I was hoping someone could kindly help me with this issue. I have never faced this before and I am not able to solve it.
We have an Excel file on the network, that up to 10 people daily use, with Excel 365. The file contains a macro that connect to SAP. Until 3 weeks ago, everything was ok, and has been ok for over 6 years.
Now, we hired a new team member, who was given a new PC.
When our new team member tries to open the file on her new machine, there is first a message mentioning there is a problem with the file and proposing to try to recover as much as we can (see picture 1).
Then when she chooses "Yes", she gets another error message mentioning that the file is locked by 'another user'. Oddly enough, it says 'another user', and not the name of that user, and we tested and are 100% nobody else is using the file.
If she then select "Notify" or "Read only", another message pops up, info message from SAP Analysis for Windows.
Finally after she clicks 'OK', the file gets finally opened, but all macro are removed from it. There is a message about the repair:
The log file is added at the end of this post.
We don't understand where the issue exactly is, this is what we tested:
the same new users recently hired can use the file with the macro without any issue on another machine
users that could use the file on their machine, can't on the new machine of our new colleague (for the test, they log in with their own credentials)
other macro files can be opened without any problem on the computer of our new colleague
we have fully reinstalled the computer, and still it bugs...
Log message:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<recoveryLog xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main"><logFileName>error242560_01.xml</logFileName><summary>Errors were detected in file 'S:\MyDistriplus\DI SAP OPERATIONS\Création articles\Templates Création\TEst (2).xlsm'</summary><removedParts><removedPart>Removed Part: /xl/vbaProject.bin part. (Visual Basic for Applications (VBA))</removedPart></removedParts></recoveryLog>
The problem is with the machine (the new computer).
Although you've performed a clean installation (reinstalled), you probably installed the same (probably corrupted) version of Windows and Office.
Try to open OneDrive and change this setting:
Try to install the same version of Windows and Office that's installed on the rest of the computers.
Note: Make sure to include all needed apps, addons, and files to the problematic device.
I had a similar issue, although not the locked by another user dialog. Losing the VBA made no sense to me. It turned out my issue was from duplicating a sheet in VBA that contained an image.
I think I was creating a duplicate ListObject entry for the picture, which would crash excel. My solution was to duplicate the image separately.
If your code is duplicating sheets, try removing any ListObjects and see if the problem persists.
Related
This has me stumped. The user is able to work with workbooks containing the same code that were produced previously. Just recently new workbooks with the same code in them cannot be opened or saved. There are a range of error messages depending on where the workbook is opened from - we have tried safe locations, local folders and Dropbox folders. We have also tried with code signed and unsigned workbooks.
Error messages include:
'Excel cannot open the file Test.xslm because the file format or extension is not valid...' (not true, as I can open the same workbook and run the code without problem).
'Your changes to Text.xlsm could not be saved due to a sharing violation...' (followed by more errors to do with not finding a temporary document).
I have also tried removing ActiveX references which might flag as a security issue, (e.g. VBIDE) and commenting out blocks of code. No joy. Microsoft Defender reports no issues. There are no other antivirus programs running. There are no problems with the same workbooks with the VBA modules removed completely - so it definitely looks code related.
Anyone have any ideas?
This might be because of ASR.
If you check your "Windows Security" --> Virus & threat protection --> Protection history, you should find an event of "Risky action blocked" that shows your file has been "Blocked by: Attack surface reduction" Rule: Block Win32 API calls from Office macro".
I'm currently facing a very similar issue but I'm on the other side (I am the one that enabled ASR rules).
If that is the case for you as well, I wonder whether the problem depends on the identity that you use to save the file through your macro. Are you using the same security context of the user executing Excel?
I'm using a java method to download via agent my multipage dashboard to server file system. When I open the downloaded file I get an error "Excel found unreadable contente in "test.xlsx". Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the source of this workboos, click Yes."
When I click on Yes button, I have a warning "Excel completed file level validation and repair. Some parts of this workbook may have been repaired or discarded."
Data are perfect, nothing is lost, but file is delivered to end users and I can't let it so.
I've tried the same on another environment, where OBIEE 12 is placed, and unfortunately I encounter the same trouble.
I really don't know what to do. We have installed the patch "11.1.1.7.181016" that promises to fix java security trouble in creating the excel file, but with fully unsuccess.
Any suggestion would be great and precious.
Thank you very much.
There's a reason that 11g is outdated and has been replaced with 12c which itself is already on the way out and being replaces by OAS.
The ancient versions have issues that aren't fixed anymore and something that came out in 2013 is expected to not work anymore with other modern software at some point.
It's way beyond time for you to upgrade. And fast. The longer you wait the more problems you incur.
Update: If the bundle patch and the one-off patch 22934699 don't solve the issue then you will be stuck with it.
Alternatively you can switch to CSV for the export since looking at this question here and your other one all you're doing is data dumping.
Background: I can't seem to find an answer for the blunder I've found myself in. I'm working on a dashboard of sorts for our organization that pulls data from different workbooks in different locations. Different people have different permissions within folders in our company. We're trying to prevent having to change permissions. I was also trying to make it easy as possible for employees by moving the necessary supporting files I pull from to my folder where the dashboard is housed that includes a folder with the supporting files. Since this folder has no restricted access, I added passwords to the whole workbook of each supporting file. I created workbooks in the original locations of where these supporting files used to reside with the hopes that would hopefully allow anyone with access in that folder to use this new file as a backdoor/shortcut of sorts. The goal was to keep people's files where they wanted them and allow them to click it then it takes them to my support file and enter the password for them. Which leads me to the problem...
Problem: When I open the "backdoor" file, everything runs normally and the support file opens up with read and write privileges. However when someone else opens the backdoor file, the support file opens as read only. While I don't have any code yet to determine if someone is in the file (I'll cross that road if my problem is resolvable), I've ensured nobody was in the support or backdoor file when another user attempted to use it.
Sub Workbook_Open()
'I didn't have the next statement orginally. Added it in hopes it'd resolve the issue.
'Tried to move it under the workbooks.open command, too, but to no avail.
SetAttr "M:\Report Writing\Supporting Files\TMR 2017 - Team ABC's SF.xlsm", vbNormal
Workbooks.Open "M:\Report Writing\Supporting Files\TMR 2017 - Team ABC's SF.xlsm", , False, , "XXX"
Workbooks("TMR 2017 - Team ABC's.xlsm").Close
End Sub
I also didn't originally have the "False" in the open.workbooks command but tried to add it in hopes of resolving my dilemma. Any hope is GREATLY appreciated as my whole dashboard is relying on this and we were supposed to deploy today.
It has nothing to do with the VBA code. It is the file itself. On a shared network, depending on how it was set up, when a new file is created everyone can read it, but only the creator is marked as the only one allowed to make changes. If someone Saves the file with another name you wont be able to edit it. You created the file, you can make changes to it.
There is a way to change this. Right click on the file, properties, security, Edit Button, There are some listed users in there but just find the one that says Drive\Users or Authenticated Users, or both, and edit that to provide modify access. This will allow everyone to edit the file.
I have some Excel worksheets that use ActiveX checkboxes to control certain activity. They worked recently but today started to give errors. I was alerted to this by a colleague, but it was still working on my computer. I checked his version of Excel against mine and his was newer. I noticed there were new Windows updates, so I did the update. After I applied pending updates, it now no longer works on my computer. I cannot check the ActiveX checkboxes any longer, and, as a part of trying to debug, it appears I cannot even add an ActiveX control to any worksheet, even a new worksheet, any more. I get an error dialog that says, "Cannot insert object." (I can still add form controls, just not ActiveX.) Anyone else experiencing this after a recent update? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mike
From other forums, I have learned that it is due to the MS Update and that a good fix is to simply delete the file MSForms.exd from any Temp subfolder in the user's profile. For instance:
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\MSForms.exd
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\MSForms.exd
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Word8.0\MSForms.exd
Of course the application (Excel, Word...) must be closed in order to delete this file.
Here is the best answer that I have found on the Microsoft Excel Support Team Blog
For some users, Forms Controls (FM20.dll) are no longer working as
expected after installing December 2014 updates. Issues are
experienced at times such as when they open files with existing VBA
projects using forms controls, try to insert a forms control in to a
new worksheet or run third party software that may use these
components.
You may received errors such as:
"Cannot insert object" "Object library invalid or contains references
to object definitions that could not be found"
Additionally, you may be unable to use or change properties of an
ActiveX control on a worksheet or receive an error when trying to
refer to an ActiveX control as a member of a worksheet via code.
Steps to follow after the update:
To resolve this issue, you must delete the cached versions of the
control type libraries (extender files) on the client computer. To do
this, you must search your hard disk for files that have the ".exd"
file name extension and delete all the .exd files that you find. These
.exd files will be re-created automatically when you use the new
controls the next time that you use VBA. These extender files will be
under the user's profile and may also be in other locations, such as
the following:
%appdata%\Microsoft\forms
%temp%\Excel8.0
%temp%\VBE
Scripting solution:
Because this problem may affect more than one machine, it is also
possible to create a scripting solution to delete the EXD files and
run the script as part of the logon process using a policy. The script
you would need should contain the following lines and would need to be
run for each USER as the .exd files are USER specific.
del %temp%\vbe\*.exd
del %temp%\excel8.0\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\local\*.exd
del %appdata%\Roaming\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %temp%\word8.0\*.exd
del %temp%\PPT11.0\*.exd
Additional step:
If the steps above do not resolve your issue, another step that can be
tested (see warning below):
On a fully updated machine and after removing the .exd files, open the file in Excel with edit permissions.
Open Visual Basic for Applications > modify the project by adding a comment or edit of some kind to any code module > Debug > Compile
VBAProject.
Save and reopen the file. Test for resolution. If resolved, provide this updated project to additional users.
Warning: If this step resolves your issue, be aware that after deploying this updated project to the other users, these users will
also need to have the updates applied on their systems and .exd files
removed as well.
If this does not resolve your issue, it may be a different issue and
further troubleshooting may be necessary.
Microsoft is currently working on this issue. Watch the blog for
updates.
Source
It was KB2553154. Microsoft needs to release a fix. As a developer of Excel applications we can't go to all our clients computers and delete files off them. We are getting blamed for something Microsoft caused.
I'm an Excel developer, and I definitely felt the pain when this happened. Fortunately, I was able to find a workaround by renaming the MSForms.exd files in VBA even when Excel is running, which also can fix the issue. Excel developers who need to distribute their spreadsheets can add the following VBA code to their spreadsheets to make them immune to the MS update.
Place this code in any module.
Public Sub RenameMSFormsFiles()
Const tempFileName As String = "MSForms - Copy.exd"
Const msFormsFileName As String = "MSForms.exd"
On Error Resume Next
'Try to rename the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\MSForms.exd file
RenameFile Environ("TEMP") & "\Excel8.0\" & msFormsFileName, Environ("TEMP") & "\Excel8.0\" & tempFileName
'Try to rename the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\MSForms.exd file
RenameFile Environ("TEMP") & "\VBE\" & msFormsFileName, Environ("TEMP") & "\VBE\" & tempFileName
End Sub
Private Sub RenameFile(fromFilePath As String, toFilePath As String)
If CheckFileExist(fromFilePath) Then
DeleteFile toFilePath
Name fromFilePath As toFilePath
End If
End Sub
Private Function CheckFileExist(path As String) As Boolean
CheckFileExist = (Dir(path) <> "")
End Function
Private Sub DeleteFile(path As String)
If CheckFileExist(path) Then
SetAttr path, vbNormal
Kill path
End If
End Sub
The RenameMSFormsFiles subroutine tries to rename the MSForms.exd files in the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\ and C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\ folders to MSForms - Copy.exd.
Then call the RenameMSFormsFiles subroutine at the very beginning of the Workbook_Open event.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
RenameMSFormsFiles
End Sub
The spreadsheet will try to rename the MSForms.exd files when it opens. Obviously, this is not a perfect fix:
The affected user will still experience the ActiveX control errors when running the VBA code the very first time opening the spreadsheet. Only after executing the VBA code once and restarting Excel, the issue is fixed. Normally when a user encounters a broken spreadsheet, the knee-jerk reaction is to close Excel and try to open the spreadsheet again. :)
The MSForms.exd files are renamed every time the spreadsheet opens, even when there's no issue with the MSForms.exd files. But the spreadsheet will work just fine.
At least for now, Excel developers can continue to distribute their work with this workaround until Microsoft releases a fix.
I've posted this solution here.
With Windows 8.1 I couldn't find any .exd files using windows search. On the other hand, a cmd command dir *.exd /S found the one file on my system.
Advice in KB and above didn't work for me. I discovered that if one Excel 2007 user (with or without the security update; not sure of exact circumstances that cause this) saves the file, the original error returns.
I discovered that the fastest way to repair the file again is to delete all the VBA code. Save. Then replace the VBA code (copy/paste). Save. Before attempting this, I delete the .EXD files first, because otherwise I get an error on open.
In my case, I cannot upgrade/update all users of my Excel file in various locations. Since the problem comes back after some users save the Excel file, I am going to have to replace the ActiveX control with something else.
The best source of information and updates on this issue I could find is in the TechNet Blogs » The Microsoft Excel Support Team Blog (as mentioned):
Form Controls stop working after December 2014 Updates (Updated March 10, 2015)
On March 2015 a hotfix was released in addition to the automated fix-it and manual instructions, and it's available on Windows Update as well.
The latest update and fix from Microsoft:
3025036 "Cannot insert object" error in an ActiveX custom Office solution after you install the MS14-082 security update
STATUS: Update March 10, 2015:
Hotfixes for this issue have been released in the March 2015 Updates for Office 2007, 2010 & 2013.
General info about the problem:
For some users, Form Controls (FM20.dll) are no longer working as expected after installing MS14-082 Microsoft Office Security Updates for December 2014. Issues are experienced at times such as when they open files with existing VBA projects using forms controls, try to insert a forms control in to a new worksheet or run third party software that may use these components.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-082.aspx
You may receive errors such as:
"Cannot insert object"; "Object library invalid or contains references to object definitions that could not be found"; "The program used to create this object is Forms. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Forms or ensure that any dialog boxes in Forms are closed." [...]
Additionally, you may be unable to use or change properties of an ActiveX control on a worksheet or receive an error when trying to refer to an ActiveX control as a member of a worksheet via code.
Manual and additional solutions:
Scripting solution:
Because this problem may affect more than one machine, it is also possible to create a scripting solution to delete the EXD files and run the script as part of the logon process using a policy. The script you would need should contain the following lines and would need to be run for each USER as the .exd files are USER specific.
del %temp%\vbe\*.exd
del %temp%\excel8.0\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\local\*.exd
del %temp%\word8.0\*.exd
del %temp%\PPT11.0\*.exd
Additional step:
If the steps above do not resolve your issue, another step that can be tested (see warning below):
On a fully updated machine and after removing the .exd files, open the file in Excel with edit permissions.
Open Visual Basic for Applications > modify the project by adding a comment or edit of some kind to any code module > Debug > Compile VBAProject.
Save and reopen the file. Test for resolution.
If resolved, provide this updated project to additional users.
Warning: If this step resolves your issue, be aware that after deploying this updated project to the other users, these users will also need to have the updates applied on their systems and .exd files removed as well.
Simplified instructions for end-users. Feel free to copy/paste the following.
Here’s how to fix the problem when it comes up:
Close all your Office programs and files.
Open Windows Explorer and type %TEMP% into the address bar, then press Enter. This will take you into the system temporary folder.
Locate and delete the following folders: Excel8.0, VBE, Word8.0
Now try to use your file again, it shouldn't have any problems.
You might need to wait until the problem occurs in order for this fix to work. Applying it prematurely (before the Windows Update gets installed on your system) won't help.
I did finally find this answer on the official Microsoft KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036/EN-US
No new information here than what we have in previous answers, but at least it acknowledges that Microsoft is aware of the issue.
I know many answers have already been posted for this, but neither one answer independently worked for my site. So here is what worked for me:
Step 1: Uninstall the following updates - KB2920789, KB2920790, KB2920792, KB2920793, KB2984942, KB2596927
Step 2: Hide these updates so they do not get installed on subsequent reboots
Step 3: Delete folder Excel8.0 from C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Temp
Step 4: Restart workstatiion (I would also make sure the above mentioned KBs did not inadvertently get applied)
I want to provide an answer that worked as the only thing for me (I realize that I might be the only one ever). I had in one macro that I was calling using the ribbon. It had the following code:
colStore = new Collection
I wasn't aware that it throws an error so I was baffled and tried everything in here. The button just stopped working and I couldn't get it to work. When I noticed the error and corrected it to:
Set colStore = new Collection
It started working again. Absolutely strange if you ask me but maybe it helps someone out there who was as desperate as me.
I have some Excel worksheets that use ActiveX checkboxes to control certain activity. They worked recently but today started to give errors. I was alerted to this by a colleague, but it was still working on my computer. I checked his version of Excel against mine and his was newer. I noticed there were new Windows updates, so I did the update. After I applied pending updates, it now no longer works on my computer. I cannot check the ActiveX checkboxes any longer, and, as a part of trying to debug, it appears I cannot even add an ActiveX control to any worksheet, even a new worksheet, any more. I get an error dialog that says, "Cannot insert object." (I can still add form controls, just not ActiveX.) Anyone else experiencing this after a recent update? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mike
From other forums, I have learned that it is due to the MS Update and that a good fix is to simply delete the file MSForms.exd from any Temp subfolder in the user's profile. For instance:
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\MSForms.exd
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\MSForms.exd
C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Word8.0\MSForms.exd
Of course the application (Excel, Word...) must be closed in order to delete this file.
Here is the best answer that I have found on the Microsoft Excel Support Team Blog
For some users, Forms Controls (FM20.dll) are no longer working as
expected after installing December 2014 updates. Issues are
experienced at times such as when they open files with existing VBA
projects using forms controls, try to insert a forms control in to a
new worksheet or run third party software that may use these
components.
You may received errors such as:
"Cannot insert object" "Object library invalid or contains references
to object definitions that could not be found"
Additionally, you may be unable to use or change properties of an
ActiveX control on a worksheet or receive an error when trying to
refer to an ActiveX control as a member of a worksheet via code.
Steps to follow after the update:
To resolve this issue, you must delete the cached versions of the
control type libraries (extender files) on the client computer. To do
this, you must search your hard disk for files that have the ".exd"
file name extension and delete all the .exd files that you find. These
.exd files will be re-created automatically when you use the new
controls the next time that you use VBA. These extender files will be
under the user's profile and may also be in other locations, such as
the following:
%appdata%\Microsoft\forms
%temp%\Excel8.0
%temp%\VBE
Scripting solution:
Because this problem may affect more than one machine, it is also
possible to create a scripting solution to delete the EXD files and
run the script as part of the logon process using a policy. The script
you would need should contain the following lines and would need to be
run for each USER as the .exd files are USER specific.
del %temp%\vbe\*.exd
del %temp%\excel8.0\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\local\*.exd
del %appdata%\Roaming\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %temp%\word8.0\*.exd
del %temp%\PPT11.0\*.exd
Additional step:
If the steps above do not resolve your issue, another step that can be
tested (see warning below):
On a fully updated machine and after removing the .exd files, open the file in Excel with edit permissions.
Open Visual Basic for Applications > modify the project by adding a comment or edit of some kind to any code module > Debug > Compile
VBAProject.
Save and reopen the file. Test for resolution. If resolved, provide this updated project to additional users.
Warning: If this step resolves your issue, be aware that after deploying this updated project to the other users, these users will
also need to have the updates applied on their systems and .exd files
removed as well.
If this does not resolve your issue, it may be a different issue and
further troubleshooting may be necessary.
Microsoft is currently working on this issue. Watch the blog for
updates.
Source
It was KB2553154. Microsoft needs to release a fix. As a developer of Excel applications we can't go to all our clients computers and delete files off them. We are getting blamed for something Microsoft caused.
I'm an Excel developer, and I definitely felt the pain when this happened. Fortunately, I was able to find a workaround by renaming the MSForms.exd files in VBA even when Excel is running, which also can fix the issue. Excel developers who need to distribute their spreadsheets can add the following VBA code to their spreadsheets to make them immune to the MS update.
Place this code in any module.
Public Sub RenameMSFormsFiles()
Const tempFileName As String = "MSForms - Copy.exd"
Const msFormsFileName As String = "MSForms.exd"
On Error Resume Next
'Try to rename the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\MSForms.exd file
RenameFile Environ("TEMP") & "\Excel8.0\" & msFormsFileName, Environ("TEMP") & "\Excel8.0\" & tempFileName
'Try to rename the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\MSForms.exd file
RenameFile Environ("TEMP") & "\VBE\" & msFormsFileName, Environ("TEMP") & "\VBE\" & tempFileName
End Sub
Private Sub RenameFile(fromFilePath As String, toFilePath As String)
If CheckFileExist(fromFilePath) Then
DeleteFile toFilePath
Name fromFilePath As toFilePath
End If
End Sub
Private Function CheckFileExist(path As String) As Boolean
CheckFileExist = (Dir(path) <> "")
End Function
Private Sub DeleteFile(path As String)
If CheckFileExist(path) Then
SetAttr path, vbNormal
Kill path
End If
End Sub
The RenameMSFormsFiles subroutine tries to rename the MSForms.exd files in the C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\Excel8.0\ and C:\Users\[user.name]\AppData\Local\Temp\VBE\ folders to MSForms - Copy.exd.
Then call the RenameMSFormsFiles subroutine at the very beginning of the Workbook_Open event.
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
RenameMSFormsFiles
End Sub
The spreadsheet will try to rename the MSForms.exd files when it opens. Obviously, this is not a perfect fix:
The affected user will still experience the ActiveX control errors when running the VBA code the very first time opening the spreadsheet. Only after executing the VBA code once and restarting Excel, the issue is fixed. Normally when a user encounters a broken spreadsheet, the knee-jerk reaction is to close Excel and try to open the spreadsheet again. :)
The MSForms.exd files are renamed every time the spreadsheet opens, even when there's no issue with the MSForms.exd files. But the spreadsheet will work just fine.
At least for now, Excel developers can continue to distribute their work with this workaround until Microsoft releases a fix.
I've posted this solution here.
With Windows 8.1 I couldn't find any .exd files using windows search. On the other hand, a cmd command dir *.exd /S found the one file on my system.
Advice in KB and above didn't work for me. I discovered that if one Excel 2007 user (with or without the security update; not sure of exact circumstances that cause this) saves the file, the original error returns.
I discovered that the fastest way to repair the file again is to delete all the VBA code. Save. Then replace the VBA code (copy/paste). Save. Before attempting this, I delete the .EXD files first, because otherwise I get an error on open.
In my case, I cannot upgrade/update all users of my Excel file in various locations. Since the problem comes back after some users save the Excel file, I am going to have to replace the ActiveX control with something else.
The best source of information and updates on this issue I could find is in the TechNet Blogs » The Microsoft Excel Support Team Blog (as mentioned):
Form Controls stop working after December 2014 Updates (Updated March 10, 2015)
On March 2015 a hotfix was released in addition to the automated fix-it and manual instructions, and it's available on Windows Update as well.
The latest update and fix from Microsoft:
3025036 "Cannot insert object" error in an ActiveX custom Office solution after you install the MS14-082 security update
STATUS: Update March 10, 2015:
Hotfixes for this issue have been released in the March 2015 Updates for Office 2007, 2010 & 2013.
General info about the problem:
For some users, Form Controls (FM20.dll) are no longer working as expected after installing MS14-082 Microsoft Office Security Updates for December 2014. Issues are experienced at times such as when they open files with existing VBA projects using forms controls, try to insert a forms control in to a new worksheet or run third party software that may use these components.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-082.aspx
You may receive errors such as:
"Cannot insert object"; "Object library invalid or contains references to object definitions that could not be found"; "The program used to create this object is Forms. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Forms or ensure that any dialog boxes in Forms are closed." [...]
Additionally, you may be unable to use or change properties of an ActiveX control on a worksheet or receive an error when trying to refer to an ActiveX control as a member of a worksheet via code.
Manual and additional solutions:
Scripting solution:
Because this problem may affect more than one machine, it is also possible to create a scripting solution to delete the EXD files and run the script as part of the logon process using a policy. The script you would need should contain the following lines and would need to be run for each USER as the .exd files are USER specific.
del %temp%\vbe\*.exd
del %temp%\excel8.0\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\forms\*.exd
del %appdata%\microsoft\local\*.exd
del %temp%\word8.0\*.exd
del %temp%\PPT11.0\*.exd
Additional step:
If the steps above do not resolve your issue, another step that can be tested (see warning below):
On a fully updated machine and after removing the .exd files, open the file in Excel with edit permissions.
Open Visual Basic for Applications > modify the project by adding a comment or edit of some kind to any code module > Debug > Compile VBAProject.
Save and reopen the file. Test for resolution.
If resolved, provide this updated project to additional users.
Warning: If this step resolves your issue, be aware that after deploying this updated project to the other users, these users will also need to have the updates applied on their systems and .exd files removed as well.
Simplified instructions for end-users. Feel free to copy/paste the following.
Here’s how to fix the problem when it comes up:
Close all your Office programs and files.
Open Windows Explorer and type %TEMP% into the address bar, then press Enter. This will take you into the system temporary folder.
Locate and delete the following folders: Excel8.0, VBE, Word8.0
Now try to use your file again, it shouldn't have any problems.
You might need to wait until the problem occurs in order for this fix to work. Applying it prematurely (before the Windows Update gets installed on your system) won't help.
I did finally find this answer on the official Microsoft KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036/EN-US
No new information here than what we have in previous answers, but at least it acknowledges that Microsoft is aware of the issue.
I know many answers have already been posted for this, but neither one answer independently worked for my site. So here is what worked for me:
Step 1: Uninstall the following updates - KB2920789, KB2920790, KB2920792, KB2920793, KB2984942, KB2596927
Step 2: Hide these updates so they do not get installed on subsequent reboots
Step 3: Delete folder Excel8.0 from C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Temp
Step 4: Restart workstatiion (I would also make sure the above mentioned KBs did not inadvertently get applied)
I want to provide an answer that worked as the only thing for me (I realize that I might be the only one ever). I had in one macro that I was calling using the ribbon. It had the following code:
colStore = new Collection
I wasn't aware that it throws an error so I was baffled and tried everything in here. The button just stopped working and I couldn't get it to work. When I noticed the error and corrected it to:
Set colStore = new Collection
It started working again. Absolutely strange if you ask me but maybe it helps someone out there who was as desperate as me.