Windows 7 the operating system is not presently configured to run this application

[chuckmanbob]

i installed windows 7 to replace my copy of Vista ultimate but i didn't bother wiping the HDD i just did it as an upgrade. this then proceeded to put all of my old files in a older called 'Old Windows'. The OS itself works great but when i go into my old program files and try to load word (or any other office program) it comes up with the error "the operating system is not presently configured to run this application" this is an infuriating problem and i was just wondering if anyone knows how to fix it .

 

[Kyle]

Reinstall Office?
That's about all you can do.

 

[chuckmanbob]

i would but i don't actually have the disk i just have a box with the registration code that came with the computer and to get recovery discs i need to provide a recipt and date of purchase and things like that.

 

[Kyle]

Download the trial and input your code.

 

[jimbo45]

Not sure what you did here. If you performed an Upgrade from VISTA===>W7 then most of your existing programs (including Office) should run straight from the menu. You should get almost ZERO incompatabilities.

If you started manually deleting programs from your C:\programs type directories then you are in Big Trouble --re-install from scratch.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[BlackWolf]

yep. you definetly did something very wrong here. I upgraded as well and all it should do is replace your WINDOWS folder - no more no less. your applications should remain where they are and run straight out of the box (office 2007 did work perfectly for me!)

 

[mfarmilo]

For me, the alarm bells rang in your original message about 'windows.old'. With a clean install it moves any old windows folder into windows.old - which is what you described. Sounds to me like it's done a clean install, not an upgrade. If that's the case, and your old program files still exist, it would be a waste of time trying to run them as they're not 'installed' in your present system. What you're seeing is the same as if you'd just backed up the Office programs from a friends pc and restored them onto yours - you know they won't run, as all the registry entries etc are missing.

Install Office again, overwriting the existing program files, and it'll be configured right.

 

[reghakr]

Yes, thats correct.

On installation, when asked to back up my files I said no, because I had already done that.
Then setup tells me it's going to create a windows.old folder.

It contains:
Program Files, Users, and old your old Windows directories

Total size is 17GB with 62,800 files and 11,850 folders.

All I can say is look through the contents of all the directories and see if there is anything important you want to keep.. Your Program Files directory is useless as all programs need to be re-installed to created the registry entries. Basically all you can look for is documents, pictures, music, etc that you may have forgot about.

I checked the registry to make sure there were no references to it and deleted the windows.old directory


All programs will need to be re-installed because the pointers in the registry are gone.

If it's a standalone application that doesn't include an installation, these programs will run correctly as after it's executed, the program itself makes entries in the registry

 

[chuckmanbob]

thanks

thanks at least now i have an idea of what is going on i will havwe to download the trail and put in my ket code thanks for your help everyone!
Chuckmanbob

 

[Sarah Callihan]

Re: thanks

I am having problems as well. I upgraded from Vista and backed up everything on my external hd. Before I upgraded I had installed Microsoft Office 2010 beta version and didn't have a key or anything. Well when I installed windows 7, my office did not carry over. None of my original programs did including my webcam software, which apparently my computer carrier doesn't support windows 7 for it anyway. But when I go back to install from my external I get "The operating system is not presently configured to run this application." Is there any way to restore it? I tried downloading it again but obviously since it is towards the end of 2010 I can't find the beta version.