[Solved] Missing vcl resource

[Blacksuri]

While attempting to start up OpenOffice Writer 2.4 by clicking on a ".doc" file in WIndows XP, I got the following message:

"Missing vcl resource. This indicates that files vital to localization are missing. You might have a corrupt installation."

The program had been working previous to this. Other people have had this problem, such as someone who posted on another forum (http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic ... 4eb403fbde):

"The few replies to this problem seem to address checksum errors with a new installation but none address the problem of this occuring after a successful installation."

I have tried reinstalling and repairing, but neither worked. I downoaded OO 3.0.1 and installed that, but still get the same error message. I also got the same message with OpenOffice Calc.

Later, I downloaded an OverDrive Media file, which has the extension ".odm", and clicked on it to download an audio book. Instead, OpenOffice 3 started up, thinking it was a document.

I changed the file association in XP so that wouldn't happen again, and clicked on a ".doc" file to see if the problem had truly been fixed.

It hadn't.

I still get the "Missing vcl resource" error message when I try to open a ".doc" file. However, I can now open a ".xls" file with Calc, which I couldn't do before. If I click on a ".doc" file, or click on "swriter.exe" to start the program, I get the "Missing vcl resource" error message again, and the program shuts down.

However, if I change the extension of a file to ".odt" (Open Document Text), then Writer starts up and displays the contents of the file as text. I cannot "Save" the file, but I can use "Save As", with the default file extension of ".txt", but having the option of saving it as ".odt".

While the program is running, I can use it to open a ".doc" file.

This certainly has NOTHING to do with a checksum error. Does anyone know of a solution?

[TheGurkha]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Uninstalling aand re-installing don't clean out the user profile. You could try that: [Tutorial] The OOo user profile.

[Blacksuri]

I went to the suggested page and attempted a reset of the User Profile.

In addition to \Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org\3\user\, the was also another entry underneath it of OpenOffice.org2\user\crashdata. I was able to rename the user file after rebooting (XP said the file was "cerrently in use", even though the program was shut down).

I deleted the OpenOffice.org2 subfolder and started the program again, and got the "Missing vcl resource" error again. Another OpenOffice.org2 crashdata subfolder was created.

Interestingly, when I clicked on a ".odt" file, my spyware program warned me that "a new file on your PC tries to start for the first time", a ASCII Filter Options screen poped up, and I got this error message from OO:

Error loading BASIC of document file:///C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org\3\user\basic\script.xlc\:

General Error
General input/output error

Shutting down the program and restarting a ".odt" file, I got the same screens, only this time without an error message.

It doesn't look like the User Profile is the problem.

[Hagar Delest]

Try to reset your OOo user profile but don't transfer your personal data during the welcome process, configuration files from the former version might corrupt the new profile.

Thanks to add '[Solved]' at beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

[Blacksuri]

Since renaming my User Profile didn't help, I went to another computer of mine running OO 2.4 and was about to copy the "user" subfolder when I noticed that under "\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\" it was directly underneath "OpenOffice2.org\", while on my problem computer it was under "OpenOffice.org\3\".

Thinking that the two versions of the program might store data differently ("OpenOffice2.org\user" versus "OpenOffice.org\3\user"), and remembering how "OpenOffice.org2\user\crashdata" was being created, I thought perhaps there were some lingering elements of ver. 2.4 that were causing problems.

I then uninstalled ver. 3.0, deleted the OpenOffice files in "Documents and Settings", and reinstalled 3.0. The program opens normally now.

I really don't know what was causing the problem, but thanks for the help.

[TheGurkha]

Glad you got it sorted anyway.

[Blacksuri]

I replied too soon.

I can indeed start OpenOffice Writer by clicking on the Shortcut for it, but if I click on a ".doc" file, I still get the "Missing vcl resource" error message.

More troubleshooting has given me a solution (sort of).

I like my large, important programs to have their own subdirectories, rather than being dumped into the "Program Files" foleder in Windows. Most programs, such as Opera and FIrefox, first check to see if there is a previous version of their program on the computer. OpenOffice doesn't do that.

When I started the installation program, the second screen asks you to "Select the folder in which to save the unpacked files". The default is C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Desktop\OpenOffice.org 3.0 (en-US) Installation Files. Installation puts the program files into C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3. My previous installation was in C:\OpenOffice.

My Desktop shortcut pointed to the C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3 location, and in Windows Explorer, I went to Tools | Folder Options | File Types and changed the association of "DOC" files to point to that location as well, but I still got the "Missing vcl resource" error message. I even changed the association to another word processing program, and then back to swriter, but it did not help.

Since some document file types opened with OpenOffice, such as ".odt", I felt that this must be the core of the problem, so rather than swriter, I changed the "DOC" file extension to point to OpenOffice itself, and this got the program working.

My preference would be to reinstall everything into my preferred subdirectory, but as long as it is working now, I'm not about to mess with it again.

[Hagar Delest]

I see you've tagged your thread again as solved. Do you know what was wrong?