After a re-installation of XP, I re-installed Office 97 (except Word as I have a separate copy of Word 2000 SR1, separately installed and working OK). Powerpoint starts up fine but Excel and Access give an error message "This application must be installed to run. Please run setup from the location where you originally installed the application", when I try to start them. This happens both using shortcuts and when directly doubleclicking on Excel.exe or MSAccess.exe in their respective program file locations. I've tried uninstalling then re-installing several times with no joy. I cannot find anything in MS KB on this subject for Office 97 although there is an article relating to an identical error message for Office 2000, however, it doesn't look appropriate for Office 97 as the registry keys are different. I'd be very grateful for any thoughts on how this might be resolved.

I have had this happen to me with officeXP not 97 but the problem was cleared by putting the disk in the original cd drive from where it was first loaded, it then installed itself and all was ok. No uninstall or reinstall.