PUB2000: Error Message: Cannot Start Publisher by Clicking Shortcut Icon

If you try to start Microsoft Publisher from an icon on the desktop, or from the Windows Start menu on the taskbar, you may see the following message: followed by a second message, where filename is the name of a file other than Mspub.exe. This dialog box contains a list of several programs. If you choose MSPUB from the list, you may receive the following error message: The icon for the shortcut may also change from the Publisher icon to another icon. Publisher will not start when you click this icon.

NOTE: Microsoft Office 2000 has built-in functionality that allows you to get more information about difficult-to-troubleshoot alerts or error messages. If you want to enable this functionality for this and other error messages in Microsoft Office 2000, please download the Microsoft Office 2000 Customizable Alerts file from the Microsoft Office Update Web site at the following address: NOTE: If you reached this article by clicking the Web Info button in an error message, you already have Customizable Alerts enabled.

The shortcut is broken, pointing to an older installation of Publisher that no longer exists, or to a deleted or moved MSPUB.EXE. Windows cannot locate the original Publisher executable file, and locates another file that is of similar size, or date. Windows also cannot locate the Publisher installation files and the shortcut was not updated to point to the current Publisher executable file.

NOTE: The Publisher Installer gives you the option to remove all previous versions of Publisher.

Delete the shortcut and create a new one. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Delete the broken shortcut by dragging it to the Recycle Bin.
2. On the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, then click Windows Explorer.
3. Locate the mspub.exe. The default location is:
   
   C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder.
4. Right-click on the mspub.exe, point to Send To, then click Desktop as Shortcut.