I had the same problem. Neither detect and repair, nor reinstall, worked even
with the original CD.

Ultimately I choose 'system restore' to an earlier date and it started
working. I wonder why?

I find many people having the same problem. Is microsoft tracking this
particular complain ot not?

I needed to reinstall many updates as result. All the problems started with
an update for outlook-some thingto do with junk mail filtering. I have hidden
that update, as it is not at all getting installed.

High time microsoft understsnds our requirments and looks into this problem.
--
Mani


"DJF" wrote:

This a.m. I opened Word and chose Help-Detect & Repair and checked both
"Restore my shortcuts while repairing" and "Discard my customized settings
and restore default settings."

I have an awful feeling that that wiped out my Outlook 2003 which now won't
open. Whe I try to open it I get ""The operation failed due to an
installation problem. Restart Outlook and try again. If the problem persists,
please reinstall."

When I try either to do a Detect & Repair in Word or Excel or I try to fire
up the Office 2003 CD to reinstall I get a 1612 error message "The
installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source
exists and that you can access it."

So I can't uninstall. Can't reinstall. Can't open Outlook (though Word &
Excel are fine).

Help! I live by my Outlook calendar etc.
--
DJF