Member Avatar for rockstarpirate

I have Windows XP Pro on my home computer, with Office 2003. Recently, the spell check on Word stopped working and the error message "Cannot find proofreading tools for English(US). If you have the proofreading tools, try installing or reinstalling them..." was displayed.

I tried to see if spell check was working on the other Office programs but it gave me another error message. "[Program Name] has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application."

I reinstalled Office, but now all Office programs display the second error message. On another administrator profile, all Office programs run fine.

I don't really want to make another profile for myself, nor do I want to reinstall Windows XP.

Please help, I'm willing to do almost anything to fix it.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 182 Views
  • 6 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by rockstarpirate

Dani AI

Generated

Short expert note: this is almost always a per-user configuration problem rather than a complete Office binary failure. got it working by copying the working profile's per-user Office settings into the broken account, and was right that a full reinstall will also fix the issue — but there are safer, less-destructive steps to try first.

Why it happens: Office installs some settings on a per-user basis the first time a user runs an app. If those per-user entries are missing, corrupted, or prevented from being created (profile damage, antivirus/cleanup tools, or a bad overlay install), Office will complain that features or proofing tools are not installed for that user even though the program itself is present.

Practical recovery checklist (least invasive first):

  1. While logged into the affected account, run the Office "Repair" option from Programs (choose Change/Repair for Microsoft Office). This recreates per-user pieces without touching documents.
  2. If Repair fails, create a temporary administrator account, sign in there and run any Office program once so Windows/Office can build a clean per-user configuration. Then sign back into the broken account and try again.
  3. If you opt to copy registry settings like @rockstarpirate did, back up the affected profile first, export only Office-related user settings from the working profile, and import them while the broken user is signed in. Only copy between the same Office build/service-pack level and same machine; mismatched keys can make things worse.

Additional tips and cautions: always export/back up the profile registry and user data before editing the registry or doing a reinstall. If the proofing-tools message persists, run Office setup and add the proofing tools feature for that installation. If the user profile looks broadly corrupted after virus cleanup, creating a fresh user and migrating Documents, Desktop and application data is often safer than fighting a damaged profile.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for HoustonIT

When you reinstalled Office, did you do an overlay or did you completely uninstall, reboot, and then reinstall?

Member Avatar for rockstarpirate

I think I did an overlay. How do you uninstall Office?


Unfortunately, I found a couple of resistant viruses so I'm doing a complete wipe this weekend, but I'll try any solution before then just to find a fix for others who have the same problem.

Member Avatar for HoustonIT

You uninstall Office through Add/Remove programs in the control panel. Good luck with your wipe n' load this weekend!

Member Avatar for rockstarpirate

I have found an alternate solution to the office problem.

1. Create another admin. profile and open all office programs.

2. use regedit and export the Office folder under HKEY_CURRENT_USER (Pathway is HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office)

3. Log back in to the messed up profile, use regedit again. Import the saved folder (File/Import)


That should fix the problem. If it doesn't, you might want to try a complete reintall of Office as suggested by HoustonIT. If anything is unclear, just post a message and I'll try to explain it better.

Thankfully the wipe and load went well and my comp is up and running again.Thanks for your help HoustonIT.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.