Article ID: 910349 - Last Review: November 17, 2005 - Revision: 1.4

You cannot open a Visio drawing after you install Visio 2003 Viewer

After you install Microsoft Office Visio Viewer 2003, you cannot open a Microsoft Visio drawing.

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CAUSE

This issue may occur if the following conditions are true:

Microsoft Visio Viewer Web Component was installed on the computer before you installed Visio Viewer 2003.
Some of the file associations were not removed when Microsoft Visio Viewer Web Component was removed.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

If Visio Viewer Web Component is installed on the computer, use Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel to remove Visio Viewer Web Component.
Install Visio Viewer 2003 (if it is not installed).

In Notepad, create a registry file (.reg) to correct the Visio Viewer 2003 registry entries. To do this, follow these steps:

Copy and then paste the following text in a new Notepad file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vsd]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vst]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vdx]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vss]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vst]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vsx]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vtx]
"Content Type"="application/vnd.ms-visio.viewer"
@="VisioViewer.Viewer"

On the File menu, click Save As, and then click Text Document (*.txt).

Use a file name with the .reg extension when you name this file. Then, save this file to a location of your choice. For example, save the file to the root folder of drive C with the following file name:
Visioreg.reg

In Notepad, click New on the File menu, and then follow these steps:
1. Copy and then paste the following text to the new Notepad file:
```
@echo off
reg delete "hkcr\.vdx"  /f
reg delete "hkcr\.vsd"  /f
reg delete "hkcr\.vss"  /f
reg delete "hkcr\.vst"  /f
reg delete "hkcr\.vsx"  /f 
reg delete "hkcr\.vtx"  /f
regedit /s C:\Visioreg.reg
```
  Note The last line of the file must include the full path and the file name of the .reg file that you saved in step 3.
2. On the File menu, click Save As. Then, save the Notepad file to a file name with the .bat extension and to the location of your choice.
  
  For example, save the file to the root folder of drive C with the following file name:
  Visiofix.bat
Quit Notepad.
In Windows Explorer, locate the folder in which you saved the .bat file that you created in step 4. To run the batch file, double-click the .bat file. For example, double-click the Visiofix.bat file.
Now try to open a Visio drawing in Visio Viewer 2003.