SharePoint Workspace 2010 crashes on some systems that were upgraded from Office 2003 or earlier

by Joe Levine and Patrick Gan
(edited by Frances S., 4/13/11)

SharePoint Workspace 2010 might crash on startup or during account configuration under the following circumstances:

• You upgraded to Office 2010 from Office 2003 or an earlier version of Office.
• Your operating system is Windows XP SP3.
• Your computer is NOT a tablet system.

The cause of the problem has to do with an incompatibility with Handwriting Recognition software that was installed with an earlier version of Office, and that might still reside on your system even after uninstalling the earlier version.

To resolve this issue, you can uninstall the Handwriting Recognition software as follows:

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Regional and Language Options.
3. Click the Languages tab.
4. Click the Details button to open the Text Services and Input Languages dialog box.
5. Click Handwriting Recognition.
6. Click Remove, and then click OK.

Depending on the state of the system, you may need to reboot to complete the change.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thanks, Mark! I added a note.

• Anonymous
  November 18, 2010
  This is an excellent work-around. I've been trying to get Sharepoint working forever

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2010
  Click Remove, Click OK. Clicking Apply just adds a few more wasted seconds so unless you plan on staying in there to change something else it's pointless.

• Anonymous
  February 10, 2011
  Thank you so much.  You are my saviour.

• Anonymous
  April 13, 2011
  Works perfectly if you reboot the machine after the tweek. Thank you

• Anonymous
  April 14, 2011
  Thank you thank you thank you!  I love it when I find the exact fix I need.

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2011
  Thank you very much

• Anonymous
  November 22, 2011
  So will Microsoft release something to address this? Is this only an issue with Windows XP?