Office 2013 has 'c2r32.dll is missing from your computer'

[RoundSound]

The symptom I am seeing is this:

I click on the Excel icon in the Start Menu and the error message says 'The program can't start because c2r32.dll is missing from your computer.'
In fact I can see it in two places
c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\client\c2r32.dll
c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\ClientX64\c2r32.dll

I tried BelArc to retrieve the license key and it gave me a key with a footnote, with OEM in it. I'm not sure how I would use it. The first fifteen digits are numerical and the last ten are like this
AAOEM-M7RP2
If that identifies the version that the key belonged to, I would love to know what version it identifies.

I did a TrendMicro scan and it finds no viruses

My todos: check logs, do a google search for that error code, look for help here, give up

It's a small business, and it's a mystery to me why these files don't work. So I am hoping someone can help me understand it.

I am told emphatically that this Dell XPS purchased maybe about 2010 recently possessed a working, licensed copy of Office 2013, and I think these people are not scamming, and I am trying to make Office 2013 work again. But you know, they don't have the install key or license key or whatever newfangled key they have these days. The IT guy has several different jobs he does (like shipping). He has the install cards for the other computers in the office, but he looked for this one and couldn't find it. He just told me it definitely had a valid license.

I spent a difficult hour or more with Edwin P. on chat (from the office.com web site) and explained the whole story. After a while he said he was a technical analyst (a different person at the keyboard?). He just kept saying the product key is missing. He says there was never a product key and that it should be obvious to me somehow. But I don't know how much he knows. I am not trying to hack Microsoft this time. That seems to be the truth from the people here.

It seems like worth a lot of time to keep asking since it would be stupid to lose $400 when I can ask a lot of questions in a short amount of time and I am not getting paid a lot of money to ask them. I am persistent but also aware that Microsoft is better equipped than I am!

I'm also assured on the other hand that there was a product key and it worked fine until last week for some reason.

TrendMicro scan doesn't seem to do anything helpful - finds nothing wrong.

I found an account at office.com that works and it has a Publisher license associated with it but it doesn't have Office 2013. I got an 'Install' button and it errored out with an error code 30015-1025(216). The message says hat it is a 16-bit app trying to run on a 64-bit operating system, so it won't even try to reinstall Publisher.

I tried to run it with 'recommended compatibility settings' in the compatibility troubleshooter but it still gives the same message.



I'm told that the computer is accessible by several people - the manager, and various people who work in the office. So, ...

One possibility is that it was detected on a different computer and disabled by Microsoft, is that a thing that happens? But nobody co0uld do that without the product code, and the product code was only on the installation card, so that seems unlikely. Is it possible the person called Fred kept the card or someone brought it home and tried to use it and ended up ruining the installation? That would kind of make sense. And then I could stop trying to solve the mystery and go and get some lunch! But really that is a heinously un-obvious way for a small business to be informed that their license key was not kept safe enough ...

On the other hand I'm really not sure what else could have happened to the files on this computer. It seems like it could have been a disk error or some kind of registry corruption (except Windows 7 doesn't have a registry, I don't know ...) in which case the guy on the other end of the support chat with Microsoft was just extremely unhelpful.