VSTO: Can't create workbooks

Question

When I try to create a Excel or Word workbook project in VS, I get the message:

A compatible version of Microsoft Office is not installed on this computer. You must install the version of Office that is compatible with your project. In addition, repair the version of the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime that is appropriate for your project by running the installation program and selecting the Repair option. The runtime is available at the Microsoft Download Center.

I have VS 2008 and Office 2003 Professional SP 3 installed. I did a full install of Office, and it looks like the Interop DLLs are in the GAC. I am creating an Office 2003 project. I tried the steps from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/274653/vsto-problem-cannot-create-visual-studio-excel-workbook-project. I repaired VS 2008 from the disk after installing Office 2003 Pro. I had Office 2003 Standard installed earlier, but I removed it before installing Office 2003 Pro. I am able to create add-ins. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Office 2k3 Standard is not compatible with VSTO; upgrading from 2k3 standard has likely left something in your registry.

This thread suggests that even moving to 2k7 doesn't give compatibility in this case! How about creating a new user profile?

Answer 2

The following steps worked:

1) Unistall Office Pro, reboot and reinstall.

2) Repair VS 2008 from disk.

Answer 3

I was also having the same prob but I installed office2003 sp3 and now its working fine