Deloitte's Neville Kahn, Nick Dargan and Dan Butters have been appointed administrators to the 800-store retail business, and wholesale arm Entertainment UK.
Hilco, which until yesterday was in talks to buy the stores for a nominal sum, has been appointed to assist with managing the stores business.
Stores will remain open beyond Christmas and all staff will be paid as normal on Friday.
Expressions of interest
"In the last 24 hours we have received expressions of interest from a number of parties for both the retail and wholesale businesses," said Butters in a statement from Deloitte.
"We are working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or part, will preserve jobs.”
The decision to put the business into administration was made by the board last night despite pleas from government minister Baroness Vadera to lenders Burdale and GMAC to allow the company time to restructure.
Analysts fear price war
City analysts have raised fears of a price war in the general merchandise sector - particularly affecting entertainment specialists like HMV and Game - if Woolworths is run for cash in the short-term.
More on this story elsewhere on the web
Telegraph: Woolies collapse to provoke price war
Teleraph: Devil is in the detail for retailers who lost focus on their day-to-day trading
Financial Times: Woolworths left to wonder what went wrong
Robert Peston's Picks: Weep for Woolies
BBC News: Work starts on Woolworths' rescue
Daily Mail: Christmas reprieve for 25,000 Woolworths' staff as work starts on rescue deal
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