Comments on: Error: Windows Cannot Find Filename When Opening .DOC Files From Windows Explorer

By: Lech

Lech — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:48:32 +0000

I had the same problem and could not fix it. Finally, I did. How?

My mistake was that I was uninstalling the Office and then installing it, with some old Office registry entries still present. The uninstall function does not clear all Office registry entries.

Here is what to do:

1. Uninstall office

2. Go to regedit

3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft

4. Right-click and delete the ‘Office’ key

Then,

1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft

2. Right-click and delete the ‘Office’ key

Then, if you have one, run the registry cleaner, for example Registry Mechanic.

Then, fresh-install the Office.

This should do. It solved the problem for me. I tried many solutions recommended on internet, but nothing else worked.

By: Manjusha

Manjusha — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:10:45 +0000

Help!!! I deleted ddeexec as per instructions and now I cannot open any of my existing Word files. How do I reverse it? I can’t find information on this anywhere. I am using Vista.

By: pnolan

pnolan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:19:44 +0000

Hi Guys, Just want to say thank you,

After 18 months and finally getting sick of this error message, i found your site.

This works perfectly (after also deleting the command key)

Thanks a million,
P

By: Edward Bickford

Edward Bickford — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:53:18 +0000

Running Windows Vista and Word 2007.
Same failure symptoms: Can open files from within Word, but receive “Windows cannot find file …” when trying to open the file outside of Word.

I navigated like instructed and deleted the ddeexec key and also modified the Command/default key.

This still did not work until I also deleted the Command/command key. This key had very strange character sequences that did not make any sense. Not sure how it was there or why it was modified to garbled character strings.

The important thing is Thank You! Working on this issue for two days until I stumbled across your solution!

By: Suan

Suan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:55:48 +0000

But I WANT to always run Word as admin, is there a way to get around this “file not found” issue?

By: dixonip

dixonip — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:43:42 +0000

I’ve a similar problem with Excel and it’s related to DDE. I went to Excel Option, Advance and clear the “Ignore all other applications that use DDE”. Hope it helps.

By: Drmaldition

Drmaldition — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:06:10 +0000

Hi guys, the problem is not with Word, is with the shit of Vista. Check that in .exe file properties you DO NOT have the Run programme as administrator checked. That should, hopefully, sort the problem. As I always said, VISTA SUCKS

By: max

max — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:17:15 +0000

thank you so much. worked on my windows vista machine. this has been quite the nagging problem

By: Pixie

Pixie — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:09:48 +0000

Worked perfectly first time for Word 2007, vista 64 bit install.
Thanks very much!

By: JON

JON — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:13:03 +0000

I have been having this problem and after reading these instructions I realized that I had recently downloaded a word Add-in. This was for a book search program; Once I went into remove programs and removed it I stopped having any trouble opening files. Now I just need to see if the Book search people have a updated add-on.
Thanks