I am using Office 97 on an XP base unit. Every time I attempt to launch Word 97 the following error is returned:

"the windows registry has reported that one or more required files are damaged or missing. To correct this problem, run the Word setup program"

Although I can OK the message and the program appears to work fine, I am unable to do anything on an html document within word such as insert a picture etc. This applies to exsisting documents as well as new ones I have just created via the install of Office 97 on the XP PC.

Pressing Alt and F11 together does seem to bring up Visual Basic without any issues.

I have removed and reinstalled the full application, but no joy.

I have tried the following what I have found from the Microsoft knowledge base:

Workaround #1
Search the user's temporary folder for MSForms.exd and delete the file. With Windows 2000, each user has his or her own temporary folder. For example:
C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Local Settings\Temp\VBE\MSForms.exd
Once you have deleted MSForms.exd, you should then grant write access to the following keys for the users who need to use VBA from Office 97 applications:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Clsid
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Typelib
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Interface

Steps to Grant Permissions to Registry Keys1. Log in as Administrator.
2. On the Windows Start menu, click Run. Type regedt32.exe, and then click OK to start the Registry Editor.
3. Locate the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Clsid.
4. On the Security menu, click Permissions. The Registry Key Permissions dialog box appears.
5. Click on Add, add the users or groups, and then select Full Control for the type of access.
6. Click OK to close the dialog box.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 for the remaining registry keys.
8. Quit the registry editor. This allows users to register type-libraries, COM objects, and so forth.

Workaround #2
If a user with Power User or Administrator privileges has already used VBA on the system, an MSForms.exd file has been created for that user. Copy this MSForms.exd to the restricted user's temporary folder. If you want new users to get the MSForms.exd automatically, you could put a copy in the temporary folder for the Default User. For example, in the directory:
C:\Document Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temp\vbe\Msforms.exd
If no user has previously used VBA on the system and no MSForms.exd has been created, then you could copy this file from another system and register it as a user with write access to the registry keys mentioned in "Workaround #1". To register the type library, on the Windows Start menu, choose the Run command, type the following, and then click OK:
regtlib.exe C:\Temp\VBE\msforms.exd
If users already have this file, replace it with the one from the Administrator or Power User's Temp\Vbe directory.

But still I cannot get Word 97 to work correctly.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Thanks