Microsoft Office 2003 missing SKU011.CAB

Fix: Microsoft Office 2003 Prompts for SKU011.CAB on Launch

After a Windows update, Microsoft Office 2003 installations can break in a frustrating way — launching Excel (or another Office app) triggers a repair dialog, which then fails with an error stating that SKU011.CAB cannot be found.

The fix involves a quick registry edit to disable the local installation source cache.

Step-by-Step Fix

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  2. Navigate to the following key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Delivery\
  1. You’ll see a subkey with a name similar to:
   {90xx0409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}

Note: The xx portion of the key name will vary by installation. There is typically only one subkey listed under Delivery — select whichever one appears.

  1. Inside that subkey, find the CDCache string value.
  2. Double-click it and change the value to 0.

Your registry entry should look like this:

reg
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Delivery\{90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}]
"CDCache"="0"

What the CDCache Values Mean

Value Behavior
Auto Caches the full source on the drive with the most free space. Falls back to caching only selected features if space is limited, then runs from CD if needed. (Default)
1 Caches only selected features. If space is unavailable, the installation fails.
2 Forces caching of the entire source. If space is unavailable, the installation fails.
0 Disables local installation source caching entirely. Office runs directly from the original source.

Setting CDCache to 0 bypasses the broken cache lookup that causes the SKU011.CAB error.

⚠️ Reminder: Always back up your registry before making changes. In Registry Editor, go to File → Export to save a copy.