OFF97: Overview of the Updated Microsoft Office 97 SR-2 Patch

This article describes the differences between the original and updated versions of Microsoft Office 97 SR-2, explains how to use the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker utility, and includes a brief history of Microsoft Office 97 SR-2.

For more information about Microsoft Office 97 SR-2, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: IMPORTANT: Microsoft Office 97 Service Release CD-ROMs and replacement CD-ROMs are no longer available from Microsoft. For additional information about obtaining the Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 1 (SR-1) and Microsoft Office 97 Service Release 2 (SR-2), click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

What are the different versions of Microsoft Office 97 SR-2?

There are five different versions of Microsoft Office 97 SR-2.
Why was the original SR-2 Patch removed from Microsoft Tools on the Web?

In September 1998, Microsoft announced the availability of the SR-2 Patch and posted it on Microsoft Tools on the Web. In most cases, the SR-2 Patch installed correctly for those who downloaded it.

However, shortly after the release of the SR-2 Patch, Microsoft Product Support discovered that there were certain conditions under which the SR-2 Patch would not install correctly. Usually the problem would occur if any of the following conditions were true:

• If you installed the SR-1 Patch on a computer where Microsoft Windows 98 was already installed, the SR-1 Patch may not have installed correctly. In turn, this could prevent the SR-2 Patch from installing correctly.
  
  
• If you installed the SR-1 Patch on a computer where Microsoft Outlook 98, Microsoft FrontPage 98, or Microsoft Project 98 was already installed, the SR-1 Patch may not have installed correctly. In turn, this could prevent the SR-2 Patch from installing correctly.
  
  NOTE: The above issues are corrected in the currently available SR-1 Patch.
• After you installed the SR-1 Patch, you used the Microsoft Office Setup program to remove and then reinstall one or more Microsoft Office components. You then did not reinstall the SR-1 Patch. As a result, some of the reinstalled components are not SR-1 components.
  
  
• If you installed the original version of the SR-1 Patch, the version of Microsoft Word 97 installed by the SR-1 Patch may not be recognized by the SR-2 Patch as a valid SR-1 component.

In each case listed above, the computer contains a "mixed" installation of Microsoft Office 97; some of the components are SR-1 components, and some are "base level" (pre-SR-1) components.

The original SR-2 Patch would not install correctly if your computer contained a "mixed" installation of Microsoft Office 97. Microsoft Product Support documented this issue in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Even though the steps included in this article corrected the problem in most cases, they were somewhat complicated and time-consuming to follow. So that Microsoft could take steps to eliminate this problem, Microsoft removed the original SR-2 Patch from Microsoft Tools on the Web in late September 1998.

How is Sr2bof97.exe different from the original SR-2 Patch?

The updated SR-2 Patch differs from the original SR-2 Patch in the following respects:

(The following corrections were added to the October 1998 patch update and are also incorporated into the October 1999 patch update, SR-2b).

• The fourth problem listed earlier in this article, that the SR-2 Patch may not recognize Microsoft Word 97 SR-1 as a valid SR-1 component, has been corrected.
  
  
• The problem described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base has been corrected:
  193565  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/193565/EN-US/ ) OFF97: SR-2 Patch Can't Update Admin Install Without Bookshelf
• The log file created by the updated SR-2 Patch contains clearer and more detailed error messages than the log file created by the original SR-2 Patch.

What files does the Update include?

The following is a complete list of the files included in the SR-2 Updates (Sr2aof97.exe, posted on Tools on the Web October 1998, and Sr2bof97.exe, posted on Microsoft Tools on the Web October 1999):
In October 1999, the SR-2 patch was updated again to include the Year 2000 changes for Microsoft Outlook 97 and for Microsoft Jet 3.5 Service Pack 2. The files updated for the re-release include those listed in the following table.
If you are not sure which version of the update you have, use the Find feature in Windows to search for one of these files. When the file is found, right-click the file and click Properties to determine which version of SR-2 is installed. To obtain the latest versions of the files, you must download the latest version of the SR-2 Patch Update from Tools on the Web (http://office.microsoft.com/) .

For more information about the updated files, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:


What is the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker?

Microsoft designed the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker to assist you in the SR-2 Patch installation process. This small utility analyzes your computer and recommends a course of action. The file name of the utility is Sr2chk.exe.

There are four different "states" that can be detected by the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker. The message you receive indicates the course of action you should take in order to upgrade your computer to Microsoft Office 97 SR-2. If the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker recommends that you install or reinstall the SR-1 Patch, you can download it from the following Web address: You can download the updated SR-2 Patch and the Microsoft Office 97 Version Checker from the following Web address: Why is there no updated SR-2 Replacement CD?

The Microsoft Office Setup program included on the SR-2 Replacement CD is not affected by the problems described earlier in this article. So it was not necessary to create an updated SR-2 Replacement CD to correct that problem. The SR-2 Replacement CD contains all of the same program updates as the updated SR-2 Patch (Sr2aof97.exe: posted on Microsoft Tools on the Web October 1998).

NOTE: Additional files were updated in an SR-2 patch update in October 1999 (Sr2bof97.exe: posted on Microsoft Tools on the Web October 1999).

To install Office 97 SR-2b, you must have Office 97 Service Release 1 (SR-1) or later installed on your computer. Office 97 SR-1 is currently available for download. To determine whether Office 97 SR-1 is properly installed on your computer, run the Office 97 Version Checker.

If you have not previously installed Office 97 SR-2, you can download Office 97 SR-2b from the Office 97 Service Release 2b (SR-2b) Download Information page. Office 97 users can also receive the Office 97 SR-2b patch on the Microsoft Year 2000 Resource CD.