Unable to load Excel Addin from COM addin with latest Windows Update

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Unable to load Excel Addin from COM addin with latest Windows Update
Unable to load Excel Addin from COM addin with latest Windows Update  
DevTools Corptax




Posts: 25
Joined: 2012-12-02
We have used the method of having a loaded COM Addin call ExcelApp.Evaluate() on one of our UDF's in a second Excel Addin for over a decade.

We have just recently run into an issue where the Excel Addin is not being loaded correctly under the following conditions:


  • the Addins were installed for Current User only (if it is installed to All Users it works)
  • the user has taken a recent (August and/or Sept) Windows Update


We have a VM (with last Windows Update from June) where we see it working fine with an addin that was installed to Current User. We then take the latest Windows Update (Sept 10th) and when we open Excel, we are unable to use the UDFs. If we uninstall and reinstall for All Users, it works fine. We can then go back to a Current User install and it fails again.

I am not even sure if it is even related to the fact that we are using Add-in Express, but I thought this would be a good place to see if anyone else was encountering this issue and if they had found the root cause.

If it is relevant, we are on the latest Add-In Express version from the end of June (9.1.4620).
Posted 23 Sep, 2019 08:59:03 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18794
Joined: 2006-05-11
Hello,

Could you please provide the exact Windows build and Office build used?

Also, in the case it doesn't work, could you please check 1) if the Excel add-in loading is reflected in adxloader.dll, and 2) is the Excel add-in present in the Excel Add-ins dialog (not COM Add-ins).


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 23 Sep, 2019 09:06:30 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18794
Joined: 2006-05-11
DevTools Corptax writes:
the Addins were installed for Current User only (if it is installed to All Users it works)


And you probably know that you can register an Excel add-in per machine. Only per-user registrations are possible. Could you explain how do you register the add-in in your case?


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 23 Sep, 2019 09:09:32 Top
DevTools Corptax




Posts: 25
Joined: 2012-12-02
Andrei,

OS Info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise
Version 10.0.17134 Build 17134
Office Info:
Microsoft Excel for Office 365 MSO (16.0.11929.20298)

When I mentioned that there is a difference if it is installed to current user or all users, I was talking about where the COM Add-in (the one that loads the UDF addin) is registered (CURRENTUSER or LOCALMACHINE hive). Additionally, if the install is for All Users, when we run adxregistrator we use privileges=admin and if we install for a Current User, we use privileges=user.

When I look at Excel's Add-Ins dialog, I see the COM addin being loaded properly by adxloader.dll in both cases. The UDF addin is also listed in both cases and pointing to mscoree.dll... however it is listed as an 'Inactive Add-In' in the case where we installed Per User and 'Active Add-In' when the COM addin was installed for All Users..

Thanks for any help or insights you are able to provide....
Posted 26 Sep, 2019 09:40:23 Top
Andrei Smolin


Add-in Express team


Posts: 18794
Joined: 2006-05-11
Hello,

Please provide the following info:

After you reinstall the add-in and the add-ins load successfully:
- adxloader.dll.manifest from the add-in installation folder and also adxregistrator.log and adxloader.log

After you reinstall the add-in and one (or both) of the add-ins doesn't load:
- adxloader.dll.manifest from the add-in installation folder and also adxregistrator.log and adxloader.log
- a screenshot showing File | Options | Add-ins dialog with your COM add-in selected in it; I need to check all the information the dialog shows about your add-in and also the header under which your add-in locates; if the header text is non-English, please provide a translation.
- a screenshot showing the COM Add-ins dialog with your COM add-in selected in it; I need to check the text shown at the bottom of the dialog window; if the text is non-English, please provide a translation.
- a screenshot showing the Excel Add-ins dialog with your Excel add-in selected in it.

You can send all the files to the support email address; see {Add-in Express installation folder}\readme.txt.


Andrei Smolin
Add-in Express Team Leader
Posted 27 Sep, 2019 02:07:21 Top