MetaChat - Techie Ask Mecha: How Do I Install MS Office?

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10 April 2006

Techie Ask Mecha: How Do I Install MS Office? I am starting a data entry job from home. For this, I need Excel. But I can't get it to install. →[More:] The company sent me excel.exe & excel.pip - did nothing. So they sent me all the files from MS Office, zipped. I unzipped them to my programs folder and they're just sitting there - when I click on any of the excel files it says: The operating system is not presently configured to run this application. I can't find anything that looks like an install.exe file anywhere. Help?

post by: mygothlaundry at: 11:58 | 11 comments

Mac or Windows?

posted by Triode 10 April | 11:59

Windows XP

posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 12:00

The other thing is, I don't need any of this Office stuff except Excel and possibly Access. I already have Word, I don't want Outlook or Publisher, and while Powerpoint might be kind of fun at parties, I don't really care if I have it or not.

posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 12:01

ca you have the install auto run and then choose to install excel? Perhaps you can install\repair office and choose excel then? Any part of office you dont need can be removed later.

posted by jelly 10 April | 12:02

I can't find the auto run - where would it be?

posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 12:06

I don't have a disc; just the files.

posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 12:07

It sounds as though you don't have enough to install Office.

Office is installed from an MSI package, which will include: Setup.exe, PRO11.MSI, a 160 Mb folder called "Files", and a couple of .INI files.

You would pick which components to install as part of the Setup program, but you don't have enough to run that, by the sound of it.

posted by Triode 10 April | 12:23

mgl, I agree with Triode. I don't think you can install it from the files they sent you. I don't suggest illegal things, but if I did I might suggest that you just go pirate Excel from one of the peer to peer networks, or call a friend who has an install disk.

posted by agropyron 10 April | 12:28

As an IT guy, I would recommend that you talk to the folks for whom you are doing the work, and have them provide you with the proper & legal installation media, or I would find a way to bump the pay by $200, the retail price of Excel. If it's a short-term gig, I would grab the 60-day trial of Office.

posted by Triode 10 April | 12:39

60 day trial, woo woo!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 10 April | 12:54

Thanks Triode! The trial it is, for now.

posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 13:40

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