When I clicked OK on that error, Excel proceeded to run without further complaint - though, at this point, I did not test it beyond a few menu clicks. One of your object libraries (stdole2.tlb) is missing or damaged.
When I ran it in a native (i.e., non-virtual, real hardware) Windows 7 system, Word started up without issues, but Excel produced an error: My quick-and-dirty Cameyo capture of Office 2003 did look like it wanted to run.
The VM provided a superior environment for this sort of thing: I could do my tinkering in a clone of my simple WinXP VM, easily discard that clone and start over with a new one if things went wrong, and keep snapshots of that clone as I progressed if things were going well. The idea seemed to be that Cameyo operated by taking before-and-after snapshots of the operating system, so as to capture the differences that the installer had made, and it was easier for Cameyo to do this on a system that didn’t have much going on. (I was using VirtualBox to create and run my VMs.)Ĭameyo advised that a minimal WinXP SP3 system would provide the optimal environment for packaging a portable version of an installed program. I did this in a very basic Windows XP SP3 VM with essentially nothing installed, including no Internet connection, no firewall, and no antivirus software. I had already created a quick-and-dirty Cameyo capture of Office 2003. I accepted the possibility that a Windows VM would be the only place where I could run any version of MS Office on a Linux system. I knew it would probably turn out that Cameyo would give me a portable version of Office 2003 that would work only in Windows. As described in another post, those Cameyo packages had generally run well in Windows but not in Linux via Wine. Compared to running in Wine, Cameyo would have the advantage of capturing all the various tweaks and updates in a single convenient package.Īt this point, I had used Cameyo to make portable versions of a number of Windows programs. As detailed below, my Office 2003 installation was complicated. I was not sure precisely how Microsoft’s licensing or activation was going to work that was one of the unknowns that would have to be resolved as I proceeded.Ī portable version would have another advantage, if it worked. Besides, I was intrigued by the thought that, if I could create a portable version of Office, I might be able to continue to use it, on native Windows installations or in virtual machines (VMs), without ever again going through the hassles of installation. But it appeared that the program was still for sale. It was clear, of course, that in 2016, not many potential readers were going to be interested in using Office 2003. But many of those tests went only to the point of installation, without extensive testing of features. After all, the WineHQ Applications Database reported successes and failures with all versions of MS Office. I did not put too much stock in this belief. Office 2003 did seem to be quite a bit simpler and smaller than more recent versions. I also believed that Wine, the Linux tool used to run Windows programs on Linux, was at its best with simpler programs. The latter was more suited to mouse users, whereas I preferred to use the keyboard for my word processing to the extent possible. Nonetheless, I wanted some version of MS Office on hand.Īs I reviewed my present and previous Office programs, I recalled that I had preferred the relatively austere menu of Office 2003 over the ribbon that Microsoft implemented beginning in Office 2007.
Linux came with various free alternatives, including the estimable LibreOffice. The details are here for anyone making a similar attempt, and also to invite suggestions.Īs part of my project to transition from Windows 7 to Linux, I was looking for an office suite to take the place of the Microsoft Office suite I had been using in Windows. This post describes an unsuccessful effort to virtualize Office 2003 using Cameyo.