Cannot find Microsoft Word installed on your system

[Goldiew]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help...

I just tried to generate my printed documentation in RoboHelp and everytime I try I get the error message 'Cannot find Microsoft Word installed on your system'.

It is installed, and when I go to Tools > Options > Tool Locations you can see it is pointing to the right location (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE).

This is the first project I have done with RoboHelp 7.0 on Vista- does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

[Peter Grainge]

Sometimes when there is a problem with Word from RH HTML, if you then do some work in RH for Word, it fixes the problem back in RH HTML. So I was wondering if now that you have used RH for Word, have you tried going back to RH HTML to see if that can now find Word.

[nitabeck]

I see. Sorry for being cranky. This problem is quite annoying to me. To produce Word output from RH7 HTML, I'm forced to copy my project over to my much slower, less powerful laptop running XP, which I plan to retire sometime soon. For now, that's my workaround.
:-(
Nita

[Peter Grainge]

So I take it that RH HTML is still broken. The problem is being worked on but it is very difficult when you cannot recreate it.

[Peter Grainge]

I agree it is a drastic step but check this with your IT people. I believe they can help you try this in a reasonably painless way but discuss it with them first.

You deactivate and uninstall RH.

IT to create a new profile for you without deleting your old one,

Reinstall RH to the new profile and try again.

If it works, we know it was something in the profile. If it doesn't then you deactivate and uninstall RH again, revert to the old profile and reinstall RH.

I agree it does not seem likely but that has fixed other issues not too dissimilar.

The other thing that might be worth trying first is to compare the HKCU section of the registry on your PC with a colleagues. Look within the Adobe and Word keys.

[Guest]

All,

Just a shot in the dark

Does everyone have Norton/symantec products installed; with respect mainly to office plug-ins?

If so, try uninstalling the product, then re-install ensuring the office plug-in check box is not checked.

This has been known to cause a variety of problems with Word including opening word, opening documents etc.. I still have a gut feeling that this is a third party add-in /plug-in problem.

Brian

[Bosch_pb]

Hi all,

Sorry to be the dampener again, but I have neither Norton nor MacAfee nor Symantec. We run Trend Micro Office-Scan company wide.

Two of my three-man team (including one sitting opposite me) do not have the problem. I do. The colleague opposite ordered Technical Communicaton Suite at the same time I did, and installed from a (supposedly) identical CD, if not the same one. He has a desktop machine running XP, I a laptop running XP. He had the problem with RH6 but it went away with RH7. For me it was exactly the other way around.


Peter - I'm going to see if I can find any registry differences, as you suggested. Wish me luck.

[Peter Grainge]

Brian

That's the best thing anyone has posted here. It prompted me to recall way back McAffee caused a lot of grief with RH.

Please, I'm having a real bad day so if someone comes back saying that was it, the day will take a turn.

[nitabeck]

Hey Peter,

I'm posting to add more details, if they turn out to be relevant:

On my Vista machine, where RH HTML does not recognize Word 2003, I have McAfee running.

But on my XP laptop, where RH HTML does recognize Word 2003, I also have McAfee running.

About the recent posts offering suggestions for messing with the underpinnings of Vista, I *am* my own IT department and I'm reluctant to do anything that's gonna screw up Vista! If that ends up being the solution, I'll have pay out of pocket to hire that expertise, which I'd also like to avoid!

Nita

p.s. Peter, you've been a champ trying to help us resolve this. I very much appreciate it.

[Guest]

Hello nitabeck,

On your 2 machines, did you install McAffee, or was it pre-loaded. If pre-loaded was it by the same company. During the install there will be a check box for Office plug-ins. Unchecking this will have no detrimental effects.

As long as you have the CD, on install files, there would be no problem with Vista by simply de-installing and re-installing McAffee. You could always take a check point and restore to that if it doesn't help.

Regards,

Brian

[marilyn3000]

Well, I had this problem back in RH7 and resolved it from this forum.   Now, I have been working in RH8 for quite a few months and have two installations - one laptop and one desktop.  Yesterday, the desktop simply stopped generating printed documentation, while the laptop is happily churning it out.

So far, I have tried all the solutions to this point.

• WinXP Pro SP3
• Technical Commuications Suite 2
• I have Technical Communications Suite 1 installed.
• RH8.0.2
• I can import word documents.
• It fails when I try to LINK to a word document.
• RH for WORD works fine, I can generate documents, although it teased me - it displayed a security warning for a startup template and I said, AH HA!!!  And removed the template from the Office>StartUp folder.
• Then I saw where Adobe Reader completed a recent update on the desktop, but not on the laptop.  So I uninstalled Reader.
• Near as I can tell, it stopped working between March 6th and now.

Anyone have the problem on RH8?

[marilyn3000]

Oh, here is the other oddity.  I can open the same project on the laptop and print fine.

Open it again on the desktop, and it can't find Microsoft Word.

[Peter Grainge]

I have a similar file for RH8. Please contact me via my site.

Not sure removing the template was the best plan. Changing the security settings to allow the macros was probably the solution.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[marilyn3000]

Thanks, Peter.

You are the greatest!!!  Regarding Template - not a problem, remember I have a parallel set up on my laptop, easy to restore.  Now I did try fiddling with word macro security before removing the PDF995.dot, the laptop (which prints fine) was set to HIGH, the desktop was set to medium.  So, safe to assume that security wasn't the issue.

PDF995.dot is a template that loads at startup.  I use the program infrequently for odd things. 

• The laptop did not have a RH8 version of the robohook.wii
• The desktop did.  (again, odd)

Near as I can tell, some update or program was installed on the desktop in the last month that wasn't on the laptop, and I still haven't tracked it down yet.

But, let's try your file.

I will contact you via your website.

Marilyn

[marilyn3000]

Peter, your RH8 MPj2Doc worked and restored the printing for me.

Thank you!!!!

Marilyn.

[Guest]

Thanks Peter

Your RH8 MPj2Doc solved the problem, but alas, only partially.

On my XP, Office2003 system, I'm able again to produce Word docs with the option Generate Word DOC, but the option Generate Adobe PDF is still generating the internal errors Failed to generate PDF file and Failed to save doc and the message that Normal.dot is still open in another location.

Deleting normal.dot and generating a new one is no solution.

So I will use the Word docs to produce pdfs manually.

Maybe someday the Adobe people will remember they still have a few customers using Robohelp and provide a final solution...

Regards

George

[Peter Grainge]

Agreed. If you don't have the techies to back you up, I wouldn't go there.

On McAfee, maybe the settings are different?

[nitabeck]

To Peter,
McAfee is set up identically on the two machines. Since my last post, I played around with McAfee settings on Vista. Nothing made any difference. RH7 HTML still broken.

To Brian,
I installed McAfee myself on both machines. But (although I cannot now substantiate this), RH7 HTML's inability to detect Word suddenly arose one day, long after I installed McAfee and after having been able to detect Word until something happened. So where do we point? At a Vista update? At an Adobe update? At a McAfee update? Someplace else altogether?

[Peter Grainge]

On the rogue machine, disconnect from the internet and disable McAfee completely.

Then try to generate a document.

[Peter Grainge]

Nitabeck

Try this.

1. Open McAfee Security Centre.
2. Got to the Virus Scan tab.
3. Click on the Configure Virus Scan Options link.
4. On the Active Sheild tab there is an 'Advanced' button right at the bottom of the window.
5. Click on the Advanced button.
6. Click on Exploits
7. Uncheck the Enable Script Stopper checkbox.

[Guest]

If Peter's suggestion doesn't work, do you have a restore checkpoint prior to the problem starting. You could restore to that point, and see if it helps. Then identify any updates that arrived afterwards and re-install until you find the culprit.

Brian

[nitabeck]

Peter,

The version of McAfee I'm running doesn't match your outlined steps. I can't find anything called "Enable Script Stopper."

Nonetheless, I turned off what I surmise to be the same feature: "Script Scanning protection". No dice. RH still won't play nice.

Nita

[nitabeck]

Curiouser and curiouser...

Problem not yet solved, but something interesting to report.

All along, I've been getting the "Word is not installed..." message when I attempt to generate print doc to Word by double-clicking the Print Documentation layout.

Just now, I tried a different approach: File > Batch Generate. I selected ONLY the Print Documentation layout and, lo and behold, RH started up its .dot template in Word. But I then got the security warning about macros. I selected the "Always trust..." check box and clicked Enable Macros. Then, just as it appeared that RH would indeed start to generate the Word output, it came to the screeching "Word is not installed...." halt. When I attempted to Batch Generate again, RH went straight to the "Word is not installed..." state. I closed RH altogether and reopened it with the same project. No dice. I closed RH altogether again but opened a different project. Still no dice.

So now I guess I've REALLY broken it! :-(

Nita

[Peter Grainge]

Open Word and change your macro settings to Medium.

[nitabeck]

OK, one more try, then I'm outta here for awhile...

Peter, my macro security setting in Word is already set to Medium. Just for "giggles," I set it to Low. RH still won't play.

Nita

[nitabeck]

Peter, Brian... I am not a Windows geek, so I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with mucking about with the registry, restore points, uninstalling and installing McAfee... For now, I'll just move my project to my XP machine when I need to produce print docs. And given other posters' having reported that they have neither Norton or McAfee, and that McAfee and RH play nice on my XP machine, I am not yet convinced that McAfee is to blame here.

I've gotta get back to earning some income this morning, so I need to back out of this lively discussion for a while...