Excel won't start.

Question

I left my computer off for a week and have came back and now excel won't work. The process starts in task manager but uses no resources and the ones it does use (normally a tiny bit of RAM) are completely still and do not change. It doesn't even bring up the initial Excel loading rectangle.

Tried:

Uninstall and reinstall office

Multiple restarts alongside uninstall and reinstalls

Deleting registry entry (it remade itself after, so not that)

SARA tool (Can supply logs)

Tried my account on another machine and it works fine

Tried another account on my machine and it did not work

Checked task manager and the process is open in the background using no resources except a static amount of RAM (e.g. will stay at 5% until process is ended)

Tried on WiFi, on Ethernet, both and offline

Online Excel works but is not practical for my job

All other 365 apps work

Can't see any add-ons that would break it (all default)

Using latest version of Microsoft 365 apps for business (Version 2211 - Build 15831.20208 Click-to-Run)

Checked admin centre to ensure I'm allowed to use the product

Wiped all instances of office from my computer

Tried scanning hard drive for issues

Checked all firewalls (The issue is only on this PC)

Updated windows and all other software

Laptop was out the box roughly 3 weeks ago running Windows 11 Pro 22H2, no issues prior to last week

Any ideas? Known issues? Open to any suggestions.

Answer 1

Dear maxt41,

Good day! Thank you for posting your query in our community.

Based on your description, you can't open Excel application on the specific device.

Since you have already tried most of the suggestions, you can perform a clean boot in Windows which is different with the Windows safe mode to check whether a background program is interfering with Office program.

If the problem persists, to check whether the problem might be related to the old user profile, you can try to switch to a new Windows User Profile. This method can rule out the possible reason of your current Windows User Account.

Sincerely,

Jazlyn | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Hi Jazlyn,

After countless tests, I finally found the cause to be "KnowBe4 Second Chance". I am not sure why but the software will not allow Excel to start.

Thanks for the help!