Instantiating ReportDocument on Windows 7 machine crashes app

Question

When I try to instantiate a ReportDocument my app crashes - even when wrapped in a try/catch block. This only happens on Windows 7 machines (it might also happen on Vista - I haven't tested it there). Machines running XP don't have a problem at all.

try
{
    ReportDocument doc = new ReportDocument(); // This cause the app to crash
}
catch (Exception ex)
{        
    Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); // This never executes
}

The specific dll reference is CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine version 11.5.3700.0

Any ideas?

Answer 1

We had this identical problem. We installed Crystal Reports XI R2 Service Pack 4 Full Build on the client Windows 7 machine, and it solved the issue. It is my understanding that this "full" Service Pack is a complete install of Crystal Reports XI R2. I read in a message board that CRXIR2 Service Pack 6 was necessary for Windows 7 compatibility, but SP4 was sufficient.

The Service Pack can be downloaded from the SAP website, but they may need to register a login. The website is not intuitive.

Interestingly, we had a Virtual PC instance of Windows 7 running and we could not repeat the error in the virtual environment. It was only when we built a physical Windows 7 box that we saw the error in-house.