DCOM Failure of Office Automation

Question

I developed a C# program that pulls data from a SQL Server database and then generates Word documents which include the data. I've set the program up to run as part of an SSIS job on a Windows Server 2003 box. The program runs as user SQLSVC which doesn't have administrative privileges. When I log in as SQLSVC and run the program it executes correctly. However, when the program is run automatically as an SSIS job it freezes at the following line of code

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application word =
    new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();

When I kill the process forcibly, the following error message is generated.

Error Message: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80080005):
Retrieving the COM class factory for component
with CLSID {000209FF-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
failed due to the following error: 80080005.
   at IepGlance.Program.CreateNewIepFiles(Dictionary`2
       iepDictionary, EasyIepDataContext dbContext)
   at IepGlance.Program.Main(String[] args)

As far as I can figure out the problem is with DCOM permissions. I've used dcomcnfg to add all possible DCOM permissions to user SQLSVC, but this hasn't helped. Are there any other possible solutions?

Answer 1

Couple of things here.

First, this thread on SO may help.

Second, Microsoft warns that 'complications' may arise when you automate Office through an unattended process. Here's the punchline (bolded in the original):

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.

The linked article discusses workarounds.