Word 97 template security patch installation considerations and issues

This article contains important information about the Word Template Security Patch. The following topics are covered in this article:

• Security Issue
• Installation Considerations
• How to Determine Whether Word SR-1 or SR-2 Is Installed on Your System
• How the Security Patch Can Be Applied to an Administrative Network Installation
• How to Determine Whether Word SR-1 or SR-2 Was Patched
• How to "Silently" Install the Patch (Without User Prompts)
• Troubleshooting Patch Errors

The Word Template Security Patch is available from the following Microsoft Web site: Note The Template Security Patch utility can be applied to Microsoft Word 97 Service Release 1 (SR-1) and Microsoft Word 97 Service Release 2 (SR-2) in the following languages:

The security issue

A document file can potentially be attached to a nontrusted template that contains macros. Microsoft Word considers documents and templates that are stored in either the user templates folder or the workgroup templates folder as trusted, or free of unwanted macro viruses. To determine where Word is storing your trusted user and workgroup templates, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the File Locations tab.

Microsoft provides a Word Template Security Patch to protect your documents from macro viruses that could potentially be spread from a nontrusted template.

With the Template Security Patch applied, Word warns you with the following warning when the document that you are opening is attached to a nontrusted template that contains macros:

Installation considerations

You can only apply the Word Template Security Patch utility to Microsoft Word 97 (SR-1) and (SR-2). You must first patch the original, or base, Microsoft Office or Word 97 installations with SR-1 before you can apply the Template Security Patch.

Note This patch modifies the Microsoft Word executable file. Reinstalling Microsoft Office 97 or updating SR-1 to SR-2 requires that the Template Security Patch be applied to your system again.

How to determine whether Word SR-1 or SR-2 is installed on your system

You can check your version of Word in the About dialog box. To check Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

1. Open Microsoft Word 97.
2. On the Help menu, click About Microsoft Word.
3. Determine whether the dialog box contains the following text:
   • Microsoft Word 97 SR-1
     
     -or-
   • Microsoft Word 97 SR-2

How the security patch can be applied to an administrative network installation

The Word Template Security Patch can be applied to an administrative "run from network server" installation of Word, provided that you have the permissions to write to the network folder where the Word executable resides. To patch a "run from network server" installation, follow these steps:

1. Log on as an administrator (or as any user with Write access to the installation folder) on a workstation that runs Word from the server.
2. Close any open sessions to the Microsoft Word executable.
3. Run the Template Security Patch.

After the patch is complete, users at other workstations are protected from macro viruses that can be spread from a nontrusted template the next time that they start Word.

How to determine whether Word SR-1 or SR-2 was patched

You can verify that your Word executable has been successfully patched by running the Wd97SP.exe program. The utility can determine whether your Word program was previously patched and notifies you with the following message:

How to "silently" install the patch (without user prompts)

You can apply the Security Patch silently to Word 97 installations by running it with command-line switches.

To extract the patch executable, type the following command: Winword.exe is then patched in silent mode, with no user prompts.

Troubleshooting patch errors

When you run the Template Security Patch, it checks the Windows registry for the location of the Word executable file and then performs a test to make sure that you actually have Microsoft Word 97 SR-1 or SR-2 installed on your computer.

Specifically, the patch is not successful if the following key in the Microsoft Windows registry refers to an incorrect location for Microsoft Word 97:

Run Setup with the /y Switch to Correct the Registry

Try to run Setup with the /y switch for Word or Office to repair registry corruption.

To run Setup with the /y switch, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Word or Office CD into the CD-ROM drive. If you installed Word or Office from floppy disks, insert the Setup Disk 1 in the floppy disk drive.
2. Click Start and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type the following
   drive:\setup /Y
   where drive is the letter of the drive that contains the CD or Setup Disk 1.
4. Click OK.
5. Click Reinstall.

This reregisters Word and all Office programs when you run Office Setup.

Turn off virus protection before running the patch

Some virus protection programs can interfere with the Template Security Patch. If you use a virus protection program on your computer, turn off the virus protection program before you run the patch. (You can turn on the virus protection program again after the patch is complete.)

Error message: "Cannot open Word executable"

If you attempt to run the patch, the following error message may appear: When you click OK, the following error message appears: This problem may occur in one of the following cases:

Case 1

If you run Word 97 and Word 2000 or later on the same computer, the path for the version of Word that you ran last will be in the registry key. If you last ran a version of Word later than Word 97, the patch will fail, because the patch is not designed for versions of Word later than Word 97.

To correct this problem, run Word 97 before you run the security patch, or manually change the following registry key to the correct path: Case 2

The Word 6.0/95 Export converter is not installed. To correct this problem, install the Word 6.0/95 Export converter before you try to run the Word 97 Template Security Patch.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Patch does not function with Microsoft Windows 2000 installed

If you have Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Word 97 for Windows installed, even in a dual boot environment between Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows 2000, the Word 97 Security Template Patch will be installed but will not function correctly. Macros in an attached template in a nontrusted location may still be activated, and no macro warning message appears when you open a Word document.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft Support options

If you cannot resolve this issue, several support options are available to assist you.

Quickly find answers yourself online

Use Microsoft Online Support to search the Microsoft Knowledge Base and other technical resources for fast, accurate answers. You can also customize the site to control your search.

To begin your search, browse to the following Web site:

Microsoft Product Support

Contact a Microsoft Product Support professional to assist you with troubleshooting problems.

For more information about obtaining help with troubleshooting Microsoft Windows, click Help Topics on the Help menu in Windows Explorer. On the Contents tab, double-click to open the Troubleshooting book. Then double-click to open the Contact Microsoft Technical Support book to view your support options.

For more information about obtaining help with troubleshooting Microsoft Word, click About Microsoft word on the Help menu, and then click Tech Support.

Microsoft Solution Providers

Microsoft Solution Providers are independent organizations that have teamed with Microsoft to use technology to solve business problems for companies of all sizes and industries.

To locate a Microsoft Solution Provider in your area in the U.S. and Canada, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. If you are outside the United States, contact your local subsidiary. To locate your subsidiary, see the Microsoft World Wide Offices Web site at: