OFF2000: "Warning 1909. Could not create shortcut" During Setup

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This article was previously published under Q217648

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SYMPTOMS

WARNING:This information is preliminary and has not been confirmed or tested by Microsoft. Use only with discretion. When you run Setup for Office, the following error message may appear:

Warning 1909. Could not create shortcut <filename>.lnk. Verify that the destination folder exists and that you can access it.

You may receive this error for more than one shortcut that Setup is trying to create.

After Setup is finished, none of the shortcuts on the Programs menu work. However, the Office programs start if you double-click the executables (for example, Excel.exe) in the \Microsoft Office\Office folder.

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CAUSE

This error message may appear if either of the following is true:

You are installing Office into a non-default folder location that has a very long total path length. -or-
The Windows file associations are corrupted.

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WORKAROUND

If you installed Office to a non-default folder location (with a long total path), please do the following:

Uninstall Office using Add/Remove Programs.
Re-run Office Setup.
Choose the default path or choose a path shorter than your original path.

If you installed Office to the default folder location, then your Windows file associations may need to be repaired. To do this:

Uninstall Office using Add/Remove Programs.
Click Start, point to Find, and click Files or Folders.
In the Named box, type "Shell.inf" (without the quotation marks), and then click Find Now.
Right-click the Shell.inf file, and click Install.
Wait about 1 minute (the time varies depending on the speed of your hard disk), and then click Start, click Shutdown, click Restart, and then click OK.
If the Shell.inf file is not found, click Start, Run, and then type the following:
rundll setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 c:\windows\inf\shell.inf
NOTE: Type the above line as one continuous line. If you installed Windows in a folder other than the Windows folder, adjust the command-line accordingly.
Re-run Office Setup.

For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

145810 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/145810/EN-US/ ) Install Command Unavailable on .inf File Context Menu

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For more articles with general information about how to troubleshoot Office errors:

Click here to view a list of Office 2000 Troubleshooting articles (http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?catalog=lcid%3d1033&spid=2484&query=kbdtatshoot&adv=&mode=s&cat=false)

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