The following error message may be displayed on your computer when you try to perform Microsoft Office XP installation.
Error 1402. Could not open key: key_name. System error 1009.
Verify that you have sufficient access to that key or contact your support personnel.
Here, key_name is the name of the key that the Office Setup program attempts to write to the Windows registry during installation.
Cause of the Error
You may encounter this problem when all of the following conditions are true:
- You are trying to install Office XP on a Microsoft Windows 98 or Windows Millennium (Me) computer.
- User Profiles is turned on, on the system.
- The active profile on the system has a problem
Resolution Method
You can resolve the error message by working around the problem. To do this, perform the following tasks in the sequence they are listed.
Step 1: Ensure that the Windows Registry is not Damaged
Windows 98 and Windows Me operating systems comprise the Registry Checker tool that you can use to scan and repair your registry.
To use the Registry Checker tool on Windows Me, perform the following steps:
- Open Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then select the System Information command.
- In the System Information window, open the Tools menu and then select the Registry Checker command.
- Here, if you receive the following error message, proceed with the steps listed below:
Windows encountered an error accessing the system registry. Windows will restart the computer and repair the system registry for you.
- Click OK to restart your PC.
- Follow the screen instructions to restore the damaged registry with its good copy.
- Run Office Setup again after the system restarts.
- If no error is displayed, you may choose to perform registry maintenance tasks, such as compact the registry and repair any damage to its internal data structure. You can do so by performing the following steps:
- Exit all Windows and programs currently running on the system.
- Open Start menu, select Run type scanreg /fix and then press Enter.
- Click the Yes button to restart your system.
- Follow the screen instructions to restore the damaged registry with its good copy.
- Run Office Setup again after the system restarts.
To use the Registry Checker tool on Windows 98, perform the following steps:
- Restart your Windows 98 computer and press Ctrl during the startup until the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed.
- Scroll down and select the Command prompt only option.
- When the command prompt is displayed, type scanreg /fix and then press Enter.
- Press Enter again after the Registry Checker tool finishes the registry repair process.
- Next, to optimize the registry, at command prompt scanreg /opt and then press Enter.
- Restart the PC and attempt Office Setup again.
If you still fail to install the application, proceed to the next step.
Note: You may use a third-party Windows 98 or Windows ME compatible registry cleaner tool, such as RegServe to maintain a healthy and error-free registry to prevent damage to the registry files.
Method 2: Log on to the PC using a different profile to perform the installation.
You may be unable to perform the installation if the user profile under which you are logged on to the system is corrupt. Therefore, you may try to log on to the system using another profile and then install Office.
If your existing profile is damaged, you may need to delete and recreate it to prevent any future problems.
Method 3: Disable User Profile Before Installing Office XP
You can disable user profiles by performing the following steps:
- Open Control Panel and the double-click Passwords.
- On the User Profiles tab, select All users of this computer use the same preferences and desktop settings.
- Click OK and then choose to restart your PC when prompted.
- Install Office XP.
- After the installation is complete, turn on user profiles again if required.