OFF97 Err Msg: "Setup Error 544"

When you run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program, you may receive the following error messages: -and- When you click OK for the second error message, you exit the Setup program.

This problem will occur if the following conditions are true:

• You used the Microsoft Office 97 Network Installation Wizard (NIW) to create a custom setup table file (.stf) for use with Microsoft Office 97.
  
  -and-
  
  
• You ran the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program with the "/t" switch, which is not valid for Office 97 setup. For example:
  setup /t custom.stf

To prevent this problem from occurring, you must make a copy of your Setup.lst file, and rename it so that it matches your custom setup table file. Then, modify it so that all references to "Off97pro.stf" within the renamed .lst file are replaced with references to your custom setup table file.

NOTE: If you use version 2.1 of the Network Installation Wizard (NIW 2.1) to customize your setup table file, it is not necessary to create a custom .lst file; NIW 2.1 does this automatically. Proceed to the step after step 14 to use the customized .lst and .stf files.

For example, if you created a Custom.stf file, you need to create a Custom.lst file and then modify it. To do this:

1. In Windows Explorer, go to the folder on your network server that contains the administrative installation of Microsoft Office 97.
2. Locate the Setup.lst file. Right-click the file, and then click Copy on the shortcut menu.
3. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
4. Select the "Copy of Setup.lst" file. On the File menu, click Rename. Type Custom.lst and click OK.
5. Right-click the Custom.lst file. Click "Open With" on the shortcut menu.
6. In the list of programs, click Notepad. Clear the "Always use this program" check box. Click OK.
7. In Notepad, click Find on the Search menu.
8. In the Find What box, type Off97pro.stf. Click Find Next.
9. When a reference to "Off97pro.stf" is selected, click Cancel.
10. Delete "Off97pro.stf" and type Custom.stf in its place.
11. Press F3.
12. Delete the selected reference to "Off97pro.stf", and type Custom.stf in its place.
13. Repeat steps 11 and 12 until you receive the message
    Cannot find "Off97pro.stf"
    Click OK.
14. On the File menu, click Save. Then, click Exit on the File menu.

After the Custom.lst file has been created and modified, you can run your customized Setup by using the following command line: where <path> is the path to Setup.exe. Note that the name of the Custom.stf is NOT included in this command; the Custom.lst file knows what setup table file to use.

This behavior is by design of the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program.

The Microsoft Office 97 Network Installation Wizard (NIW) allows you to create custom setup solutions for Microsoft Office 97. To use the NIW, you must first perform an administrative installation ("setup /a") of Microsoft Office 97 on a network server. After this is done, you can run the NIW, choose various setup options, and create a customized setup table file.

In Microsoft Office for Windows 95 version 7.0, you instruct the Setup program to use a custom setup table file by adding the "/t" switch and the name of the setup table file to your command line. For example: Microsoft Office 97 uses a slightly different method of loading files when you run the Setup program. Instead of using the "/t" switch, you now use the "/l" switch, followed by the name of a customized .lst file. This .lst file contains the name of the custom setup table file you want to use. For example, if your custom files are Custom.lst and Custom.stf, you would use the following command line: Since Custom.lst contains references to Custom.stf, Custom.stf is then automatically used by the Setup program.

NOTE: It is very important that the names of the .lst and the .stf file are the same. For example, if your .lst file is named Custom.lst, your .stf file should be named Custom.stf. If the file names do not match, you may receive the following error message: Other switches, such as "/q", "/q0", "/q1", and "/qt", can still be used in the command line. Their functionality has not changed. To perform a quiet mode installation of Microsoft Office 97 using the custom setup table file and .lst file, use the following command: