A number of users are reporting an error message when they try to open any Office applications:
The operating system is not presently configured to run this application
This is apparently caused by an update to Norton security software. Either uninstall Norton or make this change:
- Open Norton's Settings, then Firewall
- Select Intrusion and Browser Protection.
- Disable Exploit Prevention.
- Create an appointment to remind you to enable Exploit Protection in a few weeks.
A bad Office update is also causing problems for some users. Uninstall March 28, 2017, update for Excel 2010 (KB3191855) if you have problems using Excel.
Christopher Bedford says
Yeah... 99.9% of the 'solutions' or suggestions I found posted on this topic (and there are *L-O-O-O-O-O-T-S*) have a tendency to get bogged down in the details. In my case the solution turned out to be very much simpler than they all suggested.
I had this issue immediately on reinstallation of Office 2013 (trying to solve a different issue) and I ended up wasting nearly a whole day changing security settings and deleting the contents of some hidden folders and checking Windows updates and re-installing *again* and restarting the computer *again* and switching off the anti-malware program and none of it worked (the PC does not have nor has it ever had any flavour of Norton on it, so it wasn't that).
Eventually I listened to a little voice saying "hey what about those updates". Turns out that when you install Office (at least, 2013) it isn't updated with Windows. But if (in any Office app) you go into File -> Office Account and then select the Office Updates button, you can "Update Now" - the default is to update automatically but who knows how long you'll have to wait for that to happen. So I "updated now" and after that the error message went away - I was getting it trying to run the Control Panel applet "Mail (Microsoft Outlook 2013) (32-bit)"
Jeff says
I have the same error message when opening Outlook 2016 but not other Office apps. Outlook SEEMS to run OK but message persists. Started yesterday after Outlook stopped mid use and updated. Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 now showing as 18/03/2018 but not showing in program updates. I am running McAfee on 64 bit and W10 Home. Any help please?
Diane Poremsky says
Is this still a problem? Are you using any addins, including iCloud?
The problem has been ongoing with Norton products installed - one update fixes it, another seems to break it, but you aren't using Norton...
Whitney says
This worked!!! Thank God for the internet! Thank you!!!
Merlin says
This fixed my problem of not being able to open Office. However, if I reenable
EXPLOIT PROTECTION late, won't the same problem occur with Office?
Diane Poremsky says
you'll enable it again after Norton releases an update to fix it. I'd try it every couple of weeks or after you know they installed a software update (not just malware/spam definitions).