In this post, we will outline some tips to help you avoid most Office set up or installation errors if you want to install and run more than one version of Office on the same Windows 11/10 PC. This applies to Office 2021/2019, and also apply to individual apps such as Visio and Project.
Install multiple versions of Office on one computer
Remember that even if you follow the recommendations below, you might still run into issues when you use two versions of Office on the same PC. If you decide not to keep both versions and you uninstall the earlier version, you might need to repair the Office suite version remaining to make sure that the file associations will work correctly.
Install & use different versions of Office on the same computer
The tips/recommendations are as follows but not limited to:
1] If you have an Office 365 subscription or non-subscription versions such as Office Home and Business 2021, 2019, 2016 or 2013, in most cases you can’t run these versions together on the same computer.
There is one exception: If one of the two products is installed through MSI (which is common for volume-licensed products), they can run side-by-side.
2] You may see a Stop, you should wait to install Office error. This can happen if you have a standalone Office application (such as Word) installed on your computer. Still, a newer application version is already included in the suite you’re trying to install. In this case, the standalone version will be removed.
However, if the standalone application isn’t part of the new Office suite you are trying to install, then the standalone application will be left on the machine and the Office suite will successfully install.
3] Running multiple versions of Office on Windows when Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is enabled is not supported.
On a computer with Remote Desktop Service (RDS) enabled, it is possible to install multiple versions of Office. However, this is not a supported Office configuration. To get the computer into a supported configuration, you can either disable RDS or you can uninstall versions of Office, leaving only one version installed.
4] Install earlier versions of Office first. For example, install Office 2019 before installing Office 2021. This also applies to other products from the Office family, like Visio, Project or Access Runtime as well as Language Packs and Proofing Tools. If you don’t install Office in this order, you may have to repair the later versions of Office afterward.
5] Make sure all versions of Office are either 32-bit or 64-bit. You can’t have a mix of both. You may see Office (64-bit or 32-bit) couldn’t be installed error when trying to install them.
To fix this error and switch from 32-bit to 64-bit (or vice-versa), you must do the following in this order.
- Uninstall Office
- Install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office.
I hope you find these tips useful!
Can I have Office 365 and Microsoft Office at the same time?
You can have both Office 365 and Microsoft Office3 installed on the same computer, but there are some important considerations you need to know and we have listed them above in this post.
