Excel2013 will not activate with Visual Basic 6.0

Question

I get the error "We're sorry but Excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly ........" when I attempt to open an Excel application in Visual Basic 6.0 with the command "Set xxx = New Application Excel.application". Is there a workaround?

Answer 1

If you just try launching Excel from the start menu does it start up OK?

If not, then we're into diagnosing startup problems - see below.

If so, then it's an OLE Automation issue.  A repair of Office 2013 from Control Panel > Programs and Features would be worth a go.

Startup problems:

First see if it happens in Safe Mode.  Hold down the Ctrl key while launching Excel.

If it doesn't happen then the problem is caused by some add-in or a workbook that is loaded on startup.  Disable all add-ins ( File > Options > Add-Ins ).  Move any files from your XLSTART folders.  Make sure File > Options > Advanced > General > At startup, open all files in: is blank.

You can then add things you need back in one at a time, restarting Excel and so discover which is causing the problem.

If it still happens in Safe Mode, try doing a repair from Control Panel > Programs and Features > Microsoft Office.

If it still happens after that,

Start button > Event Viewer (in the search box) > Windows Logs > Application > Look down the list for an Error : Application Error.

The faulting module name will give some clues as to what is crashing

Copy the information about the error and post it here.

Answer 2

I don't use VB 6 but...

Should not

  "Set xxx = New Application Excel.application"

Be instead

  "Set xxx = New Excel.Application"

Jim Cone

Portland, Oregon USA

https://goo.gl/IUQUN2 (Dropbox)

(free & commercial excel add-ins & workbooks)

Answer 3

The error from the eventlog is:

Microsoft Excel

We're sorry, but Excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Excel will need to be closed as a result.

Would you like us to repair now?

P1: 702061

P2: 15.0.4505.1510

P3: aeg6jP4:

I am running Windows 8. Excel2013 runs properly under all other conditions - its only when it is called from Visual Basic 6.0.

Thanks for your reply.

Answer 4

Thanks for the correction. I actually used the command line you suggested.

Answer 5

I guess an interesting test would be to try the same code in VBA from an Office 2013 application.

That would indicate whether there was a general problem with automation of Excel or whether it was somehow localised to VB 6.0.

You could also try automation of other applications from VB6.0 to see if it was localised to Excel.