# MS Office 2003 won't uninstall



## katy2446 (Jan 13, 2006)

I am running a Dell Dimension 8300 and have Microsoft Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition installed. The programs are not working correctly so I thought I would uninstall it and reinstall it. I have a legitimate copy of this program with a license key. when I go to add/remove programs and try to either uninstall or repair the program , the window comes up that says preparing to remove.....then I get this window that says:
_this patch could not be opened...verify that the patch exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify this is a valid windows installer patch package_
What does this mean? Now when i try to open one of the office applications it gives me a window that says: preparing to install.............and after a minute or so I get the same message that is above in italics. I have put the installation disk in but it doesn't install....get same message. :4-dontkno
HELP


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## clare voyant (Mar 31, 2008)

it may be worth your while to give the "Windows Installer CleanUp Utility" a try, i have found it very useful for similar situations. look here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
good luck !


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## katy2446 (Jan 13, 2006)

well I solved the problem.....I just kept going back further and further with restores and finally hit a point where things were working correctly? as to how they got messed up. not a clue. to make sure things were right I uninstalled and reinstalled successfully. I downloaded the installer cleanup utility and read about it....might prove hand to have in the future.
thanks for the info---considering the problem cleared up....sitting back now and waiting for the next problem LOL


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