"DLL is missing" when installing Office

[Stickman]

The girlfriend is trying to install Microsoft Office on her computer at work and whenever she tries, it keeps coming up and saying DLL is missing "or something like that" to quote her words. In simple terms, what is the problem and how will I be able to fix it? You see, Mr know it all boyfriend has to go into her office to try and fix it and I am going to look like a right idiot if I go out there and cannot fix it for her.... Every set of eyes will be on me and I need to impress! Any ideas as to what it could be....and most importantly, how to fix it?!

 

 

 

Stick

[BadaBing]

Sorry dude , can't help you , but to save face for her , marry her , boyfriends are life savers , husbands....well ...we were not as smart as the boyfriends....

 

 

 

BadaBing

 

 

[Guest]

Doesn't this error message also give the name of the missing .dll?

 

 

 

Once you know the name of the missing .dll, search for it on another Windows machine, note where it resides, make a copy and drop it into the corresponding folder on her system. Restart. Retry the install.

 

 

 

Give a shout once you know the name of the file -- somebody may have it if you don't.

[Guest]

Has she reformatted the HD?

 

I tried reinstalling after a reformat a few months back and kept getting missing DLL for loads of DLL's. I then reformatted two times on the trot and and carried out a fresh reinstall with no problems.

 

Alternatively reinstall windows over the top of the existing install.

 

 

 

There is also the standard as stated by DB unless there are shitloads missing.

[whosyourdaddy]

DLL is a dynamic library file. And it is usually found in the registry

 

 

 

 

 

I am presuming that it is an orginal at her office so you will not have to worry about missing files from a bad copy.

 

 

 

Microsoft DLL files usually start with an M.. Check the alpha-numberic number of the DLL file and run a search on the microsoft site to see what the missing file is.

 

 

 

 

[adikgede]

I am presuming that it is an orginal at her office so you will not have to worry about missing files from a bad copy.

 

 

 

If this computer is in Thailand thats a generous assumption. They were having this problem at a place where I worked and I refused to work on the computer because all the Windows computers were using pirated software. They called a "technician" and he just selected a reduced feature set and was able to get MS Office to work. Nevermind that Star Office 5.2 was already on all the computers, and is free.

 

 

 

 

[SoiledCowboy]

Just a thought on this one - often when you install a software package it will by design install all over again some common operating system files that already exist and are more or less essential - this feature is less and less required these days because of online updating features etc. But, if you "uninstall" that software, it is not smart enough to leave those common system files in place and deletes these too! - usually nothing major but enough to cause faults maybe like you are seeing now. Personally, I would reinstall all service packs for the operating system(95,98,XP,whatever), as well as other os patches and upgrades and vb runtime packs and this may rectify it - if this is all too hard, and you can fix problems just about all the time without ever reinstalling the os or the cowards way out of formatting and starting again, maybe quickly install several common software proggies and often the missing dll file can be restored (always reboot when done). Can you get its name.........xxx.dll if nothing works?

[elef]

IMO, dll-files are the biggest hole in the open architecture of Windows.

 

 

 

More than one program can use same dll-file. So a new program can change a dll-file resulting in that an other program stops to work. An uninstall of one program can also delete a shared dll-file.

 

 

 

I just checked my pc - 2796 dll-files!

[BaronTT]

Be careful with the DLL files. A big problem is that software companies frequently update DLL files, so you often have situations where an updated DLL file is not compatible with some of the older ones.

 

 

 

I've had severe Windows problems when some of the DLLs were newer than others.

 

 

 

I'm wondering if the copy she's installing is a real, MS licensed package. It could very well be that she's installing a bootleg, and not all of the files were copied correctly. I've seen it happen before with bootlegs. (Not personally!)

[gobbledonk]

Baron said:

 

 

 

Be careful with the DLL files. A big problem is that software companies frequently update DLL files, so you often have situations where an updated DLL file is not compatible with some of the older ones.

 

 

 

Aaah, the old 'DLL hell'

 

 

 

If I can make a little confession - I got a pirated copy of Windows 2000 Professional when I was in Thailand, and it has performed flawlessly. Other than the fact that the CD would not boot on install, it's been great.

 

 

 

Getting back to Stick's problem, Microsoft provide some pretty detailed Q&A on common install issues for their apps. As earlier posters have mentioned, you will need the exact error message - plug it into a search engine and you should get a host of answers. Unless they say 'Install XYZ from ABC', I would be inclined to completely reinstall the OS.

 

 

 

Alternatively, as someone else mentioned, StarOffice is a great alternative. We got a copy for $AUD 140 here at work, and it rocks under Windows. I'll review it in another post for those who are interested.