I'm trying, without any success, to install Microsoft Office 2000. My O/S is Windows ME and my kit is a Packard Bell 'Platinum' Pentium 2 with 8 GB hard drive. Memory is 120mb and I have my drive partitioned C 40% & D 60%. I have the Microsoft Office 97 suite and want to upgrade. This is what happens : From the CD ROM, I go through the first steps of clicking 'Setup', input my details, input the serial number and the system says that I have enough space on my hard drive to install. I click on the 'full' install icon at which point the box appears on the screen which says 'Installing Microsoft 2000, please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 200' Then - nothing. What should happen is that the installation bar should start working whilst installing the various components. But the box just stays on the screen doing nothing! So I wait, and wait, and ........ in fact, I left it overnight last night and when I came down this morning, the box was still there with the message 'Installing Microsoft 2000, please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office 200' It's not a faulty disc because the same thing happens with another disc. Does anyone have any ideas, please? Don't tell me that Office 2000 isn't compatible with Windows ME otherwise I shall do myself serious harm! UPDATE Right – this is where I get out the equipment in readiness to either smash up my PC or really stamp my feet so hard that they get bruised! God, I HATE Windows ME with a passion. I tried once to upgrade to XP but that’s another disaster story entirely! Basically, my system is so old (6 years now) that XP wouldn’t run smoothly at all – kept crashing. Tried installing Office 2000 in safe mode as suggested but the system couldn’t find my CD ROM drive (I believe this is right in safe mode?). So, I copied all files from the CD to a new folder on my hard drive and tried installing in safe mode from there – no way. Same thing. ‘Please wait while Windows installs … blah blah, bliddy blah….’ Waited an hour and a half – nothing. Tried totally uninstalling Office 97 from my system and then installing Office 2000 both in safe and normal mode – blah …. Wait while blah ….. crap, nothing, no status bar moving – just bliddy sitting there! Now I know that the installation CD is not corrupt. My brother tried it on his PC (He’s got XP – whee hee ‘cos he got a new computer) and it worked fine. It all points to Windows ME, doesn’t it? God I HATE it! Unless, of course, you good, wonderful people on here can suggest anything else which doesn’t involve hurting myself or damaging my PC with a large, heavy object?

My suggestion: 1. get rid of any possible prior installation you may have for office. 2. **IF you know** -- BACK UP IMPORTANT FILES, APPLICATIONS, ETC, AND do a "REPAIR" install of your operating system, and once this is done, download <<all>> available patches to correct any issues present in WinME. (Note: a REPAIR install should NOT ask you for "formatting", DO NOT FORMAT YOUR DRIVE, AS YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING. 3. Try installing the Office Suite after the above steps. I had a similar situation years ago, it turned out to be a my windows os was not updated and some critical components needed during installation were missing. It could be something else, but I hope this helps you. GOOD LUCK

I'm running Windows ME on a HP Pavilion Pentium III 850MHz with 512MB RAM and a 30GB hard drive. It already had Office 97 and Word 2000 installed. I then installed Access from the Office 2000 CD and it went through without a hitch. I tried the same on a Windows XP PC and the installation would not complete. It kept coming up with the message "Installer terminated prematurely..."