Ms Office 2010 Starter

[Charise Scrivner]

Severalyears ago Microsoft published Office 2010 Starter. Office 2010 Starter was a free Office 2010, however some functions were disabled.

It installed only Microsoft Word and Excel and showed Microsoft advertisments during use.

Microsoft Starter 2010 works with a virtualization technology like V-App. It does not really install Office on your computer, but a virtualized office (like Office in a virtual machine).

To do this it creates a drive Q: which is not user accessable . If you are using drive Q: already, Office 2010 Starter won't work.

Office 2010 Starter could be installed using a setup (SetupConsumerC2ROLW.exe) which downloaded the installation files from internet.

Sometime around 2012, Microsoft pulled the plug, so the installation files couldn't be downloaded anymore.

A few days ago, I found the old executable and behold, I got it working again on my old computer with Windows 10 installed.

So Microsoft quietly activated the Office 2010 Starter files again, but will they pull the plug again in the near future ?

I found out that if the installation files are available locally, the setup won't need internet during the installation.

However the setup does not keep the files after installation, so I had to figure out how to get the installation files together locally.

Monitoring the installation I got some partial information how to download all the installation files needed.

This information was used to create the Office 2010 Starter downloader v1.0.

Be ware, this script works as is. Not a lot of error checking has been put in place. E.g. I do not check for downlad errors, but every language folder should be about 700 - 900 MB.

Thanks for the wonderful tool and script.

On Linux, installation with wine has an issue:

The script (Both version E and F) couldn't load update directory files and office setup program refuses to install by saying corrupted installation file.

The script (version F) itself terminates with the following error message:

You can try the download part on a Windows box and copy the "\bin\" folder. Then run the installation since you've got all the files but, then again, it'll try to make a Q: drive and run it from that and, good luck with wine handling that

That error is likely due to the fact that the InternetExplorer com objects aren't loaded in wine?

I believe this line is the actual culprit: $oHTTP = ObjCreate("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1") in this func:

I have downloaded allthe necessary files from a windows 10 machine and copied them to my linux installation without any issue for two different language sets. (I made the full installaton on that windows machine also wtihout any issues.)

No clue why it works nor why wouldn't. I don't think they support this version anyway. In any case, I got it to work in English from the US a few days back. Maybe is country dependent. But again, no clue.

Folks, these aren't the supportforums for old microsoft installers. The AutoIt3Part works perfectly and downloads the files.

So maybe try to find a forum that has more takers for these kind of issues?

Although many solutions on the internet (even from Microsoft employees and the KB) suggest that a simple Repair install or Uninstall of Click2Run from the Programs and Features menu will correct this, executing the uninstaller actually triggers the exact same error message.

Update (June 2012): I have now been able to confirm that this problem is most often caused by the use of registry cleaners. For more details on why you should never use a registry cleaner, see my blog entry here.

This should finally correct the issue. If you happen to be missing the installation files for Office 2010 Starter, you can actually find them available for download in various places. Downloading the files and installing the suite is perfectly legal as long as it was already once provided with the PC new by the OEM.

The CleanC2R tool is supposed to remove the Q: drive as part of its procedure. Be sure to reboot and run it AGAIN after the computer comes back up. Also, make sure to run all the tools as Administrator if UAC is enabled.

Thanks Steve! You are definitely a life saver, I am so glad I came across your site after only a long search. After trying a couple of other suggestions I started to doubt that there was a simple solution, but you proved otherwise.

When waiting for your answer i klickt right on the word and excel file and changed the opening with exel instead of advanced something. Than I closed and it worked well but with other icon for the word and excel documents.

Hey Steve. The local computer store (Future Shop) said MS Office 2010 Starter was un-repairable (click2run error). You proved them wrong. It took me a while but my previous experience in working in the root directory really helped. Thanks a million from Penticton, British Columbia in Canada.

i tried to follow your steps, all of them worked perfectly except the last one. when trying to reinstall office from the program_data folder i got an error in the end, i think it was step 4 or 5 of the installation process. it said that i would need to run it again but the same error appeared. i used system restore to get back to the initial state, meaning click2run configuration problem

Thanks, I stumbled upon this website after looking through countless websites of useless information from microsoft. I wish I had found your site before getting System Mechanic. What a terrible product, I was starting to wonder why every single day I had so much stuff it was telling me to get rid of.

You can do what Microsoft cant! I just bought a new i7 64 bit setup. Im English but as I live in Spain, its all but impossible to get a pc with windows in english. I bought my 64 bit English Office setup online direct from MS uk. Their so called workaround to remove click2run just did not work :((. I followed your instructions to the letter and all worked just as you said. Many Many Thanks! :))))

I appreciate the continued feedback! I apologize for not getting around to answering every single question; I am doing my best. I stay pretty busy these days, so my blog is for those moments when I have a small bit of spare time! ?

hello steve,could you please make a video of this and post it in you tube,,i didnot fully understand to do it step by step,,, as i am not that good in computer field,,looking at the video would be a great help,,please help me i am stuck here,,another question,,is it possible to get evey word documents back after we fix this click2run error..

Really?! REALLY?!?! It was that easy?! I can only echo the sentiments of others when I say THANK YOU for this solution! Like others, I have spent HOURS searching Microsoft Forums and other online avenues to solve this problem (2nd computer I have encountered this with).

For all of you reading this and preparing to perform the steps, I advise you write down the 5 steps EXACTLY as worded (I took a pic of the screen and just referred to it). As you go through system reboots, you will lose your page and time looking for it each time.

-gb/products/microsoft-office-2010-backup-FX101828860.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA101828490

your Office 2010 Product Key provided represents a product which is not eligible for free download. Please re-enter your Product Key and try again, or check the list of eligible products. If this does not work, you may be interested in downloading a free trial or purchasing Office 2010 products at please help me regarding this

UPDATE: Steve, here is something for you to look into! I think I have found what has caused this issue for me. After running the initial CleanC2R, I used my computer as normal and a couple days later the problem reemerged. In that time I had; restarted my computer multiple times, run a deep scan (including Q drive), used multiple Office files, and clicked OK when the window for Office Updates appeared.

I ran CleanC2R again and did each of the above one at a time to see if I could isolate the problem. After multiple reboots, two Deep Scans, and accessing multiple Office documents I encountered no issues. However, upon clicking OK to the Office updates, the problem occurred yet again shortly thereafter.

On my previous computer with this problem I did have CCleaner installed. On this computer I did have Defraggler. I uninstalled it after the first issue after reading your advice on cleaners. There is still a link to this problem with the Office updates however.

I agree with Rasta, I think you should have a DONATE link. I would gladly contribute for saving my butt with this problem. Computers are hard to get over here (cannot be shipped because of Lithium Ion batteries) and I need Office for my job.

Hey I am really hoping this will help me. However, the link provided earlier about reinstalling Microsoft Starter is not valid. It appears they took it down in November 2012. Is there somewhere else I can go to do this? Also how do I backup my files that were saved in this program? Thanks so much..love this site!

Steve I have tried to like you on Facebook but can not find Triple s. Can you put a link in a reply here and then I will. Having read more about your work, I suspect you will not be interested in my earlier request. Thanks again for the help. best wishes grateful gertie

Hello I have followed the step but when I run the SetupConsumerC2ROLW.exe file, the set up gets to stage 3 and says there was a problem with Microsoft Office setup. is there anyway to solve this problem?

I can only echo all the comments before me! Thank you sooooo much for your post. Like many others, this issue came up very unexpectedly and I spent hours looking for a solution. Tried several and NONE, ZIP, ZERO, were of any help at all.

You are a techo wizard!! ?

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