At the core of this issue is a simple malconfiguration of the MSI installer that performs the update and configures the registry. It seems that as the installer creates or modifies executeable files and/or registry keys, it does so as the administrator user. This in turn cases all of the permissions on those files/keys to reset to those of the administrator user, causing the error you see.

Specifically, Update KB951944for Office 2007 seems to be the update causing the issue (according to user who have tested each and every patch for the bug). Skipping this one should avoid the problem all together.

There are several possible resolutions to this problem depending on your specific situation, some simple to solve, some more difficult.

The most obvious, and easiest fo resolve, is permissions on the executable files themselves. Firstly you have to open the Office application folder (normally “C:Program files (x86) Microsoft OfficeOffice 12″ or similar). You’ll need to locate each individual application executable (e.g. “Word” is “winword.exe“.) Right click on the executeable and select the “Properties” menu. In the properties window that opens, select the “Security” tab and click “Edit“. Give “Users” full control. You’ll may (in rare cases) need to re-create your shortcuts from these files.

Amongst the registry keys that are affected are the following:

• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components379E92CC2CB71D119A12000A9CE1A22A
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18ComponentsDA42BC89BF25F5BD0AF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18ComponentsDA42BC89BF25F5BD0BF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18ComponentsDA42BC89BF25F5BD0CF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components82DE7549CF3F8CCB0DF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components6F949E36CB3004C50AF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components6F949E36CB3004C50CF18C3B9B1A1EE8
• HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionInstallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components7AA6F3DBF3CE139469FE63D56E7AF446

Any (including any that may not be listed above yet simmilarly afflicted) registry affected in this manner keys need to have thier permissions reset to the same permissions as thier parent key. i.e permissions should be inherited.
If you’re not comfortable doing this by hand, there’s an open-source utility called SetACL (http://setacl.sourceforge.net/) that can help.

WARNING: There are many keys under the “components” key that have nothing to do with Office! do not go and arbitrarily go and reset every single sub-key under “components” to inherited permissions, as this will effectively remove all UAC protection from all installed components (not just office) so don’t do that! You’ll have to inspect individual registry keys.

If you’re in fact going to use SetACL, you can execure the appropriate command-line function like this:

setacl -ot reg -on "HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionIn stallerUserDataS-1-5-18Components{GUID}" -actn setprot -op "dacl:np;sacl:nc" -rec yes

Where {GUID} is the ID of the component that requires resetting. It may be easier to copy this command into a batch file if you need to execute it numerous times. Typing this over and over 30 times can be painful.

Well, hopefully one of these solutions has solved the problem fo you. If not, I’ve heard of a later update causing almost the same issue, so you may very well be experiencing a similar problem! Let me know if you do… especially if you figure out another way to solve it.

Thanks to everyone at VistaHeads for following up the problem.

For more information, and to join in discussions on Microsoft products, see the following Microsoft specific Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.office.misc and microsoft.public.word.newusers

java.io.FileNotFoundException: C:\Documents and Settings\ReleaseEngineer.MACROVISION\Application Data\Azureus\azureus.config.saving (The system cannot find the path specified)

or
error:failed to create directory C:\Documents and Settings\ReleaseEngineer.MACROVISION\Application Data\Azureus\azureus.config.saving (The system cannot find the path specified)

Well, it seems that some genius programmer, instead of using the WIN32 function to determine the users application data path, has instead hard coded one assuming that the user will be running Windows XP under which creating the above directories might be allowed as all users are super users by default (under normal home-use circumstances).

Well, there is a solution – however it involves editing the Windows Registry.
NOTE: If you’re unsure about what this means or are uncomfortable with editing the Windows Registry directly, ask for help from someone who has, or do a lot of research before you begin. If you break or corrupt your registry, windows may very easily become unusable.

Open your registry editor by running RegEdit from the windows “RUN” command:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folder

and make sure that AppData is set to “C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming“. (replacing <user> with your local user account name – check the path yourself if unsure).

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folder

AppData should be “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming”

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment

AppData should be “C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming” (again, replacing <user> with your local user account name – check the path yourself if unsure).

This should solve most of your issues.

I’ve been told that DELETING any registry keys containing the value: “C:\Documents and Settings\ReleaseEngineer.MACROVISION” will also work as the keys will be re-created automatically using default values (the correct default values) the next time a program saves its settings. However, this seems a drastic and possibly unsafe step, so leave it as a last resort if you’re still having problems.

Hope this help you all.