Could not be registered?

November 15, 2012 2:12 PM

New and unsettling issues in Word 2003... what is this error message?

All of sudden, I'm getting an error message when I try to open Word files. The message is "This document could not be registered. It will not be possible to create links from other documents to this document". I also get this message when I'm trying to open a new, blank document. Any clues? I'm running Word 2003 on Windows XP, but have got the same message (with Word 2003) on a Windows 7 machine. Everything has been playing nicely up until now (i.e. for years and years in the case of the XP machine) and I haven't installed anything or made any notable changes as far as I'm aware. With thanks.

posted by jonathanbell to computers & internet (3 answers total)

Open your Services panel and check that the service "DCOM Server Process Launcher" is set to automatic and is running.
posted by ubiquity at 2:47 PM on November 15, 2012

Have you tried restoring your system to the last saved system restore checkpoint? Tutorial for XP here.

Perhaps this is a crude if not general method of resolving Windows related issues, but I think of it as a pretty reliable salve.
posted by chloe.gelsomino at 2:48 PM on November 15, 2012

Ah, I just remembered something I _did_ do - I deleted a whole bunch of what seem to be called '._ files', created automatically on a Mac (I use PCs but edit and create many of these files on a Mac). Also, the files are kept remotely, on Dropbox. This doesn't explain why blank templates also generate the error though.
posted by jonathanbell at 3:22 PM on November 15, 2012