A second presentation does not start until the original presentation is finished in PowerPoint 2003

When you click a hyperlink in a Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 presentation to start a second presentation, the second presentation does not start until the original presentation is finished.

This problem may occur if the following conditions are true:

• The ForceShellExecute registry entry is present in the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Internet
  Note The ForceShellExecute registry entry is a DWORD value.
• The value of the ForceShellExecute registry entry is set to 1.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 3. To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
After you install the service pack, follow the steps that are listed in the "How to enable and disable the hotfix" section of the article to set the OverrideForceShellExecute registry key and to activate the hotfix.

Hotfix information

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the PowerPoint 2003 post-Service Pack 2 Hotfix Package that is dated April 5, 2006. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Note To install this hotfix, you must have Write permissions to the following registry subkey: The following behavior occurs when you apply this hotfix:

• The value of the Internet registry subkey that is mentioned in the "Cause" section is changed momentarily to 0. This behavior occurs so that the PowerPoint presentations can be correctly linked when you apply this hotfix. If another program accesses the Internet registry key while you are applying this hotfix, unexpected behavior may occur in the other program.
• If PowerPoint 2003 closes unexpectedly at the moment that the Internet registry subkey is changed to 0, the value of the ForceShellExecute registry entry will remain as 0. You must manually set the value of the ForceShellExecute registry entry to 1 to reactivate the registry entry.

How to enable and disable the hotfix

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To enable this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Exit PowerPoint 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Options
4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type OverrideForceShellExecute, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click OverrideForceShellExecute, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

To disable this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Exit PowerPoint 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\PowerPoint\Options
4. Right-click OverrideForceShellExecute, and then click Modify.
5. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
6. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 3.