"Gwxl97.xla could not be found" error message when you start Excel 2000

When you try to start Microsoft Excel, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

This problem may occur if the registry contains one or more registry keys from an earlier installation of Excel.

To resolve this issue, follow these steps.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate and then expand the following key:
   HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office
4. Expand the 8.0, 9.0, or 10.0 subkey.
   
   These numbers represent versions. 8.0 is the Microsoft Office 97 subkey, 9.0 is the Office 2000 subkey, and 10.0 is the Office XP subkey.)
5. Right-click Excel, then click Rename.
6. In the box that appears, type ExcelOld, and then press ENTER.
7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 to rename each Excel subkey in each version subkey.
8. Quit Registry Editor, and then start Excel.