Windows 7 .net Excel .SaveAs() Error Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC

Question

Background:
I toasted my old hard drive at work and am getting a new one. With that I'll have to rebuild my machine. My manager has Windows 7 installed on him loaner laptop that I've been using while my machine is out of commision. But I've run into a problem.

We have a fair number of apps that make use of the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel reference. I've gotten past a few errors so far but the one I've been stuck on for the last few days (my machine actually suffered the hard drive failure after the first rebuild) and have been unnable to find a fix. I have searched for this error but can't find anyone having this problem on Windows 7, although I have tried other fixes for Windows Server 2008 to no avail.

If I can't fix this problem, I will not be able to use Windows 7 and would like to know that before I rebuild a machine only to have to wipe it and start again (for the third time).

Problem:
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise
Error Message: Exception from HRESULT: 0x800A03EC
Code:

    Private m_xls As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application
    Private m_wkbk As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbook
    Private m_wksht As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet
    m_xls = New Application
    m_xls.Visible = False : m_xls.DisplayAlerts = False
    m_wkbk = m_xls.Workbooks.Open(Me.FilePath)
    m_wksht = CType(m_wkbk.ActiveSheet, Worksheet)
    ...Write some data...
    m_wkbk.SaveAs(Me.FilePath, XlFileFormat.xlWorkbookNormal, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, False, False, XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlNoChange, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, Missing.Value, Missing.Value)

The error occurs on the final line.

What I've tried so far:

1. Changing the AppPool to use the NetworkService account (it was 'ApplicationPoolIdentity' which I couldn't find in the user list in security settings). Then giving the NetworkService account full access to the appropriate folder.
2. Giving NetworkService access to all 'Microsoft Excel Application' settings in DCOMCNFG
3. Running this command "appcmd set config -section:asp -enableParentPaths:true" because it's the only other thing I could find
4. Using the .SaveCopyAs() which worked but caused different errors

I just wanted to see if anyone else has run into this or not since Windows 7 is new. I can go with Server 2008 but I would like to have some solid reasoning behind it before I tell my manager it won't work.

Thank you, Jeff

Answer 1

Hi Jeff,

Make sure you're running the program (and EXCEL.EXE) as administrator, and the directory you're saving to doesn't have "read-only" attribute on.

Also, try passing the full file path instead of just the file name.

You could also try passing System.Reflection.Missing.Value instead of omitting the optional parameters.

Can't think of anything else right now. Hope this helps.

ShdNx

Answer 2

When I was getting this error, I think I started using .SaveCopyAs instead of SaveAs. I'm not sure what other errors this is causing you, if you could elaborate there perhaps something could be figured out for that situation.

Also, one thing that you are doing is most likely causing excel.exe to remain in memory after processing a file. Here is an article that shows the proper way to use and release COM interop objects (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317109). It is a pain, but it worked for me in allowing those resources to be released before the app closed.

Answer 3

I had this problem and I lost many hours and this little simply post help me a lot.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Bpt-br%3B282830&x=13&y=7