You are prompted unexpectedly to restart the computer after you install a 2007 Office service pack or a 2007 Office update

Article ID: 942995 - View products that this article applies to.
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SYMPTOMS

After you install a 2007 Microsoft Office service pack or a 2007 Office update, you are prompted unexpectedly to restart the computer.

Note After you install 2007 Office Suite Service Pack 2, we recommend that you restart the computer to make sure that the new files can be used.
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CAUSE

This issue may occur if the service pack or update must modify a file that is currently being used. The file is used by a program that is running when you install the service pack or the update. Sometimes, the program that is using the file is not an Office program. This can include the operating system.

This issue may occur if one or more of the following conditions are true:
  • A device that synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook is docked together with the client computer. Additionally, ActiveSync is running.
  • An Office program is running.
  • Office Communicator 2005 or Office Communicator 2007 is running.
  • The Office Groove 2007 service (GrooveMonitor.exe) is running.
  • The Windows Desktop Search service (Searchprotocolhost.exe) is running.
  • The Japanese Input Method Editor is installed.
Note This list is not comprehensive. Other programs may also cause this issue to occur.
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RESOLUTION

Before you install the service pack or the update, exit any program or service that is running and that may interfere with the installation of the service pack or of the update.

The following methods provide information about how to exit some programs and services that may cause this issue to occur.

How to exit ActiveSync

To exit ActiveSync, you must end the Wcescomm.exe process. To end the Wcescomm.exe process, see the "How to end a process for a program that is running in the background" section.

Note If a user or a device is connected to the ActiveSync service, the user or the device will be disconnected when you end the process.

How to exit an Office program

To exit an Office program, click Exit on the File menu. If the Office program is not visible on the screen, press ALT+TAB to switch to the Office program. Or, click the taskbar button of the Office program.

Note A process of an Office program may continue to run in the background if a problem causes the program to exit abnormally. If you suspect that a process of an Office program is running in the background, end the process. To do this, see the "How to end a process for a program that is running in the background" section.

How to exit Communicator 2005 or Communicator 2007

To exit Communicator 2005 or Communicator 2007, sign out of Communicator, close the program, and then exit the program. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. On the Connect menu, click Sign Out.
  2. On the Connect menu, click Close.

    Note When you close Communicator 2005 or Communicator 2007, the program minimizes to the notification area.
  3. Right-click the Communicator 2005 or Communicator 2007 icon in the notification area, and then click Exit.

How to end a process for a program that is running in the background

Important Ending a process can cause unwanted results. This includes system instability and a loss of data. When you end a process, it cannot save its state or other data before the process is ended.

To end a process of a program that is running in the background, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use Task Manager

  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL.
  2. On the Processes tab, click process_filename, and then click End Process.

    Note In this method, process_filename represents the file name of the process that you want to end.

Method 2: Use the Taskkill command

  1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  2. At the command prompt, type taskkill /im process_filename, and then press ENTER.

    Notes
    • In this method, process_filename represents the file name of the process that you want to end.
    • For more information about the Taskkill command, type taskkill /? at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
  3. At the command prompt, type exit to close the Command Prompt window.

How to prevent the computer from unexpectedly restarting when you deploy a 2007 Office service pack or a 2007 Office update

If you are an administrator who is deploying an Office service pack or an Office update, you can use a script to exit programs or services that may interfere with the installation of the service pack or the update.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

To use a script to exit programs or services, create a script that resembles the following script. 
; TechNet Sample 2005
; http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/qanda/sept04/hey0927.mspx
; For more information about how to use scripts to manage processes, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
; http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/guide/sas_prc_overview.mspx

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject _
    ("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = 'Communicator.exe'")
For Each objProcess in colProcessList
    objProcess.Terminate()
Next
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MORE INFORMATION

Frequently, the installation of a 2007 Office service pack or a 2007 Office update does not require that you restart the computer. However, there are scenarios in which you must restart the computer.

If you must restart the computer after you install an Office service pack or an Office update, the restart information will be included in the documentation that accompanies the Office service pack or the Office update.

To determine the cause of the restart request, review the contents of the installation log file. By default, this file is not created. To create the installation log file and to find the processes that may be causing this issue, follow these steps:
  1. Do one of the following, as appropriate for your situation:
    • In Windows Vista, click Start
      Collapse this imageExpand this image
      the Start button
      , type run, type the path and the file name of the service pack or the update followed by /log in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

      Collapse this imageExpand this image
      User Account Control permission
      If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
    • In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type the path and the file name of the service pack or the update followed by /log in the Open box, and then click OK.
    For example, type the following in the Start Search box or in the Open box:
    path\file name /log:%temp%\Office2007SP1SetupLog.txt
    Notes
    • The path placeholder is the full path of the service pack or of the update. The file name placeholder is the name of the service pack or the update.
    • Several text files will be saved to the Temp folder. For 2007 Office SP1, the relevant log file is MAINWWsp1.log.
  2. Open the log file in a text editor, such as Notepad.
  3. Search for the following text:
    being held in use
  4. Continue the search until you have found all occurrences of the text in step 3.
The log file text will resemble the following:
MSI (s) (5C:3C) [16:06:34:629]: Product: Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007. The file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\MSO.DLL is being held in use by the following process Name: GROOVE , Id 388.
The /log command-line switch is supported by a software installation package, by an update package, or by a hotfix package. These packages must be created by using Microsoft Self-Extractor. The /log switch enables verbose logging in the installation log file.

For more information about the command-line switches that are supported by Microsoft Self-Extractor, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
912203
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912203/ )
Description of the command-line switches that are supported by a software installation package, an update package, or a hotfix package that was created by using Microsoft Self-Extractor
For more information about this problem in Outlook 2007, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
943590
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943590/ )
Error message when you try to start Outlook 2007 after you install 2007 Office Suite Service Pack 1: "Outlook.ost is in use and cannot be accessed"
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Properties

Article ID: 942995 - Last Review: October 6, 2009 - Revision: 3.0
APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Basic 2007
  • Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
  • Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
  • Microsoft Office Small Business 2007
  • Microsoft Office Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
  • Microsoft Office Access 2007
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007
  • Microsoft Office Groove 2007
  • Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
  • Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
  • Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
  • Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Word 2007
Keywords: 
kbupdateissue kbtshoot kbpubtypekc kbexpertisebeginner kbprb KB942995
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