I downloaded an Excel sheet that a friend had mailed to me – and was taken aback when my Microsoft Office could not open it. I then checked and found that I could not open Word or, for that matter, any Office program files!
I received the following message:
This update package could not be opened. Verify that the update package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer update package.
I was surprised, and although I do not know when exactly this had happened, it could probably have been after the Windows upgrade, which I had carried out recently. I checked if the Microsoft Office cache files (MSOCache hidden folder) were still present on my System Drive. They were there!
I tried to run the Office Pro setup from there but received this error:
This patch package could not be opened
This happens because your Office installation may have got corrupted due to certain reasons, and the software update cache registration may be missing from the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\<SID>\Patches\<SQUID>
If you do face such a situation, then you might want to try the following troubleshooting steps.
This update packet could not be opened Office error
1] Repair Microsoft Office programs
2] Download and run Microsoft Fixit 50123. You will get its download link at KB932857. It will basically direct you to the Program Install and Uninstall Troubleshooter. A manual way has also been given at the said KB article. Else download the Fix It to Uninstall Microsoft Office and Office 365.
3] If nothing helps, uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft Office may be the only option left.
Let us know what works for you.
TIP: How to fix Please wait while Windows configures Microsoft Office message may also interest you.
