Error message when you try to install some of the Office 2003 or Office XP updates: "No valid sequence could be found for the set of patches"

When you try to install an update for Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or a later version of Office 2003, or you try to install an update for Microsoft Office XP, you may experience the following symptoms:

• When you try to install the update from one of the following Web sites, you may receive error 0x80070670 or error 0x80070663 during the installation of the update, and the installation does not continue:
  • The Office Update Web site
  • The Microsoft Update Web site
  • An administrative Web site
• When you download the update, and then you try to install the update manually, you may receive the following error message:
  No valid sequence could be found for the set of patches.

These symptoms may occur if you try to install the updates on a Windows-based computer that has Windows Installer version 3.1 installed. If you turn on verbose logging in Windows Installer, you may see the following error message in the Windows Installer log file:Note The transform name and the update name that appear in the log file may vary.

This issue may occur if one or more of the registry entries that are provided in the following table are missing from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage registry subkey.

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:

Make sure that the registry entries that are listed in the “Cause” section are in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage registry subkey. If one or more of the registry entries are missing, you have to add them one at a time. For example, to add the 850 registry entry, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CodePage
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click String Value.
4. Type 850, and then press ENTER.
5. Double-click 850, type c_850.nls in the Value data box, and then click OK.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 if any other registry entries that are listed in the “Cause” section are missing.
7. On the File menu, click Exit.
8. Restart the computer.
9. Try to install the update.

In Windows Installer 3.1, update sequencing compares the transforms in an update. As part of the update sequencing routine, all the transforms are compared to determine where in the update sequence the transforms have to be numbered. However, if a code page string value for the current transform is null, the transform cannot perform a comparison, and the installation does not continue.

The comparison test to determine the update sequence is successful only if the code page string entries have correct values. When a transform performs a comparison test, the comparison test determines whether that particular transform is invalid or valid. If the comparison test finds that the transform is invalid, the comparison process then moves to the next transform. The transform does not detect that it is invalid until it performs the comparison test. If the transform cannot perform the comparison test, the installation does not continue.

Update sequencing occurs most frequently in Office updates. This occurs because the Office updates localize the summary information stream that the code page of the transform must read. This means that the Office updates verify which language version of Office you are using, and then use that language information to install the update on the computer.

For more information about how to enable Windows Installer logging, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: