New
#1
After Win 10 Update, Office 2016 install may be corrupt or damaged
I have had Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 (Standalone licensed copy) on my Dell D5579 for over two years. It shows as Activated under the account I used when I bought it.
When I applied the latest Windows updates (now running Windows 10 version 2004, Build 19041.508), I noticed that I have a weird problem with Office 2016.
--It doesn't show up AT ALL in the list of installed programs in 'Control Panel - Programs and Features' under either "Microsoft Office" or just "Office"
--Each of the apps DOES show up in the Start Menu (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and so forth). The Account info page for each app shows my Standalone, activated package.
--Every time I restart my machine and then launch one of the Office apps, it offers me a free trial of Office 365.
--For awhile, if I clicked on a "docx" or "pptx" file and selected "Open With, " the only option offered was "Open Any File." However, if I opened the app first (for example Word), then I could open the appropriate file type file (a file type "docx") with no problem. (Fortunately that has now cleared up, but for awhile it seemed like the OS didn't know I had the apps installed or something.)
To make things more odd, when I look under "Settings - Apps and Features" I find two entries:
--"Microsoft Office Desktop Apps" (when I click on this and open "Advanced Options," I see 6 apps including 2 that aren't part of my Standalone H&B package - Access and Publisher - when I scroll down to "App add-ons and downloadable content)
--"Office" (when I click on this and open "Advanced Options," there is nothing under the App add-ons section, and there's no detail saying what is/is not included.) Don't know if this entry represents "Office on the Web" or my Office 2016 install - or even something else.
When I look at two other laptops that both have Office 2019 standalone packages loaded, the Office 2019 package shows up as a separate line item in their "Control Panel - Programs and Features" pages, which is how I think Office 2016 should show up on this laptop - but, as I said, it doesn't.
I want to fix this and I'm not sure how best to do so.
--I think Dell may have included an Office 365 trial, so maybe that software is still installed and somehow causing problems.
--I can try some sort of "repair install" to reinstall my Office 2016 (can't use Control Panel for an uninstall since it doesn't show up in that list of programs)
--I can try to uninstall both of the items using Settings - Apps and Features, and then reinstall my Office 2016 since it shows in my Microsoft account as being an item I purchased - but if one of those is Office on the Web then that probably won't help. Or I can uninstall whichever one of these I need to and then do a clean reinstall of my standalone package.
--I can try something else if anyone has any suggestions
I wasn't sure which screen shots would be of the most use, but will be happy to post whichever images would help with a solution. Thanks in advance!
Last edited by LaurieD227; 29 Sep 2020 at 17:31. Reason: typo