Your system settings prohibit you from installing Office updates yourself

I hope someone can help me out here because this is driving me nuts.

I was given an option to install Office 2003 from my company share or in a
standalone mode. I decided to install it from the share only to realize that
some policy prevents me to update office myself. I would like to update
Office 2003 to SP1 because sometimes Word hangs upon saving the file and I
hope that SP1 will fix this issue.

I uninstall Office 2003 and install it from a personal CD hoping that I will
get around the security policy. Alas, going to the Microsoft Office Update
gives me the following message:Your system settings prohibit you from
installing Office updates yourself.

Can someone tell me what on earth I can do to get around this security
policy so I can install SP1? What does the Microsoft Office Update checks? I
looked around the Security Policy template but I can't find anything Office
2003-related. I have admin access to my machine so hacking around is an
option.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Shrek

I hope someone can help me out here because this is driving me nuts.

I was given an option to install Office 2003 from my company share or in a
standalone mode. I decided to install it from the share only to realize that
some policy prevents me to update office myself. I would like to update
Office 2003 to SP1 because sometimes Word hangs upon saving the file and I
hope that SP1 will fix this issue.

I uninstall Office 2003 and install it from a personal CD hoping that I will
get around the security policy. Alas, going to the Microsoft Office Update
gives me the following message:Your system settings prohibit you from
installing Office updates yourself.

Can someone tell me what on earth I can do to get around this security
policy so I can install SP1? What does the Microsoft Office Update checks? I
looked around the Security Policy template but I can't find anything Office
2003-related. I have admin access to my machine so hacking around is an
option.

Thanks.

I'm having the same problem

Hi! I saw your message posted on a couple of sites and noticed that no one had replied. I came across this issue myself recently and found that the problem was caused by a Group Policy setting I had applied. The exact setting is Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Installer \ Prohibit Patching. If this policy is enabled by your Administrator on your computer then you will not be able to use the Windows Installer to install patches.
Thanks

Originally Posted by trendytoast

Hi! I saw your message posted on a couple of sites and noticed that no one had replied. I came across this issue myself recently and found that the problem was caused by a Group Policy setting I had applied. The exact setting is Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Installer \ Prohibit Patching. If this policy is enabled by your Administrator on your computer then you will not be able to use the Windows Installer to install patches.
Thanks

But once you install that policy, is there anyway to remove it if you have admin rights on the PC? I recently installed 2003, which included that policy, so I reverted back to Office 2000. 2003 was removed, but the policy stayed.

Originally Posted by Shrek

I hope someone can help me out here because this is driving me nuts.

I was given an option to install Office 2003 from my company share or in a
standalone mode. I decided to install it from the share only to realize that
some policy prevents me to update office myself. I would like to update
Office 2003 to SP1 because sometimes Word hangs upon saving the file and I
hope that SP1 will fix this issue.

I uninstall Office 2003 and install it from a personal CD hoping that I will
get around the security policy. Alas, going to the Microsoft Office Update
gives me the following message:Your system settings prohibit you from
installing Office updates yourself.

Can someone tell me what on earth I can do to get around this security
policy so I can install SP1? What does the Microsoft Office Update checks? I
looked around the Security Policy template but I can't find anything Office
2003-related. I have admin access to my machine so hacking around is an
option.

Thanks.

I was able to find an MS article with this key in it

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Offi ce\Common\OfficeUpdate
There is a key of 'BlockUpdates' set to 1. I changed this to 0 and was able to run office updates just fine

Originally Posted by ljhead

I was able to find an MS article with this key in it

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Offi ce\Common\OfficeUpdate
There is a key of 'BlockUpdates' set to 1. I changed this to 0 and was able to run office updates just fine

Awesome! That works great! Now if you could tell me how I could restore the option to create personal folders (.pst) that would be cool as well.