I have windows word 2002 and have installed compatiable packs to view DOCX files. The association of the Docx files is to 2007 rather than 2002 and isn't viewable to open from inside windows word 2002

You appear to have 2 issues.

One is the Office 2007 compatibility Pack being installed on Office 2002.  That should work. It allows Office 2000-2003 to open and edit DOCX format files.   Exactly what do you mean DOCX do not appear within 2002 on the one machine.  

I'm guessing that what you are saying is in the File Open Dialog, you do not see DOCX files.  If that is what you mean, in the File Open dialog, click on the down arrow on the "Files of Type:" drop down list. I'm guessing maybe you accidentally selcted "WordPerfect 5.x (*.doc).  Look carefully in the list to confirm that Office 2007 DOCX is one of the options. If you do not see it, then the install of the Compatibility Pack did not work. Do it again. If you do see Office 2007 in the list then select "All Word Documents ..." which will include DOCX.

Your other problem appears to be Windows Default File Associations. The label you see in the "Type" column is simply a text entry in the Registry. It describes the program that is set to open the file.

Here are several techniques for setting file associations.  The question is do you want to set Office 2002 to be the default for all files, or just Word 2002 for all DOC format types or just DOCX and DOC to 2002.

http://www.7tutorials.com/how-associate-file-type-or-protocol-program

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Change-which-programs-Windows-uses-by-default

 

If that doesn't work, try:

(Note: You may have to adjust the path to the EXE to match your installation. Verify the path before running the command.)

Close the app. Open the Run Window: <WIN > R, use the following command (Modify the Path to match your specific installation):

The quotes are necessary, but you may need to change the path so it reflects the location of the winword.exe file on your system. (You can use Windows’ Search tool to locate the path to the winword.exe file.) The /unregserver switch “unhooks” all the references to Word in the Windows Registry.

You should then, immediately, use the following command:

This command causes Word to rewrite all its Registry keys and to reassociate itself with document and template files. Now you can double-click a document file and see if Windows starts Word and opens the document.

Note: This article says that regserver does not work with Office 2010: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291288

 

Make sure the path is correct for your installation. I have put these files into a BAT file on my desktop so I can run it as needed.

 

Quick Determine Office applications path

·      open Excel

·      open the Visual Basic Editor (aka VBE)

·      open the Immediate window, Ctrl-g (also in the View menu)

·      type or paste the following in the Immediate window

·      With the cursor at the end of the line, ie after "path", hit Enter