After you install Microsoft Office XP or one of the Office XP programs, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Back to the top

This behavior occurs if a program conflicts with the Mosdmn.exe and Mosearch.exe files.

The Mosdmn.exe and Mosearch.exe files are part of the "Support for fast searching" feature in Office XP. This feature is similar to the Find Fast feature in Microsoft Office 2000. Fast searching uses the Indexing Service in Office XP to create a catalog of Office files on your computer's hard disk.

Back to the top

To resolve this issue, use the following methods, as needed, in the order presented.

Back to the top

Method 1: Clean Boot with Only MoSearch

The Mosearch.exe (Microsoft Office Search Service) and Mosdmn.exe (Microsoft Office 10 Search Filter Daemon) Startup items may be conflicting with some other program (or programs) running in the background. Therefore, clean boot your computer with only MoSearch selected on the Startup menu to determine whether this program is the source of the conflict. To do this, follow these steps:

1.	Click Start, and then click Run.
2.	In the Open box, type msconfig.exe, and then click OK.
3.	On the General tab, click Selective startup.
4.	On the Startup tab, click to clear all check boxes except for MoSearch. NOTE: In Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), leave the *StateMgr check box selected as well.
5.	Click OK, and then click Yes when you are prompted to restart the computer.
6.	If the error message can be reproduced, repeat the preceding steps. In step 3, also click to clear the Process System.ini file and Process Win.ini file check boxes.

If the error message cannot be reproduced, this indicates that MoSearch is conflicting with some other program or programs running in the background. Follow these steps to locate the conflicting program:

1.	Click Start, and then click Run.
2.	In the Open box, type msconfig.exe, and then click OK.
3.	On the Startup tab, click to select one of the check boxes.
4.	Click OK, and then click Yes when you are prompted to restart the computer.
5.	If the preceding steps reproduce the error message, the last item added to the Startup menu is causing the conflict. If the error message is not reproduced, repeat these steps until all Startup menu check boxes are selected.
6.	If all the Startup menu check boxes are selected and the error message is still not reproduced, start Msconfig again, and then click to select the Process System.ini file and Process Win.ini file check boxes.

If these steps don't help you find and eliminate the conflict, proceed to the following method.

Back to the top

Method 2: Uninstall the "Support for Fast Searching" Feature

To uninstall the "Support for fast searching" feature from all Office XP products that are installed on your computer, follow these steps.

Note This applies only to computers that are running Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition.

1.	Quit all Office programs.
2.	Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3.	Double-click Add/Remove Programs.NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
4.	On the Install/Uninstall tab, click Microsoft Office XP product, where Office XP product is the name of the specific Office product in question. If you are using a stand-alone version of one of the Office programs, click the appropriate product in the list.
5.	Click Add/Remove.
6.	In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, click Add or Remove Features, and then click Next.
7.	Click the plus sign (+) next to Office Tools, point to the icon next to Support for fast searching, and then click Not Available.
8.	Click Update.
9.	Repeat steps 2 through 8 for all other Office XP products installed on your computer.
10.	Restart your computer.

NOTE: After you perform these steps, search for the Mosearch.exe and Mosdmn.exe files. You should not find them. If you do find them, you can safely delete these two files.

Back to the top

For additional information about the Indexing Service, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Back to the top