I fumbled with this problem for quite some time without much success after reinstalling Windows XP on my eee PC. Then I found the solution at Ben Shoemate’s article. I’m directly quoting his contents here:
I am trying to install Office 2007 onto a clean install of Windows XP (on a friends eee PC – it is really a sweet little laptop.. anyway), I get the error above about protected files. Here is the solution. (This may have happened because in optimizing XP down, some files were deleted). 1. From Windows install disk goto E:\I386 folder and open open (Double click) on the FP40EXT.CAB file. It should open. (or – if you do not have the disk, find a working XP computer and go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\40\bin). 2. find fp4autl.dll in the list and copy it (ctrl-c) 3. go to c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\40\bin and paste it (ctrl-v) 4. Restart the 2007 office install
