You receive the "This patch package could not be opened" error message in Office 2003, in Office XP, or in Office 2000
Article ID : 295823 
Last Review : February 4, 2005 
Revision : 8.0 
This article was previously published under Q295823
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 SYMPTOMS 
 CAUSE 
 RESOLUTION 
 MORE INFORMATION 

SYMPTOMS
When you try to install your Microsoft Office program or try to run an Office program for the first time, you may receive an error message. If you are logged on to the computer through the Administrator user account, you may receive the following error message: 
Fatal error during installation
If you are logged on to the computer through a standard user account with administrator permissions, you may receive the following error message: 
This patch package could not be opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package. 
CAUSE
This problem may occur if the registry contains Microsoft Windows Installer information from an earlier Office installation. 
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, run the Windows Installer CleanUp utility to remove the Windows Installer registry settings, and then reinstall Office. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Download, install, and then run the Windows Installer CleanUp utility to remove the Windows Installer registry settings that are associated with your Office installation. The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

msicuu2.exe 
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services 
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file. If you are running Windows NT 4.0 or Microsoft Windows 2000, click the following link to download and install the Windows CleanUp utility. 
2. To use the Windows CleanUp utility, follow these steps: a.  Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Install Clean Up. 
b.  Select the program that you want to remove, and then click Remove. 
c.  Click OK, and then click Exit. 
For additional information about how to download, install, and use the Windows Installer CleanUp utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
290301 Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility  
3. Run Office Setup to reinstall Office.

Note Because the Windows Installer CleanUp utility deletes Windows Installer-related registry settings and not the Office program files, make sure that you install Office in the same folder where it was originally installed to prevent duplication of files on your hard disk. 

MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
324906 Cannot start an Office program after you install Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000 

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