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The ActiveX controls stopped working on my Excel file. They worked till last Friday. I found some threads here which state this is because of Microsoft security updates.

My concern is, the error should come on every Excel file on my system. I get the error with one particular Excel file. Also, the same file works on my colleague's system. I am not able to view the VBA code too.

When I open the VBA code, I get:

system error &H80004005- Unknown Error

When I try to add a new ActiveX Control, I get:

Cannot insert object

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al2307
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  • Maybe Microsoft disabled some functions you used in this particular Excel file for security reasons. Or maybe your colleague's system is not running with the same updates you have in yours. Anyway, it may only be a classic case of file corruption. It is very difficult to help with only a description of the case and nothing more. Would it be possible to make this file available somewhere? – Ed de Almeida Feb 23 '16 at 10:17
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    Hi, Thanks for your reply. An update: I just now checked the working of file on 2 more systems. On those systems also, it is not working. So now its working on only one system where recently we reinstalled Microsoft Office. I am really blank now on what to ask here... I am not able to understand this behaviour. Because same file without any changes was working till Friday Evening. :( :( – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 10:34
  • You're welcome. I'm sorry I can't help you with this with this information you provided. – Ed de Almeida Feb 23 '16 at 10:36
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    I am not allowed to share this excel.. since it is bit confidential. But I am saving and extracting data from Access Database and created dashboard kind of stuff in this excel. So it contains many buttons and lot of vba coding... the same stuff worked before without any changes... thats y i m not sure what shd i explain on this error. – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 10:41
  • I understand. You have to consider the possibility of all this problem be due to file corruption. It happens all the time. If it is "bit confidential" I assume it is also "bit important" and I hope you have a backup. – Ed de Almeida Feb 23 '16 at 10:44
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    Yes I have.. :) :) Thanks for your help :) :) – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 10:50

2 Answers2

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So this sounds like issue MS caused with one of their great update December 2014 Read more here

Simple solution is dont use MS software (but it cant be helped in some ways), so close all your MS Office application and search your HDD (one with user directory) for *.exd file. When you found all this files, just delete them and hope it will help you. (dont worry, its just some "cache" like files and will appear again to be welcome garbage on your hdd).

And to avoid any happy errors in future, i recomend to DO NOT USE activeX objects and stick with prehistoric Form controls. Its much more safe (or MS will surprise us with some better update in future? we will see)

Luboš Suk
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  • I tried this solution before posting the que. But it did not worked for me. Also, there are no updates installed on my system in last week and the excel was working fine till last week – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 11:11
  • So at this point i can only recomend you to not use activeX objects. Its realy pain in ass, and in company we were forced to not use them for common good. Because there were so many issues, which nobody can explain. We have many hours talk with MS support even... – Luboš Suk Feb 23 '16 at 11:21
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After a December 2014 security update, Forms controls won't work for some users. There are many resources for this information/issue.

Refer this question: ActiveX Controls no longer working

The solution is to delete cached copies of form controls i.e. MSForms.exd files from following locations within user folder for eg. "C:\users\USERNAME\" or "C:\documents and settings\USERNAME\"

%appdata%\microsoft\forms %temp%\excel8.0 %temp%\word8.0 %temp%\PPT11.0 %temp%\vbe

Make sure to close all instances of excels/office application before performing above step.

After the activeX controls work as expected on the updated system and the file is saved from the updated system, it will no longer work on the non-updated system on which it is currently working in your case. The system will have to be updated with the same Dec 14 update.

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PankajR
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  • I tried this solution before posting the que. But it did not worked for me. Also, there are no updates installed on my system in last week and the excel was working fine till last week – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 11:12
  • indicate what version of excel are you using. – PankajR Feb 23 '16 at 11:25
  • service pack? 2 or 3? you get the full version number in about box from excel options – PankajR Feb 23 '16 at 11:30
  • "After you save a Microsoft Excel workbook that includes ActiveX control (forms3) on a computer that has MS14-082 installed, the Excel macro may not work on computers that do not have MS14-082 installed." I found this issue on Microsoft website. My colleague is saying that she accidently saved the excel on her system. (and the sheet is working on her system) Do you know how I can check if this MS14-082 is installed on my system or not? – al2307 Feb 23 '16 at 11:38
  • As I mentioned in the last sentence of answer, in case of this behavior, It will be safe and easy for future if you update the other systems with the update. Search for `kb2596927` (which is the update number). Or navigate https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2596927, download and apply the update. Then delete *.exd" files and try to use the controls. It should work. (you may need to restart the system) – PankajR Feb 23 '16 at 11:48