How to troubleshoot a failed installation of the Beta 2 Technical Refresh update for 2007 Microsoft Office suites

This article describes how to troubleshoot a failed installation of the Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR) update for 2007 Microsoft Office suites. Try these troubleshooting steps before you remove and then reinstall 2007 Office suites Beta 2.

Notes

• Beta software does not necessarily display the same high level of stability that shipped Microsoft programs display. Therefore, beta testers may experience problems with 2007 Office suites Beta 2 programs that could potentially result in the loss, corruption, or destruction of existing data. This beta testing release is not appropriate for use in a production environment. We strongly recommend that you back up your existing data before you install and run the update.
• There is no product support for 2007 Office suites Beta 2 programs. You are welcome to participate in a Microsoft Office newsgroup to share your 2007 Office suites Beta 2 experiences with other users and to ask for advice. To find a Microsoft Office Newsgroup, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx)

If you have encountered a failure when you try to install the B2TR update, we recommend that you follow these steps:

1. Empty the Temp folder.
2. Verify that sufficient disk space is available.
3. Try to reinstall the update with logging enabled.

If you encounter a failure when you try to reinstall the B2TR update, review the Microsoft Office newsgroups to determine whether the problem was already reported. If the problem was not reported, you can report the problem. Additionally, you can request help from the other newsgroup members.

Note You may be asked to supply a compressed file that contains log files and screenshots of any error messages.

If you cannot install the update after you follow these troubleshooting steps and refer to the Microsoft Office newsgroups, you may have to remove the 2007 Office installation from the computer. A failed update can sometimes result in the inability to remove 2007 Office suites. Therefore, if you cannot remove 2007 Office suites, check the Microsoft Office newsgroups for information about how to manually remove 2007 Office suites from the computer.

Important Do not use the Windows Installer Cleanup utility. It cannot remove all the necessary information. Using the Windows Installer Cleanup utility inappropriately can result in corrupting the Windows Installer configuration management information for other products.

Note At this point of the beta program, a failure during the installation of an update will not result in a rollback of the update. Additionally, the B2TR update cannot be removed without removing the complete 2007 Office suites installation.

Step 1: Empty the Temp folder

To empty the Temp folder, follow these steps:

1. Exit all programs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type cmd /c /k del %temp%\*.* /q /s /f in the Open box, and then click OK.

Step 2: Verify that at least 2 gigabytes of free disk space is available

To install the B2TR update, you must have at least 2 gigabytes (GB) of free disk space that is available. The installation process requires this space for temporary and permanent caching of the updated files.

For more information about the system requirements for 2007 Office suites, visit the following Microsoft Web site: To verify that there is at least 2 GB of free disk space that is available, follow these steps:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click the drive on which Microsoft Windows is installed, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, verify that at least 2 GB of free disk space is available on the drive that contains the Windows folder. The Windows folder name includes the %windir% environment variable. If there is less than 2 GB of free disk space that is available, free some disk space. To do this, remove some nonessential programs by using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. Alternatively, use the Disk Cleanup tool.
   
   To use the Disk Cleanup tool, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Step 3: Enable logging

Updates for 2007 Office suites use the Windows Installer technology in addition to the controlling logic of the update. To gather the information that Microsoft needs in order to determine the cause of a failure, you may have to enable two types of logging.

Note By default, logging is not enabled. This keeps the disk space that is required to a minimum.

Enable Windows Installer logging

To enable Windows Installer logging, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc in the Open box, and then click OK to start the Group Policy Object Editor.
2. Expand Computer Configuration.
3. Expand Administrative Templates.
4. Expand Windows Components.
5. Click Windows Installer.
6. Double-click Logging.
7. In the Logging box, type voicewarmup.
8. Click OK.

When the Windows Installer program is invoked during the installation process, a log file is created in the %temp% folder. The log file has a randomly generated name that starts with MSI and ends with .log.

Note If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you cannot follow these steps. This is because Windows XP Home Edition does not contain the Gpedit.msc file. In this case, use the alternative method that is described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Enable update controller logging by using a command line switch

To log the update controller activity, you must add a command line switch when you start the update. If you opened the update and did not save the update when you first downloaded it, you must download the update again, click Save, and then save the update locally. You can also open a Windows Explorer window to the destination folder. To do this, click Open Folder instead of Open.

To start the downloaded update by using the command line switch that is required to create a log file that is named B2tr.log, follow these steps:

1. In Windows Explorer, open the folder that contains the downloaded update.
2. Click Start, click Run, and then press DELETE to clear the contents of the Open box.
3. In Windows Explorer, drag the downloaded file to the Open box. This will automatically populate the Open box with the path and the file name of the update file.
4. Click in the path in the Open box, and then press END. This will take you to the end of the path in the Open box.
5. Press the SPACEBAR one time, and then type /log:%temp%\B2tr.log.
6. Click OK.

How to create a compressed file for log files and screenshots

Because log files and screenshots can become very large, we recommend that you put them in a compressed (zipped) folder file before you share them. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type %temp% in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click in the Temp window, point to New, and then click Text Document.
3. Type Logfiles.txt, and then press ENTER.
4. Right-click the Logfiles.txt file, point to Send To, and then click Compressed (zipped) Folder. This will create a new file that is named Logfile.zip.

Select the desired log files or screenshot files. Then, drag them onto the Logfile.zip file. The files will be automatically added to the compressed (zipped) folder file. After you add all the files that you want, the Logfile.zip file should be ready to send in an e-mail message. Alternatively, the Logfile.zip file can be posted to the appropriate newsgroup.