[sue.words]

I have been having problems installing Windows Updates.

About the middle of December I noticed I was getting Updates Available messages almost every night when I closed down. As this does not usually happen and as I was only getting these messages as often as usual on my laptop I concluded that there was something wrong. But as I was too busy with Christmas and work I decided just to ignore the messages till I had more time.

Today I have been trying – unsuccessfully – to remedy the situation.

First, at a colleague's suggestion I unticked Automatically Update. Then I went to the MS Updates website to try to download and install any updates I may have missed getting since mid-December.

I was able to download a fair list but when I came to install them nearly all failed to install.

Clicking on the ? mark beside each update filename, I discovered that they had all failed as a result of Error 0x80070643.

I found some instructions* (I think at the Microsoft website) for what to do if you see Error 0x80070643 and tried installing the updates again. Still no luck.

I then made a tentative attempt to do something else, namely, follow this advice:
====================================================
Office 2003 Update fails to install with error 0x80070643
Last updated : 10/21/2005 Print | Close




Problem description
You receive error 0x80070643 when you are installing Office 2003 Updates. Updates fail to install because ose service is disabled or cannot be started. Applicable Office versions: Office 2003


Applicable operating systems and products

• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003

Resolutions
1. Start the ose service
Windows 2003/XP
1. Run the following command from command prompt to check the state of ose service

sc qc ose
2. If the service is disabled, then run the command

sc config ose start= demand

For more information about Office 2003 Update fails to install with error 0x80070643, see article 903774 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.


http://www.update.mi...ln=en&IsMu=True
===================================================

Unfortunately I accidentally typed "sc quo se". I don't know what would have happened if I'd typed "sc qc ose" but nothing much happened as it was. I think I had pressed Enter before I realized my mistake. It then didn't seem to be possible to correct my mistake or get out of where I was. I felt pretty scared and well and truly out of my depth.

Above I wrote " some instructions* (I think at the Microsoft website)" with an asterisk because I now realize with some panic that I can't remember what it was that I did. I think it involved looking up the Startup type of OSE and potentially changing it from Disabled (or was it Enabled?) to Manual. Anyhow I didn't make any change because it already was listed as Manual.

I am now really worried as I cannot think of what else I can do and all the instructions I can find seem very technical (and I am quite an experienced computer user).

I created a System Restore point before I did anything. Do you think I should restore the computer to that point before I try anything else?

Please do you think you can guide me to recovery?

[Advertisements]

ose.exe is for Office search engine it is to update Office.

It usually mean a registry key was deleted and the service will not start anymore.

If i was you i would use my Office disk to do a repair of Office (2003 probably) and that should fix it.

Hope this helps.

[Alzeimer]

ose.exe is for Office search engine it is to update Office.

It usually mean a registry key was deleted and the service will not start anymore.

If i was you i would use my Office disk to do a repair of Office (2003 probably) and that should fix it.

Hope this helps.

[sue.words]

Thank you, Alzeimer. It is very kind of you to reply to my posting.

I don't know how to do what you suggest. Please could you (or someone else) explain? Does "use the disk to make a repair" mean the same as reinstalling MS Office?

[Alzeimer]

To do a repair just insert your MS Office 2003 cd in your cd/dvd-rom and choose the option to repair Office (not install or uninstall)

[sue.words]

I am sorry, Alzeimer, I am still stuck.

I put my Office 2003 disk in the E drive of the computer and opened it.

I could not immediately see anything that looked at all like an option "Repair". I tried clicking all the File, Edit, View, Favourites and Help dropdown menus but none of them had anything like "Repair".

I then looked at the contents of the CD and eventually found ose.exe. (It was at E/FILES/SETUP/OSE.EXE.)

But when I right- or left-clicked it I still didn't get anything like "Repair".

I'm sorry if I'm being stupid!

[Alzeimer]

Run the Detect and Repair Tool from Add or Remove Programs

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Microsoft Office 2003, and then click Change.

In the Microsoft Office 2003 Setup dialog box, click Reinstall or Repair, and then click Next.
Click either Reinstall Office or Detect and Repair errors in my Office installation, and then click Install.

[sue.words]

Oh dear, Alzeimer - this goes on and on!
I did what you said and got two error messages, one after the other:

"Installation ended prematurely because of an error."

and

"Fatal error during installation."

What can I do now, please?

[Alzeimer]

You have a problem with Office it seems.

Ok you will need to download the free version of the program "Revo Uninstaller" and after it is installed use it to remove Office 2003

download here: do not forget download the Freeware Version
http://www.revounins...e_download.html

What Revo will do is uninstall Office even if the built in file of office gives you errors, it will clean traces of Office 2003 so you can reinstall it from scratch (you will not lose any documents you have saved).

Delete any registry entries Revo finds and all the left over files Revo will prompt you to delete or not.

After you have uninstall Office 2003 use your Office cd and reinstall it.

[sue.words]

Alzeimer, I do not know what to say.

Ten minutes ago I was composing a hugely enthusiastic thank you to you in my mind. I seemed to be there.

I had downloaded Revo Uninstaller ok.
I had uninstalled Office with it ok.
I had reinstalled Office ok and was very relieved to find afterwards that my emails in Outlook were all still there ok.

After installing Office I downloaded and installed SP3 and then I thought I'd better check for updates. The Windows Updates website diagnosed that I needed 20 updates. They took quite a time to download and then they began to install themselves. While this was happening - and it took maybe ten minutes - I was delighted to see "Done!" again and again. (If you look at my original post you will see that when I downloaded this long list before nearly all of them failed.)

As we approached 15 or 16 I was, as I say above, planning my thank you email to you. Then to my horror I saw "Failed" - three of the 20 files failed to install, and as before it was Error 0x80070643!

I tried the command prompt "sc qc ose" given as a solution but that didn't show the service disabled.

I then tried the Windows Update Newsgroup (also listed under self-help solutions at the Windows Updates website. that was "currently unavailable" (or something like that).

So, still a HUGE thank you for guiding me through a marathon of work on my computer. I was scared stiff as I uninstalled Office. I feel like saying sorry to you that I am not quite right yet, but at least most of the updates installed ok.

Have you any idea of what I can do now to try to get the last three installed?

[Alzeimer]

Can you tell us what are the updates that failed (ex: KB928366) so we can know exactly what is the exact update causing the error.

[sue.words]

These are the updates that failed to install, Alzeimer:

Security Update for Microsoft Office 2003 (KB2289187)
Security Update for Microsoft Office 2003 (KB2289163)
Security Update for Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 (KB2284695)

Thank you so much for your continuing help.

[Alzeimer]

You can try to manually download these updates from Microsoft and install them manually, not using the windows update. that way you may be able to install them.


before you install those updates i would check if you have the latest windows installer 4.5 for x86 xp version, download it and try to install it if you have that version it will tell you that it is already installed
download here: http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en


for Security Update for Microsoft Office 2003 (KB2289163)
http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en

for Security Update for Microsoft Office 2003 (KB2289187)
http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en

for Security Update for Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 (KB2284695)
http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en

If you still cannot install them you can go to the windows update webpage and do a custom update, when it will show you these 3 updates you can uncheck them and tell windows update to not advise you anymore about these updates. It is your option to have these updates installed or not.

[sue.words]

Dear Alzeimer

Thank you for your patience - I think we have reached the end of the road with this.

I did everything you suggested in your last posting, including
1) attempting to download and install these three updates manually
2) telling the Update website not to offer them to me any more.

I don't think any of them are installed on my computer but I'm not sure. For KB2284695 and for KB2289163 I got a message saying "The update could not be applied". When I try to install KB2289187 (I've tried lots of times over several hours) I get the message "Office Hotfix Installer is already running on your system. Please wait until it is finished and then apply this update". (How would I know when it has finished running? In Task Manager "ohotfix.exe" is in the list of processes but so are a lot of things, not just programs I am consciously using.)

Do you think I can safely just leave things as they are now?

Thank you so much for helping me (even though I am not sure things are all right). You have been very kind.

[Alzeimer]

If you told windows update to not advise you or download them then these will not come back, i just hope this will not affect the rest of your updates.

Sorry i could not help better.

[sue.words]

Thank you anyhow, Alzeimer. It is very kind of you to give me so much of your time.