How to Install Office 2000 on Windows Vista

[shyman]

I am planning on buying a new laptop with Windows Vista. Will I have problems installing/running Office 2000 on it?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not quite ready to shell out the money for Office 2007. Thank you for any replies.

[EINSTEIN_007]

Check similar type of threads: does office 2000 work with windows vista
Office 2000 / Vista "invalid product key"
Office 2000 compatibility problem
Office 2000; Outlook 2003; Vista 64bit& XP Home;

[Viceman]

Description of the versions of Office that are supported on Windows Vista
This article describes the versions of Microsoft Office that are supported on Windows Vista.

Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, and the 2007 Microsoft Office suites are all supported on Windows Vista. The 2007 Office suites were extensively tested on Windows Vista for best compatibility.

Because Office 2000 and Office XP are in Extended Support, there have been no fixes for issues that occur when these products are run on Windows Vista. For more information about the support policy status on these versions and on other versions of Office, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectoff (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectoff)
Because these versions of Office are in Extended Support, there will no more service packs for them.

The 2007 Office suites were designed to run on Windows Vista. Therefore, the 2007 Office suites are the recommended and best versions of Office for this platform. For more information about applications that are supported on Windows Vista, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
933305 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933305/ ) Applications that have earned the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo or the "Works with Windows Vista" logo
For more information about Microsoft Support Lifecycle policies, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

APPLIES TO
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007
Microsoft Office Standard 2007
Microsoft Office Professional 2007
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
Microsoft Office Basic 2007
Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003
Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003
Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
Microsoft Office XP Professional Edition
Microsoft Office XP Small Business Edition
Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition
Microsoft Office XP Standard Edition for Students and Teachers
Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition
Microsoft Office 2000 Professional Edition
Microsoft Office 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition

[Zachary]

I have a mixed opinion so far on Office 2000's compatibility with Vista, Home Premium specifically. I've successfully set up and run Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Publisher. However Outlook has been giving me headaches trying to import .pst files. At first it worked fine, import tool opened and I was able to import one .pst file. When I tried to import the second, I received this error: "An error occurred while attempting to open the Windows Address Book. Unable to find the WAB DLL." I've found no fix for this through online research so far, at least one that applies to Vista (several for Windows XP). In addition to this, every time Outlook is opened it runs through the setup mail type wizard. Reinstalling Office has left the same results.

So...other than Outlook it's fine, will try to update on situation when I get Outlook figured out.

[shyman]

I couldn't find a solution to this problem on the web or on Microsoft's website, but after trial and error, I figured it out. To install Microsoft Office 2000 on Vista, do the following:

1. Update Windows Vista to latest version. I read that the initial version of Vista did not run Office 2000, but the later one does. Then restart your computer.

2. Set your firewall to Allow FindFast.exe. It is a Microsoft Office Indexing process used by Microsoft Office applications to index Office documents to speed up search operations. It needs to be allowed for the Office 2000 installation. Then restart your computer.

3. Download Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. It says it's not necessary for Office 2000, but I think it is. Restart your computer.

4. Install Office 2000. After it installs, remember that the installation CD's will be required again when you first use each program.

[Team Leader]

This is pretty well documented- Office 2000 can be installed on Vista- everything EXCEPT Outlook works fine. Microsoft changed how the address book works with Vista.

Some people have eliminated the error messages by manually copying .dll files, but I haven't heard of anything that allows the old messages/contacts to be imported. Office 2003 and 2007 don't have this issue.