The 1402 error normally appears when you're trying to install / change the Microsoft Office suite on your PC. The error is caused when the installation utility is unable to change / edit a set of registry keys on your system, preventing it from being able to install the files it needs. Fortunately, you can fix this error by using some simple steps, which are outlined in this article.
The 1402 error normally appears like this:
Error 1402: Could not open key
You can fix the 1402 error on your PC by first running a "registry check", if you're using Windows 98 or 2000. A registry check is a built-in facility for Windows that looks through the registry of your PC and ensures all the elements of it are correct & functioning properly. By using this feature of Windows, you should be able to see if any of the registry settings of your system are damaged or corrupted. If they are, it will inform you on how to fix them.
If you are using a later version of Windows, or do not find any registry errors, then the next thing to do is to try and reinstall the Office program with a different user profile. It's often the case that a user profile which does not have sufficient privileges to install a program like Office, making it important that you're able to use a user profile that does. If you have a system administrator, it's recommended you get the administrator to install office for you.
After that, you should use a 'registry cleaner' program to fix any of the errors that could be causing the 1402 errors on your system. Registry cleaners are very useful tools, as they manage to fix the various errors that are inside the "registry" of your PC, allowing you to boost the speed and reliability of your system with the click of a button. More specifically, they are able to scan through your computer and repair the damaged settings that are inside the registry. This means that if you have any corrupt / damaged registry settings inside your system, this cleaner should fix them for you. The 1402 error is often caused by registry errors, making it highly recommended you use a registry cleaner to fix them.