office 2003 install w/ OEM xp missing files

I am having a bear of a time installing office 2003 pro upgrade ( i have the required preexisting software to qualify for the upgrade).

OS is XP home ver 2002 SP2.

I had some problems installing MDAC from microsoft website, but microsoft utility shows I am now running MDAC 2.8 SP1. I am trying to run the install disk for Office, but it cant find the files. I have looking up each file individually and have been manually entering when the copy error message shows up, its slow but it was working, but I now have a file missing -

MDACRdMe.htm

Search of my drive (with show hidden files checked) comes up with nothing.

Any ideas?

eileen
machinewidow

 

I DO, however, have a file that looks promissing, MDACRDME.HT_ in C:\WINDOWS\I386. Whats the deal with a _ in the file name?
eileen
machinewidow

 

Success, I think maybe, time will tell.

I took a leap of faith, and changed the filename extension with ht_ to htm, lo and behold, the install finished its thing, and appears to be working. Ive since rebooted, as far as I can tell everything is working despite changing reg entries, so maybe Im ok?

But seriously, does anyone know what the deal is with so many .**_ entries in the system file folder, is this to purposely make the software hard to work with?

eileen