[Solved - Work Around] Error at registration of extension

[dgentry]

Yes, there are other threads on this error however I have tried all they suggest and still cannot install. Here's the issue: Have Windows 8. I had installed OO3.4.1 and it was running fine until a few days ago. When I clicked on a document, OO would not open. I tried right click/open with and it still would not open. I could open OO-Write and open the document. Rather than trying to fix that issue (I know, my second mistake - first being Windows), I tried installing 4.0. The first step it did was to uninstall 3.4.1. Then like everyone else, at the end of the install I got the above error message. It rolled back the install. Now, neither 4.0 nor 3.4.1 will install. User Profile does not exist. I'm installing with all the default options, i.e., c:\, create icon, etc. I even bought a registry cleaner and ran it to remove any remnant of OO. Still the error. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[Bill]

Then like everyone else, at the end of the install I got the above error message. It rolled back the install.

Not everyone. I've never seen this message when installing OOo or AOO.

Now, neither 4.0 nor 3.4.1 will install.

Are you still getting the "Error occurred during registration of extensions" message when installing either 4.0.0 or 3.4.1?

User Profile does not exist.

Did you delete it? Uninstalling 3.4 won't remove the 3.4 user profile. It should still exist if you didn't delete it manually.

Have the OpenOffice 4 and OpenOffice.org 3 program files been removed? They should no longer be there if all versions have been uninstalled.

[dgentry]

Are you still getting the "Error occurred during registration of extensions" message when installing either 4.0.0 or 3.4.1?

Yes. Same error regardless of version I try to install.

Did you delete it? Uninstalling 3.4 won't remove the 3.4 user profile. It should still exist if you didn't delete it manually.

I did not delete it manually but it is gone.

Have the OpenOffice 4 and OpenOffice.org 3 program files been removed? They should no longer be there if all versions have been uninstalled.

All files are off the system.

[Bill]

Did you select View > Hidden Items in File Explorer when looking for the user profile? I've never seen anything delete the user profile.

[dgentry]

Yes, i set it to view hidden files.

[Bill]

I'd run complete malware scans. Disappearing user profiles is completely beyond my experience.

Is the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161 installed?

[dgentry]

Bill, I see you have been on this forum for a while. Is there a way to attract the attention of the developers? I'm dead-in-the-water here. I need this software to work. I would be interested in knowing what is triggering this error message. Surely, that would at least give me some direction to look.

[RoryOF]

You can report a bug; details are given in
[Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions

but a bug needs to be reproducible before it can be accepted and acted upon.

We woult like to know from what site you downloaded your versions of OpenOffice (Filenames and byte counts are also useful). If your downloads are from www.openoffice.org, or via its redirection to Sourceforge, then in cases of difficulty we normally recommend removal of all traces of OpenOffice using RevoUninstaller at its most aggressive, deletion of the User Profiles (verify that they have been deleted, don't just assume this) then reinstallation of OpenOffice from a download from the above site. I think Bill will agree with me that process this has cured almost every corner case.

[Bill]

Bill, I see you have been on this forum for a while. Is there a way to attract the attention of the developers? I'm dead-in-the-water here. I need this software to work. I would be interested in knowing what is triggering this error message. Surely, that would at least give me some direction to look.

No one knows what triggers the error message. There has been speculation on the part of AOO developers about the role of the absence of the MSVC++ 2008 Redistributable, but I've removed every copy of the redistributable from Windows 8 and AOO 4.0.0 still installs with no problem after automatically installing the redistributable. Did you look to see if you have the redistributable installed? Did you check to see if you have any malware? If something removed your user profile, it may have also removed the MSVC++ redistributable. I can't reproduce that.

Bug 119004 - Cannot install on clean Windows XP SP3

[dgentry]

We would like to know from what site you downloaded your versions of OpenOffice (Filenames and byte counts are also useful).

I downloaded both the 3.4.1 and 4.0 versions directly from OpenOffice.org.
Apache_OpenOffice_4.0.0_Win_x86_install_en-US.exe 140,076KB
Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Win_x86_install_en-US.exe 132,748KB

we normally recommend removal of all traces of OpenOffice using RevoUninstaller at its most aggressive

I downloaded/installed RevoUninstaller (with all it's extras) but unless I am missing something it won't do me any good. It apparently only uninstalls applications that are already installed. If there is a way to have it search for orphan files and registry settings, I have yet to figure out how to do that. I am still looking, though.

[dgentry]

I FINALLY got Open Office 4 to work but you're going to think I'm crazy...

1. I ran the install but when the error popped up I did not click the OK button
2. I renamed C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\OpenOffice 4.0.0\ to ...\OpenOffice 4.0.0-2
3. In C:\Program Files (x86)\, I was not able to rename \OpenOffice 4 because it was “in use by another program” so I created a new folder \OpenOffice 4-2 and copied all the folders and files into it.
4. At this point I went back to the error popup and clicked the OK button which rolled back the installation, leaving the folders I created, of course.
5. I renamed both folders to what they should have been.
6. A bit of a round-about process but it works!

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I just wish we could have found the root cause of this.

[dgentry]

One more thing, the user profile is where it should be, too.

[Bill]

I would have thought that rolling back the installation would have removed the registry data as well as the program files and AOO would not have worked even with the program files restored manually.

The user profile is created when you run AOO, not during istallation.

[LaurenC]

Thank you very much for posting your solution to "An error occurred during registration of extension!" Your solution is the only one that worked for me.

I tried all of the other suggested fixes such as:
- Making sure my download file was from the right website
- Renaming my profile to .old
- Turning off anti-virus prior to install
- Turning off Windows Firewall prior to install
- Reboot prior to install

None of these worked but your clever solution did.
Since I have Windows XP I will post the steps I followed here in order to help others:

1. When the install comes up with the error message "An error occurred during registration of extensions!," do NOT click OK.

2. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and rename the folder OpenOffice 4.1.1 to OpenOffice 4.1.1-2

3. Navigate to C:\Program Files and create a new folder named OpenOffice 4-2.

4. Copy everything (all files and folders) from inside the folder OpenOffice 4 to the folder you just created, OpenOffice 4-2.

5. Click the OK button on the error message. Wait for the "Rollback" to complete.

6. Reboot

7. Rename both folders to their original name. I still had a leftover folder in Program Files named OpenOffice 4 and I had to delete that before I could rename. So, you should now have:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\OpenOffice 4.1.1

and

C:\Program Files\OpenOffice 4

I hope this solution helps others who, like me, searched for an answer to this install problem and spent a lot of time trying other options. This one works. Thank you dgentry for discovering a workaround.