Description of the Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment update for the Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

The Microsoft Office Isolated Conversion Environment (MOICE) feature that is added to the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats is used to more securely open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint binary format files.

To help protect your computer from risk, generally do not open files that you receive as attachments to e-mail messages if the messages arrive unexpectedly. Also, do not open files that you receive as attachments if the files are from a person whom you do not know.

If you must open attachments, use MOICE to help reduce the security risk. MOICE can help reduce the effect of attacks that come through Word, Excel, or PowerPoint binary format files. Use MOICE when you suspect that you are under direct attack and you do not have a software update that can be used to resolve the vulnerability.

MOICE uses the 2007 Microsoft Office system converters to convert the Office binary format files into the Office Open XML format. This process helps remove the potential threat that may exist if the document is opened in the binary format. Additionally, MOICE converts incoming files in an isolated environment. This helps protect the computer from a potential threat.

Note MOICE is supported only when it is used together with Microsoft Office 2003 or together with the 2007 Office suites. MOICE is not supported for any other version of Microsoft Office.

MOICE currently supports the following document formats:

• .doc
• .ppt
• .pot
• .pps
• .xls
• .xlt
• .xla

Install MOICE

Prerequisites

To install MOICE:

• You must have Office 2003 or a 2007 Office suite installed.
• You must have the Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats.
  
  The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
  
  
  Collapse this imageExpand this image

  
  Download the FileFormatConverters.exe package now.
  (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en)
• You must have all updates that are recommended for all Office programs. Visit Microsoft Update to install all recommended updates:
  http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx

  (http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx)

Install MOICE

To install MOICE, visit Microsoft Update, and then install all recommended updates: Additionally, install the updates that are described in the following Knowledge Base articles:

Known issues with MOICE

• After you repair Office 2003 or install an update to Office 2003, the file types associations with MOICE may be removed and must be recreated. The Enable MOICE Fix it Solution below will recreate the file associations for you.

MOICE must be the registered handler for each supported document format.

To have us enable or disable MOICE for all supported document formats for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. To enable or disable MOICE individually for each document format that is supported, you must run the appropriate command listed in the "Let me fix it myself" section.

To enable or disable MOICE for all supported document formats automatically, click the appropriate Fix it button or link below. Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and then follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.


Note these wizard may be in English only; however, both automatic fixes work for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save these automatic fixes to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Next, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

You can use one of the following methods to run the commands to enable or disable MOICE for all supported document formats:

• Click Start, click Run, type the command, and the click OK.
• Type the command at a command prompt.
• Execute the commands in a batch file.
• Push the commands by using Group Policy.
  
  Note The Group Policy method must be completed by an administrator.

The following table describes the command to enable or to disable MOICE for the supported document formats: Note You may have to reassociate the file name extensions by using the commands that are described in this table if the following conditions are true:

• Microsoft Office 2003 is upgraded to a later version of Office.
• A hotfix or a public update for Office 2003 is installed.
• The Office 2003 installation is repaired.

After MOICE is enabled for a file type, MOICE will try to validate the file when the file is opened for the first time. If an error occurs, you will receive an error message.

Recommended deployment method

In addition to using MOICE, we recommend that you change the registry settings to prevent file types that you want to pass through MOICE from being opened. For more information about how to change the registry to prevent .ppt files, .pox files, or .pps files from being opened, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to change the registry to prevent .doc files from being opened, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to change the registry to prevent .xls files, .xlt files, and .xla files from being opened, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Issues that may occur when you use MOICE

• By default, MOICE stops trying to convert a file if the conversion process takes longer than 45 seconds. To customize the time-out value, follow these steps.
  
  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:
  322756

  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

  How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
  1. Click Start, click Run, type Regedit, and then click OK.
  2. Expand the following registry subkey:
     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\OICE
  3. Right-click OICE, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
  4. Type MaxConvTime, and then press ENTER to name the new value.
  5. Right-click MaxConvTime, and then click Modify.
  6. In the Value data box, type the time-out value that you want to use, and then click OK. (The time-out value is represented in milliseconds.)
  7. Close Registry Editor.
• You cannot use MOICE to open a PowerPoint presentation that is created by using Microsoft PowerPoint 97 or that is created by using an earlier version of PowerPoint.
• After you use MOICE to convert a file, the default save location is the %temp% folder when you try to save the file. Also, the %temp% folder is the default folder when you try to open a file.
• Anyone who has access to the computer can view the files in the %temp% folder.
• When you use MOICE to convert a file, the converted file is saved in the %temp% folder. The converted file is not deleted from the %temp% folder when the file is closed. If a file is opened multiple times, the file is converted multiple times. Additionally, more than one copy of the file is saved in the %temp% folder. If you have made changes to the first copy of the document, the second copy of the document will not contain the changes.
• By default, the applicable program opens after MOICE finishes a file conversion. Then, the converted document is opened. To prevent the applicable program from opening, use the –noapp flag when you enter the MOICE command. The –noapp flag is useful when you want to complete batch conversions.
  
  For more information about batch conversions, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/c6189fcd-3668-4cd7-8bac-5c37e338bde21033.mspx?mfr=true

  (http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/c6189fcd-3668-4cd7-8bac-5c37e338bde21033.mspx?mfr=true)
• Smart tag data is stripped from PowerPoint presentations when you use MOICE to convert a presentation that contains smart tags.
• Macros are stripped from files when you use MOICE to convert files that contain macros.
• When you open a file by using a link inside a file that has been converted by MOICE, the linked file is not converted by MOICE.
• Embedded documents cannot be converted.
• Documents that use rights management cannot be converted.
• Documents that use passwords cannot be converted.
• You cannot use the Edit Document in Microsoft Office Program_Name feature in Microsoft SharePoint when you use MOICE to convert Office files.
• If damage exists, it will be removed from a binary Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc) file during the conversion. Therefore, the contents of the file may change unexpectedly.
  
  For more information about how the file conversion may remove damage from a document, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  826864

  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826864/ )

  How to troubleshoot damaged Word documents

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support.