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Microsoft Office’s Error 1335

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Troubleshooting September 2004 • Vol.15 Issue 9	Add To My Personal Library
Microsoft Office’s Error 1335 How To Deal With This Annoying Installation Error

A flat file is a complete copy of the Office setup on your local hard drive. Use this approach if you believe the problem lies with the CD-ROM itself.

Microsoft Office users know that installing this suite can sometimes be tricky. Among the many problems is a seemingly common but poorly documented error: Error 1335. Microsoft's explanation of this error attributes the issue to a network problem, a dirty CD-ROM, or a flawed file on the CD-ROM itself. The problem is common enough to appear frequently in news and discussion groups, in chat rooms, and at tech support sites, although explanations for (and solutions to) it are rarely given. Specifically, the error reads: "The cabinet file ‘name.cab' required for this installation is corrupt and cannot be used. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM or a problem with this package."

A CAB (cabinet) file is a single file that contains a number of compressed files. Most often, CAB files contain system and other application files used while installing software. The CAB problem described in Error 1335 can occur at any time when installing Office 2000, XP, and 2003. To solve it, start with the following solutions, in the order we provide them, as they escalate from simplest to hardest.

Clean The CD-ROM

The simplest (potential) solution is to clean the CD-ROM. Tilt it up and down in good light to check for dirt or other debris and then remove anything you find with a soft, dry cloth. Remember to wipe in straight lines from the center out to the edge, or you might scratch the surface of the CD-ROM with the very dirt you're trying to remove.

If your CD-ROM is truly dirty, use a gentle stream of water to dislodge the dirt before wiping it off. If the CD-ROM is scratched and you think a scratch could be preventing your optical drive from properly reading the CD-ROM, invest in a CD cleaner from your local computer or office supply store.

Remember that your CD-ROM drive itself also can accumulate dust and dirt and thus fail to read even clean media. You can use canned air or a commercial drive cleaner (available at most computer stores) to clean the drive.

Create A Flat File

If cleaning the CD-ROM fails to work—and it often does—try a flat file solution. In this context, a flat file is a copy of the entire contents of the CD-ROM stored on a local hard drive. Running the setup program from the flat file saved on your hard drive eliminates problems that can occur with a damaged CD-ROM or CD-ROM drive, assuming that you can successfully copy the data over to the hard drive to begin with.

To build the flat file in Windows XP, click Start, All Programs, Accessories, and Windows Explorer. Expand the My Computer icon in the right pane of the window by clicking the plus sign (+) next to it and then locate your CD-ROM drive (often labeled D, E, or F). Open it and choose Select All from the Edit menu to select every item on the Office installation CD-ROM.

If you receive a message stating, "The Folder Contains X Hidden Files" (where X is the number of hidden files), click OK and choose Folder Options from the Tools menu. Click the View tab, select the Show Hidden Files And Folders radio button, and then click Apply and OK. When you return to Windows Explorer, choose Select All from the Edit menu again to select all the items on the installation CD-ROM; this time, you shouldn't receive a message.

Next, click Copy from the Edit menu to copy the contents of the CD-ROM to your system's Clipboard. Now you need to create a place to paste all this data. Using the right pane of Windows Explorer, click the icon representing your hard drive (usually labeled as C), open the File menu, and click New and Folder. Name the folder anything you want (such as Flatfile, for example) and open it. Open the Edit menu and click Paste to copy the contents of the setup CD-ROM to your hard drive. (This may take a few minutes.)

After the process is complete, reboot your system. Open Windows Explorer and locate C:\FLATFILE (or whatever you called the folder you used to contain the Office installation files). Now choose Select All from the Edit menu to select all the files and folders found in the Flatfile folder, and then right-click any of them and choose Properties from the context menu. Take note of the number of files and folders in the Properties dialog box (see the General tab) and repeat this process with the Office installation CD-ROM itself. Make sure that the Flatfile folder on your hard drive and your Office installation CD-ROM have the same number of files and folders before proceeding. If they don't, repeat the aforementioned copy-and-paste steps until you have an exact copy of the installation CD-ROM on your hard drive.

Once you do, run the Setup program from the copy residing on your hard drive. With any luck, the Setup program should run to completion, and you'll be able to use Office when it finishes.

Memory Management

The last (and most complicated) solution involves the management of your computer's RAM, a task that your system normally handles in the background without your knowledge. Managing RAM is a cumbersome task that needs an expert's touch; it's one that, for the most part, is best left to the system. But manually tweaking this management task also can help the system deal with large files, such as CAB files, more efficiently.

The System Configuration Utility lets you tweak advanced functions in Windows, including memory management.

In WinXP, open the Start menu, click Run, type msconfig in the field, and click OK to open the System Configuration Utility, a tool you can use to alter a large array of functions from startup to shutdown. On the General tab, select the Selective Startup radio button and deselect the checkboxes next to Process SYSTEM.INI File, Process WIN.INI File, and Load Startup Items. But make sure the checkbox next to Load System Services has a check mark.

On the BOOT.INI tab, click the Advanced Options button and select the /MAXMEM= checkbox from the BOOT.INI Advanced Options dialog box that displays. Set the number to a level lower than your computer's current RAM. For example, if you have 512MB of RAM, set the number to 384MB; if you have 384MB of RAM, choose 256MB; and so on. Then click OK, Apply, and OK in the System Configuration Utility dialog box. The system will prompt you to restart the machine to let changes take effect.

After you reboot your computer, insert the Microsoft Office installation CD-ROM into your optical drive and let the Setup program start automatically. Follow the prompts to install Office as usual. If it fails, repeat the aforementioned procedure, scaling the available memory down a notch until you find a setting that works.

Once the Office installation is complete, reverse the changes you made to the system using the System Configuration Utility. Open the Start menu, click Run, type msconfig in the field, and click OK to open the System Configuration Utility. On the General tab, select the Normal Setup – Load All Device Drivers And Services radio button. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the Advanced Options button, deselect the /MAXMEM= checkbox, and click OK, Apply, and OK. Once again, WinXP will ask you to reboot your machine for changes to take effect.

If at some point you make a mistake with the System Configuration Utility, simply click the Cancel button and start from scratch (unless you're absolutely sure you can fix the mistake and restore the system to its original settings). The System Configuration Utility is much like the Windows Registry in this regard: A minor change in settings can wreak havoc on your system, so it's best to proceed with caution at all times.

But Why Does It Happen?

Use the System Configuration Utility to change memory allocation in the Boot.ini file. This lets Windows deal with physical problems in the RAM that could prevent a clean Office installation.

Although there's a good chance that one of our suggestions will solve your problem with Error 1335, none of them indicate why the problem occurs in the first place, and even Microsoft's Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com) is nearly mum on the subject. (The one article dealing with the subject, number 314810, offers a terse description of the solutions, and attributes the error's cause, somewhat vaguely, to "allocation of memory.")

The truth is, Error 1335 is rarely the result of a flaw on the installation CD-ROM, although it certainly is possible. As an experiment, install Office on other PCs using the same CD-ROM that won't install on yours. If it works, it's proof that nothing is wrong with your CD-ROM.

Rather, we think the problem is caused by Windows' ability (or occasional inability) to manage large blocks of noncontiguous memory. When you set the /MAXMEM switch to a lower number, you force the system to limit the amount of RAM it can use to the first X blocks (where X is the number you choose) on your DIMM (dual in-line memory module), or RAM chip, ignoring everything above it. In other words, the system is forced to ignore RAM above the number you set, which helps it deal with parity errors, mismatched DIMM speeds, and other hardware problems related to RAM.

Thus, the problem, strictly speaking, is not a problem with Office but rather a problem with Windows, and even though Microsoft has released little information to document it, a quick search via Google (http://www.google.com) reveals that Error 1335 also appears while installing software from Kodak, Roxio, Sony, and others, including shareware and freeware. Now that you know more about this error, you can at least keep it from happening to you.

by David Garrett

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