Did you LocalCache and find that Office still requires the installation CD when patching?
Update 09/24/2004: I am no longer looking for more information related to this issue. Please see this blog entry for the latest information about LocalCache issues. Thank you to all who provided information that helped determine just how prevalent this issue is and where to go searching for the bug.
Last year I posted a blog entry that mentioned my work on the local installation source (LIS) feature (that I call "LocalCache") for the Microsoft Office 2003 System. That blog entry generated quite a few comments where people mentioned that patches to Office were still requiring the installation CD. Then I saw a link from Scoble's blog to this blog entry where people were complaining that they needed the original Office CD to install updates. Finally, K (who is the developer in Office that took over LocalCache when I moved to Windows) mentioned over break that his new laptop required the installation CD when demonstrating how installing a patch from Office Update shouldn't require the original source media. Needless to say, it appears there is something not quite right with LocalCache out in the wild.
So K and I spent this last Monday morning trying to reproduce the problem on some machines other than his laptop. Unfortunately, after several attempts we never had the problem occur. Independently, one of the Office testers also tried to reproduce the problem with the MSDN Universal CD (where I first heard of the problem) and couldn't get it to occur then either. PSS hasn't had a lot of people calling in about this one and don't think there is an issue here. However, I think that there haven't been may calls because customers are (unfortunately!) used to requiring the original installation CD when patching.
K and I are going to beat on this problem a bit longer (we thought we found something that might be the issue on Monday but didn't pan out). So, I'm out here asking that if you installed Office 2003 and have subsequently tried to install the patches and the patches required the original installation media, would you please contact me? Just send your email address and I will likely get back to you asking for a bit more information about your machine's configuration and how you installed Office 2003.
I really want to kill off this bug (or at least understand what is going on if there turns out not to be a bug) and any help you can provide will be much appreciated.
Comments
Anonymous
February 06, 2004
Excuse my frankness here, but I have suffered from this stuff too much.
I have nothing to do with patching (I explain in my next comment), so unfortunately I cannot give a detailed example on what you are looking for. But I have seen dozens of pictures from similar cases.
But I could talk hours about the problem the original installation sources are always wanted when not wanted by me.
Of course, if the problem would affect only my own setups, it could be that I don´t understand something correctly, but with Office, I have never installed an Office without such problems.
1.
The most known point is approved by Microsoft.
If you install first from (InstallSource) a local drive or net, and try to overinstall the same version next time from CD, it doesn´t work.
Two links which are concerned with this:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290106
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299774
To my understanding this behaviour is due to the method things like "LastUsedSource" and "SourceList" are stored in registry.
In other words, you are not always able to repair an installation (REINSTALL=ALL , REINSTALLMODE=vemus, for example), if you don´t use the same installation source as before. This is a big problem for my needs!
2. I had several time Office 2000 installations which wanted some CDs inserted which was impossible.
One point was installing a single Outlook 2000 first and Office 2000 later (or the other way round, dont´t remember it exactly :-).
I think with Office XP / Outlook 2002 it was the same, but not as bad. Only I remember, Office mixed the installation sources.
3. Not a use case, but how you adress this: A user installs Office Professional and later he installs another office product using the Office Premium CD. I cannot puzzle it out exactly, but I discovered some strange behaviours here. At least, if a mix is not possible I would expect, that an overinstallation is not possible at all !!
4.
Finally, the whole enforcement of remembering of the old installation source is totally needless for our needs. Net paths are changing, users doesn´t want to look for their installation CDs every day - the users are vicimized with this, I think .Anonymous
February 06, 2004
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February 06, 2004
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February 09, 2004
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February 09, 2004
Carmen,
I think that you will be much better served going to one of the Windows Installer newsgroups ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.platformsdk.msi&lang=en&cr=US ) than trying to get support on a blog.Anonymous
February 16, 2004
I've tried this too.
It always seem to happen just after you remove your temporary files (not the office temporary files).Anonymous
March 22, 2004
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April 06, 2004
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April 14, 2004
When I try to run the Office update, it tells me that I need sku011.cab... this file doesn't seem to exist on the network source I used to install Office in the first place.Anonymous
April 16, 2004
SKU011.CAB request on critical office patch is killing me...even tried the admin install...no go...whats up here?Anonymous
May 06, 2004
I am yet another SKU011.CAB victim. Anyone get a resolution yet?
Thanks - tony_in_dallas@yahoo.comAnonymous
May 18, 2004
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May 18, 2004
No problem (Y)Anonymous
May 18, 2004
I am getting prompted for media when I try to chain updates at the end of a custom Office 2003 Pro install. Once this happens and I am forced to abort the patch install, I can see sku011.cab and near a dozen other files get removed from the LIS. From then on any patch requests the media. Still trying to find the best way to make a CD to install Office 2003 Pro from and chain all the patches. Currently my custom transfom is getting used and all the settings from the setup.ini but chaining updates is not working for me.Anonymous
May 18, 2004
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May 18, 2004
What does the error prompt you for or what does it say?Anonymous
May 18, 2004
Omar,
Since you didn't address anyone by name and this feedback section is flat, I can only assume your comment is directed to me.
Yes all copies are legit and work fine for everything but chaining the patches at the end of the install. I'm trying to roll out a customized Office install via CD to a few remote users. I'm seeing this on every test install I do. Running repair is not something one would expect to do during deployment.
There is no error message per se, just a prompt for the Office 2003 setup media as soon as it starts applying the first patch.
I may have to forgo the chaining of the patches and apply them after the install, but it would be nice if I could chain them as MS states can be done.Anonymous
May 19, 2004
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May 19, 2004
Well just tried the binary patches and not go from CD either. "Please insert the disk: Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003" when running KB828041 from a chained install section as described here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2003/five/ch18/MntA01.htm
Tried first using the "Windows Installer method" like this:
[ChainedInstall_1]
TASKTYPE=exe
PATH=C:WindowsSystem32MSIExec.exe
CmdLine=MSP_file
BUT... msiexec doesn't like that syntax and I had to had to add a /p to get it to even run:
CmdLine=/p MSP_file
That runs fine from the HD or a network share using either the full or binary patch, but neither works from a CD. I'm going to try the OHotfix method now but this is getting old.Anonymous
May 19, 2004
OK for the final update using Ohotfix to chain patches in the setup.ini file... it results in the exact same prompt for media when ran from CD (but works when ran from the HD) as the other methods. I didn't really expect otherwise as the Installer has to be invoked at somepoint. Unless someone can show me other-wise I think it is impossible to do a chained install of patches when doing a customized install of Office 2003 from CD. Please someone tell (and show) me I am wrong!Anonymous
May 19, 2004
For the final, final update. I ended up calling a batch file from single ChainedInstall_1 section that copies the patch msp files from the CD to the %temp% dir and then installed them from the HD. Worked like a charm but that console window has got to go. VBscript or a small compiled exe will be made tomorrow (with lots more error checking and such) and I will be done with with this. I hope this rambling will help someone avoid these issues.Anonymous
May 20, 2004
SDU011.CAB = SKU011.CAB in a few posts back. :->Anonymous
August 06, 2004
I'm having the same problem it seems many others are having with the "SKU011.cab file not found" message when I try and open Excel after downloading a Microsoft Office update. I'm not a computer technician...I use this as Office as a tool in my work, but it seems sad to me that Microsoft doesn't even understand its own software since they can't figure out how to fix it (and calls to their service dept. indicate they don't really care). All I know is that I won't be downloading any more "updates" from MS since it seems they cannot be trustedAnonymous
September 24, 2004
Imagine a blog entry where I follow up on the request for help tracking down the Office source prompt for SKU011.CAB (and others).Anonymous
November 20, 2005
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February 03, 2006
Had the problem too, so changed the registry with instructions I found on a german site
Go into Registry Editor (Start, Run, "regedit"). Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software, Microsoft, Office, 11.0, Delivery. There should be only 1 directory under Delivery, which is your DownloadCode (mine was 90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9). Select that directory. On the right side of the screen, right-click on CDCache. Change the value to 0.
and problem solved
When I started Excell it complained about the eurovalue converter xls, don't no if it had something to do with it.
Greetings YvesAnonymous
February 17, 2006
Yves: thanks, merci, gràcies!
This reallly worked! ;-)Anonymous
February 19, 2006
YES!!
months of trying to figure out how to fix this
THANKSAnonymous
February 19, 2006
Please note that Yves's description above will essentially disable the LocalCache Feature. You can do the same thing by using the LISTool (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10fa7aa3-695b-42c3-9045-b812ba0fed3e&DisplayLang=en) and choosing the "Delete and disable LIS" option. The advantage of using the LISTool is that it will also correctly delete all of the cached files on your system.Anonymous
February 23, 2006
Hi Yves,
You are a genius dude...please post this in some other place also. That was awesome work and now I was able to get into excel 2003.
Great job. This will be useful for lots of people who are still trying to find a way to fix this.Anonymous
March 09, 2006
Estimated Yves, GRACES(THANKS)!
Perdoná my Englishman(English), is not very good.
But it(he,she) could not stop being grateful for this solution to you.Anonymous
March 12, 2006
#69/22 WORKED
solved loading problem that recently started. When ever I wanted to open a certain bible program Windows was wanting to "configure" and could not find the SKU011.CAB. Now it works as before!Anonymous
March 22, 2006
Thanxes m8, easy and clean.... All the problems solved.Anonymous
April 03, 2006
Thx. Yves. You are the man.Anonymous
April 14, 2006
the file of SKU011.CAB not found although it is clearly appear in the office folder so the Excle program doesn't workAnonymous
April 17, 2006
thanks man... it really worked. keep up the good work!!!
ur coolAnonymous
May 10, 2006
I have a message for Yves: Thank you a million times!!!Anonymous
May 12, 2006
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September 14, 2006
I did as Yves said, and now i get a new message, saying
"Error 1311. Source File Not Found C:/MSOCache/All Users/90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9/E2561410.CAB
Verify that the file exists and that you can access it"
Then gives me the option the Retry or Cancel.
I went to the location, and E2561410.CAB isnt there....Any Advice?Anonymous
October 04, 2006
Oh my dear heavenly father. I do not know why people still use Microsoft products. They are obviously a bunch of bodgers who don't care about documentation or support.I have this problem every time I create a new user on a system. I don't get this message on desktops that were set up before setting up Office 2003, but any new desktop accounts will automatically ask for the CD-rom. The CD in question is 200 miles away in my office, does MicroSoft have a solution to the "I shouldn't logically need my installation media but who said MicroSoft was logical" error. I'm totally sick of fixing MicroSoft mistakes EVERY DAY!I tried this solution, switching the 2 to a 0 in the registry editor. Didn't seem to make a difference.Someone told me I should just be doing full installs, so that the CD is never needed. Well this isn't quite the solution I was looking for but if it saves me running hundreds of miles for installation media then so be it.My advice. Stop using MicroSoft!Anonymous
October 23, 2006
Yves - Your solution works. Great job mate!!! Rest - Try Yves solution first before trying anything else. Do backup your registery files first, just in case. But if its SKU or SKD 011 on startup, this solution works.Anonymous
October 26, 2006
Yves you are fantastic!!! your solution worked!!! Thanks!!!Anonymous
October 29, 2006
I also got that 'SKU011.CAB' message when I tried to open MS Excel 2003 and I still can't fix it!! I did everything! I downloaded that LIS thing from the Microsoft website. Didn't work. I did what Yves said. Didn't work either. I now get a message telling me I need a file named 'PRO11.MSI'. Please help??Anonymous
November 03, 2006
Yves Is a genius, followed instructions to the letter. worked perfectly afterwards. nice one. carry on the good work... I'm now a happier computer illiterate..Anonymous
November 12, 2006
I am so sorry to start the sku001.CAB disucussion again, but trying to detect and repair the office program - off of the original CD!!!! and still get the errormessage that the sku001.cab file is missing...please tell me what to do to finally get over this message!