Office update deletes Word

[RustyKnight]

I have Microsoft Works installed which has Word included. I don't use if often but a few days ago I needed to use a Word template from the Works launcher. It gave me an error to say Word wasn't installed properly.

 

I found the disc and reinstalled Word, everything worked perfectly until I rebooted after installing updates. Now when I use the template it says Winword.exe can't be found.

 

I've reinstalled Word again and almost instantly got a notification that there are updates for Office, no mention of Word, just Office and other parts of Office that I don't have like Publisher.

 

Why do the updates remove Word? It's a legal copy, I have the serial number on the back of the disc that I purchased a few years ago.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office [could have a number after it ] folder, is there a WINWORD.EXE file in that folder?

 

If there is - what happens when you click on it?

 

Which version of Works do you have?

[Starbuck]

Is this a Win 10 operating system?

Win10 is known to remove old programs during a major update.

 

Windows may remove programs during an update for compatibility reasons.

If a program is known to cause crashes, bugs, or otherwise conflict with Windows, Windows may remove it to keep your system stable.

Windows doesn’t provide any notice that it’s removed a program – the program will just appear to vanish from your system.

 

As Microsoft discontinued 'Works' in 2009 it's a good bet that it's not stable with the latest Win10 updates.

 

The Microsoft Services Agreement that applies to Windows does explicitly state that Microsoft may remove access to software or hardware.

[RustyKnight]

It's old Works Suite 2004 and Windows 7.

 

I've got the templates into Word, having reinstalled it for the 3rd time in 3 days, then saved them and loaded them into LibreOffice Writer. Basically all I'm doing with Works and Word is getting the templates to start with.

 

I search online and couldn't find what I need for free, as I know they are in Works I thought it would be quicker to use that but it would appear not.

[RustyKnight]

I tried using a template today, after Windows had updated Word, and got a runtime error followed by a message saying Works couldn't find Word.

 

This time I checked my Start Menu and Word is still there and ran fine. I've got what I needed but will leave Word and see what happens next time I get updates for it.

[KenB]

Glad to hear you have, at least, partially fixed your problem.