removing "built-in" office 07 from vista

[AoGenius]

I've got a new laptop with windows vista and office 2007 beta installed in advance, meaning I don't have the cd for the office version.

I have to purchase a serial for office, but I already have a version of office xp I bought and don't think I should pay once more for the exact same thing. I've tried uninstalling office 2007 from the control panel, but there are more than one programs in the uninstallation list referring to office 2007, and when I did uninstall them all and installed office XP I still get a request to purchase a CD key.

Question is, how do I remove 2007 and install XP? Does Vista even support office XP?

thanks.

ps, the only reason I need office is for microsoft outlook, which I use to synchronize with my palm device through windows mobile device center. Is there an alt. way to do this without the above mess? thanks again

[Murf]

It is time consuming to uninstall Office 2007. I do not know why MS made it so difficult to get rid of it. I don't like Office 2007 and I run Office 2003 with my Vista.

OK, here is how to uninstall Office 2007 manually:

1. Make a System Restore and/or Backup. When trying to fix Office installations, you could knock out other Microsoft associated programs. You should also backup your outlook files if you want to save your old address box and mail.

2. Clean out the temporary file areas with Disk Cleanup (Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup) Make sure you clean out log files, dump files, installation files, etc.

3. Install Windows Install Cleanup. (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=290301) Save the utility to your desktop. You will need administrative level to install it. In vista, you will need to right-click on the setup file and select Run as administrator. Select all the office installation entries and then click the Remove button. Click Exit when done.

4. Now you can uninstall Office 2007 Beta as you typically would from the control panel. At this point, the program is uninstalled; however, there are still a ton of office related files in the office directories.

5. Now right click on "My Computer" and choose Manage
Expand “Services and Applications and then select Services
In the right pane, stop the Office Source Engine service if it is running.

6. Now go to Start | Run and type in Regedit hit OK. (Run may be hidden within Accessories) Backup your registry first.

7. Navigate to the following keys by clicking on the + sign to expand and delete if present. (The clean up tool should of gotten rid of these entries)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Deliv ery\SourceEngine\Downloads\*0FF1CE}-*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall\*0FF1CE*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\ose
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\*F01FEC
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\*F01FEC
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\UpgradeCodes\*F01FEC
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Win32Assemblies\*Offic e12*
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\*F01FEC
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\*F01FEC

8. Find and delete all keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall with a valuename of UninstallString that contains a value with *\Office Setup Controller\setup.exe*

So just a word of caution, the manual procedure is advanced in nature and can trully mess up your machine. No one is responsible for what you do on your system. Follow instructions to the tee.