Windows installer shown everytime I open a Microsoft Office 2007

I have Vista, running Office 2007 Ultimate, and every single time I open any
of the Microsoft Office programs, the same message comes up...
'Preparing to Install'... then... 'Please wait while Windows configures
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007'. This can take some time (up to a minute)
each time. Which is extremely irritating.

I have exhausted myself 'repairing' Office, 'reinstalling' Office,
'updating' Office and Windows - and my IT skills do not extend to fiddling
with the registry.

There is just no useful help on this, and it seems utterly stupid that this
happens to so many people but nothing is done about it.

Please, please, help me, it is so frustrating that I cannot fix it.

Although this KB is for Office 2003 some people reported success when used on Office
2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

My guess is you either have a clean-up program that does away with the
temporary Office files, or you didn't install the complete Office.
Office 2007 installs back-up files that provide some needed apps (like
clipart and stuff), but some cleaners (read: most of them) see those
files as clutter and throw them away.

If there's an option in your clean-up app to skip files, add
"OPA12.BAK" to the files to be ignored (without the quotation marks),
or try to re-install Office with all the options...

Okay, I didn't read the full message, which clearly states you have
exhausted the install possibilities.

So, that leaves the back-up files being deleted all the time.
I speak out of experience, as the clean-up tool I used (TonyArts
EasyCleaner) deletes Office's back-up files. Strangely enough, Office
uses those back-up files all the time, either to load the most common
executions (like opening Word, and other subcategories of Office) or
to store other utilities like ClipArt.

It is a strange but common behaviour by Office 2007. So, when these
(invisible) back-up files get deleted by a clean-up tool, Office can't
find the back-up files and re-installs the lot everytime you start
Office. Like I said earlier, you need to add "OPA12.BAK" to the
exceptions in the cleaning app, or, when the latter is impossible, get
rid of the cleaning tool altogether...

Hi - If your PC is a Dell, this is a common problem. The only
effective way of dealing with it is to clean reinstall the operating
system from the disc that is supplied and not the factory restore
image on the hard disk. Somehow this has been corrupted in some way.
If you Google, you will find a lot of people with the same problem.
You will unfortunately have to reinstall all the other programmes and
data. But it does mean you can remove the partition and free up some
hard disk space. Hope this helps.

Excuse me for saying so, David, but doing a complete re-install of
Windows because Office does a set-up everytime the PC is booted, is
complete nonsense and uncalled for, especially since we are not
dealing with a faulty windows, but with Office 2007 having a case of
the hick-ups. If there is indeed something faulty, it should/could be
the Office disc, not windows.

Another thought I just had was about accounts. When I spent time in
New York City, I often used the computers at the Public Library
(Williamsburg Branch in Brooklyn) where I had to log-on with my
library card. Those computers let you install software (which is added
to your temporary profile) but that software is erased from the minute
you log-off, i.e. your profile is reset to its original state
everytime you end a session to avoid the computer getting cluttered,
meaning that whatever software was installed has to be re-installed
again everytime you log on.

But I still think Shelly's problems come from the backup files being
erased (which is an experience I encountered), because Office is still
present, but doesn't find the necessary files to boot the program and
thus re-installs the lot. And no, my computer is not a Dell. It's a
rig I built myself (Asus P5K-E mobo, Asus EN8800GTS-Top GPU, Intel
E8400 CPU, 4GB Kingston HyperX RAM@1066MHz, Antec True Power Quattro
850w PSU, Antec 1200 Case and 4TB worth of HD space devided over 5
internal and 1 external disc, 32-bits Windows 7 Ultimate. Have Office
2007 Enterprise Edition SP2, which works flawless under Win7).

That is bad advice. You do not reformat because of this issue. The OP has not got
back here yet or he\she has already solved the issue with the advice already given
in previous answers in this thread

[Notoosharp]

The problem I have is all the MS Office 2007 programs work fine in the Administrators profile, but attempt to reinstall in all other user profiles. Then all the programs will operate fine except for MS Word. It becomes nonresponsive. If If matters I do have a Dell Dimension 8400, Pentium 4, 3Ghz, with 1Ghz RAM