CODEWITHSUNDEEP
exceliis-7windows-server-2008-r2excel-interop
AddyProg
AddyProg

Reputation: 3050

Excel Application on server not working if admin user is logged out

I have a ASP.NET application which uses Microsoft intrope assemblies to read, write and modify excel files and it uses Excel 2013 on server machine. Application works fine if i am logged in to server machine as administrator but when i am logged out the application is unable to to initialize excel application. Here is the exception.

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8000401A)

Application is running on Windows Server 2008R2 with MS Excel 2013 32-bit I am not being able to figure out the reason of this behavior. Is this about COM objects security options or it has something to do with IIS permissions?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 7397

Answers (2)

Jorge Mieses
Jorge Mieses

Reputation: 1

I had the same problem after migrating from 2008r2 to 2012. My solution:

  • Find Component Services -> Computers -> My Computer -> DCOM Config -> Microsoft Excel Application
  • Right click, choose properties
  • Go to the Identity tab and choose This user (input user & password)

Upvotes: 0

Physikbuddha
Physikbuddha

Reputation: 1662

The InteropServices class opens an (invisible) Excel instance to get its work done. Excel cannot run as a Windows service and needs to be instanciated by a logged on user.

"Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment." See this page for more information: Office support: Considerations for server-side Automation of Office

If you still want to keep the interop service, try change it to run as an interactive user:

  • Open Component Services (Start -> Run -> MMC comexp.msc /32)
  • Find Component Services -> Computers -> My Computer -> DCOM Config -> Microsoft Excel Application
  • Right click, choose properties
  • Go to the Identity tab and choose Interactive user
  • If this is not working, you can try to manually enter the user credentials

Of course, you could also switch to another framework to read the file. SO: How to read an excel file in C# without using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel libraries

Upvotes: 5

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