Article ID: 828376 - Last Review: December 4, 2007 - Revision: 2.10

"The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable" error message when you click a feature in an Office 2003 program

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SYMPTOMS

When you click a feature in one of the Microsoft Office programs that are listed in the "Applies To" section, you may receive one or more of the following error messages.
  • In Microsoft Office 2003 programs
    The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.

    Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package '<filename>.MSI' in the box below.
    Note <filename> refers to the name of the .msi installation file that corresponds to the application that is installed, such as Pro11.Msi for Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition.

    When you click Cancel in the error message, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:
    Error 1706. Setup cannot find the required files. Check your connection to the network, or CD-ROM drive. For other potential solutions to this problem, see <Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\1033\SETUP.CHM.
    Note <Drive> is the drive, such as the C drive or the D drive, where you installed the Office 2003 program.

    When you click OK in the error message, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:
    Word was unable to read this document. It may be corrupt. Try one or more of the following:
    • Open and Repair the file.
    • Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.
  • In Microsoft Office XP programs
    The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.
    When you click Cancel, you receive an error message that is similar to the following:
    Error 1706. Setup cannot find the required files. Check your connection to the network, or CD-ROM drive. For other potential solutions to this problem, see <Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\1033\SETUP.HLP.
    Note <Drive> is the drive, such as the C drive or the D drive, where you installed the Office XP program.

    Additionally, you may receive subsequent error messages that are specific to the feature that you are trying to access. For example, if try to access a Microsoft Excel add-in that you have not previously used, you may receive the following error message after you close the "Error 1706" error message:
    Microsoft Excel can't run this add-in. Microsoft Excel cannot install the necessary files due to Windows installer error 1603.

    ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE
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CAUSE

This behavior may occur if both the following conditions are true when you try to install Office features:
  • The Installed on First Use option is selected.
  • You are installing the Office feature from a resource, such as a network server, that becomes unavailable during the installation.
Note In Office 2003 programs, you do not receive any of the error messages that are referenced in the "Symptoms" section of this article if you use a local install source to install Office features. For more information about the local install feature, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
825933  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825933/ ) Local Install Source (Msocache)
830168  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830168/ ) Frequently asked questions about the Local Install Source feature in Office 2003
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RESOLUTION

If you become disconnected from your installation point or network resource, reconnect and try to use the Office feature again.
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MORE INFORMATION

If you are a mobile user who is using a laptop computer, and the installation resource is unavailable, you cannot use the Office feature until you reconnect to your installation resource.

When you click the Installed on First Use option for specific features in Office, these Office features are not installed until you first use them. Therefore, the Installed on First Use option requires that you can connect to the installation point when you try to use the Office feature.

You may receive error 1706 when you try to import or export files in Outlook:
Error 1706. Setup cannot find the required files. Check your connection to the network, or CD-ROM drive. For other potential solutions to this problem, see <Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\1033\SETUP.HLP.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
829985  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829985/ ) Error message when you try to import or to export files in Outlook 2003 or in Outlook 2007: "Microsoft Outlook cannot start the required translator"
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
  • Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Word 2002
  • Microsoft FrontPage 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Publisher 2002 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Student and Teachers Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office XP Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Office XP Students and Teachers
  • Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition
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Keywords: 
kbsetup kbpending kberrmsg kbprb KB828376
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