On my system (XP Professional, SP2) I installed with administrator rights MS Office Professional 2003 SP3. All software is paid for and licenced.

I created a second user account with administrator rights and it seems that all software packages initially installed with administrator rights work to

perfection except MS Office. I can start MS Office and create files, but Word and/or Excel files look like Files1.pdf instead like Files2.pdf

To me it seems there is no follow through regarding administrator rights.

Please, could somebody explain me in a few steps what else should have been changed, but I forgot to so. Thanks for your answers.

Have you try to "repair" the Office installation? If not, take the Office CD and start the setup. Choose the option of repair and if that didn't works choose a new installation. If you use the new installation, choose costumized settigs and than "Run all from My Computer"!

Still problems post again!

If you can start word/xcel then it seems there is no problem with the installation, but with the assocications. You need to make sure that .xls files are associated with xcel, for example. I'm sure that an option in control panel allows you to set this, but you can also doubleclick to open the .xls file and then when windows asks you which program to use select xcel. Tick the box that says to use this program every time for this type of file and it should be ok.

Have you try to "repair" the Office installation? If not, take the Office CD and start the setup. Choose the option of repair and if that didn't works choose a new installation. If you use the new installation, choose costumized settigs and than "Run all from My Computer"!

If you can start word/xcel then it seems there is no problem with the installation, but with the assocications. You need to make sure that .xls files are associated with xcel, for example. I'm sure that an option in control panel allows you to set this, but you can also doubleclick to open the .xls file and then when windows asks you which program to use select xcel. Tick the box that says to use this program every time for this type of file and it should be ok.

Reimar, I performed the option „repair“. Although it worked, there were no changes at all. A new installation is certainly feasable, but by all means I do not want to get in touch again with Microsoft just for the Service Packs.

And to Simey, I also believe that it has something to do with associations of files, but please explain me the steps and buttons. I am not a novice, but would certainly appreciate more detailed information.

Windows associates file extensions with programs, so .xls is connected to xcel, .doc is connected to word. You can see from your screen grab that windows is associating .doc files (should be word) with notepad, and it cannot associate .xls with anything (and so shows them as xls type files).

You need to open control panel and select the Folder Options menu, then the File Types tab. This is where you assign the relationship between file extensions and programs. You will need to add a new assign for extension type .xls and assign that to excel. For types .doc there should already be an entry in this list that assigns it to notepad, you need to edit this relationship and change it to word. Then you should be good.

Reimar, I performed the option „repair“. Although it worked, there were no changes at all. A new installation is certainly feasable, but by all means I do not want to get in touch again with Microsoft just for the Service Packs.

And to Simey, I also believe that it has something to do with associations of files, but please explain me the steps and buttons. I am not a novice, but would certainly appreciate more detailed information.

• Double click one of the .xls files with no association
  
• It should ask if your want to use a web service do find what program to use to open it or select it yourself. Choose the second option.
  
  

  
  

• Select Microsoft Excel under the 'Programs' list. (In my example, i am selecting MS Word to open a .doc file with, ignore that). Check the box to 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of file' and click OK.
  
  

  
  

Do the same for a .doc file, but instead of the first two steps right-click the file and choose 'Open With' --> 'Choose Program'. And of course choose Microsoft Word instead of Excel...

EDIT: Simey, you beat my post by 1 second. Nice trick.

Edited October 25, 200718 yr by Veazer