I encountered a client’s computer that would not start up any of the Microsoft Office 2010 components. For each application (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, etc.), a different error message might be given. Finally, it was decided that an uninstall/reinstall would probably be for the best. Unfortunately, upon trying to uninstall the application, I received an error message:
“Setup has detected legacy Groove or Microsoft Groove Server software on this system. You must uninstall all legacy Groove and Microsoft Groove Server software before installing or upgrading to Microsoft SharePoint Workspace. For more information, see you Microsoft SharePoint Workspace administrator.”
It was an odd error message to receive because it would not allow me to uninstall and there was nothing related to Groove or SharePoint listed in the Add/Remove Programs.
The solution was to use a Microsoft FixIt tool to uninstall Office 2010. I was then able to reinstall the software and the previously encountered errors when opening the individual applications are gone. Microsoft provides FixIt tools to uninstall different versions of the Office suite on Windows.
Microsoft Office 2010 uninstaller FixIt (See Method 2 for download)