Powerpoint process runs but program does not start

Question

Hey all,

I have Microsoft Office 2010 installed on Windows 7 64 bit Professional.  My Word, Outlook, and Excel all work without any problems.  When I start up Powerpoint, however, the process starts in task manager but the program does not load.  If I start it again, another process loads, but again no program starts up.  When I go into Add/Remove to try to repair it, when I click on "Change" a window boots real fast and then closes out without loading anything.  I received my Office from my undergrad IT department (where I used to work), so I do not have a copy of the installation CD unfortunately.  Is there something I can do to get my Powerpoint working again?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

With PowerPoint open (but not visible) try right clicking on the Task bar and selecting "Cascade".  If you are lucky, the app will appear on screen.

I was going to suggest a repair, but you've already tried that.

Which Office bundle do you have? With a little luck, you could download the installation file from the internet and uinstall-re-install.  You need the PRODUCT KEY before you uninstall.

If you have any contacts back at the school, maybe you could borrow the installation disk.

2010 Full Download

NOTE: if you do not have the installation file on an “official” MS installation disk, download and save it to your HD. Then you should burn it to one or more DVDs for future use. And at the same time, write down the product key on the DVD. You need both items for future installations, say after your computer crashes and you have re-installed windows. At that point you won’t be able to extract it from the registry and won’t remember where the online account is.

Office 2010 / 2007 Download locations - http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_2010-office\_install/here-are-the-download-locations-for-office-2010/ac67aa2f-dc1c-46f4-8b1d-ca00b3f02a18 ****

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/ - US online Office Store

http://www.office.com/backup 

• Download Office 2010 Installation Backup. You will need your original Product Key.

https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/using-the-product-key-card-FX101853163.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA101847520

• Download 2010 using Product Key card PKC

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/microsoft-office-2010-backup-FX101853122.aspx

• Download Backup Buy Backup disk 2010 using Product Key - FPP

https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/microsoft-office-2010-backup-FX101853122.aspx?redir=0 

• download/backup for Office 2010

www.office.com/downloadoffice

https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/netbook-FX101850729.aspx - Download Office for Netbooks (H&S, H&B, PRO, Standalone Apps)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/professional-plus/ - If you have a valid Pro Plus Product Key

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee390818.aspx - A Pro Plus download

Answer 2

Just tried this.  Same issue with powerpoint.  It did reset my word settings though.  Hmmm.

Answer 3

Close all the Office application, browse to the location mentioned below and delete ‘Office’ from HKCU and then try to open PowerPoint 2010 and check if it works fine.

Note: Backup your registry before modifying it.

Click on Start> Search Program and files> Regedit

1. Open registry editor

2. Go to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office]

Answer 4

Oh well, that was an easy fix.

I don't deal with PowerPoint very much so I can't make any better specific suggestions. Here are links to some Word specific trouble shooting tips. Try to generalize them to work with PowerPoint. I did a "quickie" test and  adding "/safe" to the program name does start it in "safe" mode.  A W.A.G. would be there is a problem with an add-in, but that is total guess.

Trouble Shoot Word problems that occur when you start or use Word 2010, 2007, 2003, or 2002http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541

**NOTE:**part of this procedure is disabling addins. If you want to take a shortcut, check to see if you have a BlueTooth device driver or addin, ie “send to Bluetooth”, installed. Disabling BlueTooth is rapidly moving to the top of my Office trouble shooting process. Blue Tooth drivers have been identified as the cause of problems with many different “random” symptoms. If you have BlueTooth, disable it in control panel, device manager and possibly as an addin in Office apps.  It’s not that I think there is anything inherently bad with Blue Tooth. The problem is with the people writing the drivers.

Starting in March 2012, "Skype click to Call" has been causing problems File Open problems.  This has been co-incident a browser problem that causes the same problem.  Simply closing all open browsers sometimes fixes the symptom. Other times Skype has to be uninstalled.

Bluetooth Fix: “Microsoft Word has stopped working” - http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-microsoft-word-has-stopped-working Example of a problem caused by Bluetooth

Alright, well, I found the answer to this final issue: I only needed to disable the Bluetooth add-in on Options. I have no idea why that would have been the problem, but I found it as a suggested fix here. Now every single thing opens quickly and without error.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

As a recap:

• My Office 2010 was a Click-to-Run version
• Word suddenly giving me messages about "Downloading the Required Feature," freezing up, slowing down...
• Ultimately had to uninstall Office
• Reinstalled it from the Microsoft website with my product key, choosing the 64-bit version instead of the Click-to-Run version
• Installed all new updates from Windows Updates
• Restarted computer
• Word working quickly with no messages, but became unresponsive when trying to open old files
• Went to File->Options->Add-Ins->Go-> and unchecked Bluetooth.
• Everything seems to be back to normal, if not better than before.

Testing For Skype Problem

It is Skype click to call.  If you want to verify quickly:

1. Close Excel
2. Start Firefox in safe mode (disables all add ons)
3. Try paste special in Excel problem will NOT be there.
4. Close excel
5. Start Firefox normal
6. try paste special problem will be back
7. Close excel
8. In firefox disable Skype click to call

9 restart firefox

10. restart excel
11. Try paste special and it should work right.

**********************

Another take on this problem, try a “bare-bones” Skype installation:

<snip>

I was given a newly imaged box and our IT technician loaded add-ons for software or hardware I need to function one by one. It turned out the culprit for me was Skype. 

If you need to have Skype loaded onto your computer, make sure when you are installing to deselect any pre-populated check boxes.  Just install it bare bones and it seems to work.

</snip>

A beginner's guide to trouble shooting problems in Word http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322743

---

How to trouble shoot problems that occur when you start or use Word 2003 or Word 2002 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=820919

Solving Crashing Problems - http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProblemsStartingWord.htm

Starting point when Word does something unexpected

As a general rule, when something seems to be going wrong, or at least not the way you want it to go, in Word, any version, go to Tools and then Options and study all the settings on all the tabs. You may even find some settings that you want to try that have nothing to do with the current problem.

When I was teaching Word and other Microsoft Office programs at a private business college, I had three rules:

1.         Always check Tools Options

2.         When in doubt, right-click on something

3.         If you're wondering how to set up a special kind of material in a document, consider whether Word tables are suitable. The placement officer of the school came to me several times and asked how I thought she should set something up. Each time the answer was, "I'd use a Word table." By the fifth time she had stopped asking--she got the point.

What to do When Word Crashes****http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm

Use a Spare User Account to Trouble shoot Windows Problems -http://www.pcworld.com/article/218437/reader\_qanda\_trouble shoot\_windows\_tweak\_office\_add\_usb\_ports.html?tk=nl\_sbx\_h\_cbstories

Recently a couple readers wrote to me with very similar problems. One was having trouble getting Internet Explorer to run; the other, Windows Explorer.

In other words, a couple of Windows' own built-in tools were broken. (Note to Microsoft: That should not happen. Come on!)

Usually, for situations like these, I recommend an end-run around the problem. Internet Explorer won't work? Install Firefox or Chrome and use that instead. Can't load Windows Explorer? Switch to any number of even better Windows Explorer replacements.

Of course, that doesn't really solve the problem. If you're hoping to fix your broken tool, you'll need to do a little trouble shooting. To start, I recommend switching to (or creating) another user account, then seeing if Explorer runs properly. If it does, you've narrowed down the problem significantly (and should consider "moving" to a new user account permanently). If not, well, back to square one.

Either way, it's a simple method of figuring out how deeply rooted into Windows the problem is. And that will help considerably as you Google-search for an actual fix (assuming there is one--sometimes these things can be resolved only by reinstalling Windows).Make the Office 2007/2010 Toolbars More Familiar

Answer 5

Hi, I appreciate the advice, but the program does not open on the taskbar after I click on it (so nothing shows when cascading).  The process runs in task manager, but otherwise there's no indication that the program is doing anything.  The Powerpoint loading box does not open either. 

I am using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010.

Uninstalling/reinstalling is not an option for me right now - is there another way?

Thanks for the response!