via the service pack
CDs that may be included with your purchase of Office. There are some
caveats, though. A fuller explanation of my experience follows.

After submitting my first post on this problem (above), I observed another
anomaly with my installation of Office 2003. I should add that this annoying
interruption ("Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office ...")
would also occur whenever I used the question mark icon on the title bar that
can be used for context-sensitive help with some dialog boxes. Merely
clicking the question mark would start the Windows installer in the same way
it did when trying to launch any Office 2003 application from the Start /
Programs / Microsoft Office menu.

DETAILS: Here's a full explanation of how I fixed this Office 2003 problem
on my Vista Home Premium system; my initial installation was accomplished
using a user account and SP1 and SP2 were installed via the CDs included with
my Office 2003 package. SP3 and the remaining updates were installed via
Microsoft Update.

To fix my initial installation, first I tried the installation repair tool
from Control Panel (Programs), but that did nothing. When the installation
repair tool from Control Panel had no effect, I used my user account to
de-install Office and then I re-installed it using my Administrator account.
However, after the installation completed, I was extremely disappointed to
see that the darn message kept re-appearing: "Please wait while Windows
configures Microsoft Office ...". In fact, although I didn't count, I felt
the installer may have been in a loop as this message window repeatedly
closed and re-appeared approximately a half dozen times with just a brief
pause between each occurrence. I waited patiently to see if it would stop.
I cannot be sure whether it was actually completely finished or if I caught
it between one of the pauses, but I took the opportunity during one of the
pauses to check for updates via Microsoft Update instead of using the two
service pack CDs that were packaged with my Office software.

Note: When I installed Office 2003 the first time using my user account, I
also used the two service pack CDs that were included with my Office
software. However, when I re-installed using my Administrator account, I
suspected a better version of these service packs might be available online
and this is why I ran the updates via Microsoft Update instead of using the
two CDs. I realize that choosing Microsoft Update to install the service
packs and updates may not have had an impact, but this was the method I used.

I should add that I had to run Microsoft Update twice to catch all the
applicable updates; three Service Packs were found and installed, followed by
eight (8) regular updates.

After the updates, I rebooted and logged in with my user account. DAMN!
There it goes again! I didn’t count this time either, but the “Please wait
while Windows configures Microsoft Office ..." message repeatedly appeared.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity (probably just two minutes, or
so), I interrupted the process by clicking Cancel.

To be sure things are stable, I logged off and rebooted a couple of times,
but to my surprise and joy, the problem seems to be totally fixed. The
annoying message no longer appears after logging on and I can now launch the
Office 2003 applications as you’d usually do from the Start menu. I’ve not
yet seen any circumstance under which the problem has re-surfaced.

Good luck, all. I hope this works for you.



"Tony Rony" wrote:

I would like to "chime-in" to this post. I am having the IDENTICAL symptoms
reported by Glen after installing MS Office Pro Enterprise Edition 2003 on a
Vista Home Premium system. My system has had all publicly-released Windows
updates applied up to, but not including Vista SP1.