Microsoft Excel refusing to open

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ParkyRFC

n00b
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
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45
As in the title, I can't open any of my Excel files. I need access to them asap as it's part of my job. I've tried the repair feature to no avail. Also have uninstalled and re-installed 4 times now, still won't open. Insanely frustrating. I'm running Windows 10 Home 64 bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
ParkyRFC said:
As in the title, I can't open any of my Excel files. I need access to them asap as it's part of my job. I've tried the repair feature to no avail. Also have uninstalled and re-installed 4 times now, still won't open. Insanely frustrating. I'm running Windows 10 Home 64 bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Are you getting any error messages? Do any other excel files work at all?
 
GoldenTiger said:
Are you getting any error messages? Do any other excel files work at all?
Click to expand...

I have 5 excel files on my desktop, can't open any. No error. Double click on it and nothing happens. Hit enter on it, nothing happens. I have just come across this method online -
  • Type “Excel /safe” in Run and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run the command with admin access.
This opens Excel and from there I can go to file, open, browse, desktop and then select my files. Crazy that I just discover that after posting on here. I've been at this for hours. At least I can access them now, it's just a pain in the arse. Any idea what's preventing opening directly from my desktop?
 
''If Microsoft Excel is launching in safe mode without any issues, we can conclude that the problem is a result of an add-in. To know the culprit, open MS Excel (normally) and navigate to File > Options > Add-Ins > COM Add-ins. Now, remove these extensions one by one to find out which one is causing the issue. Once you know who the culprit is, remove the extension permanently or remove it and then add it. Hopefully, when you restart Excel in normal mode, this issue will be solved.''

Problem is I can't open it normally.
 
Hm, I really don't know :(. I'm glad you found a way forward for the moment for your job at least though! Hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
shitty. if youre inclined to keep troubleshooting, try creating another user account(if possible) and see if it works. will see if its corrupt account settings vs a universal program problem.
 
You could try running Excel in a sandbox. How to use Windows Sandbox Windows 11 if it works there you could add other user to your PC with Office Installed there. Go to Windows settings scroll down to other users click on it and click add account.

edit: I didn't see pendragon1 post
 
What version of Office? I have 2021 and have never had an update come through with windows update even with the "Update other Microsoft Products" checked.
 
Download Tweaking.com - Windows Repair.

After installing it, open the app, then click on Reboot To Safe Mode.

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After rebooting into Safe Mode, launch the app again and go to the Repairs - Main tab and then click on Preset: Common Repairs. If you want to go nuts, click on Preset: All Repairs. It will back up your Registry either way, but the second option takes longer (I do Common Repairs first and generally only run All Repairs if the first one doesn't work).

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When you click whatever option you want, just click Start Repairs.

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9.5 times out of 10, this fixes unexplainable and stupid Windows problems for me.
 
maybe semi relevant by now, but in emergency if you need to open the files to do something simple or look at them, the free version from your outlook.com account can do most of the basic stuff.

LibreOffice type can also open a lot of them.
 
Axman said:
Is Excel associated with the file extension?
Click to expand...
This is something to check into also, but normally if the file extension is wrong that still won't stop the app from opening, it will just pop up an error box to tell you that it can't open that particular file....

Also, are you running the desktop version of Excel or the crapshoot that is from Office 365 ?

I have seen instances where the 365 version won't open due to M$'s servers crapping out/being offline or not recognizing your account info...
 
MrGuvernment said:
Have you run windows update to make sure everything is updated?
Click to expand...

Problem is solved for now. I have to assume it was an update issue. When I checked for updates there had been an error. Seems like it had not updated in a while. It was Error Code 0x800f0805. It was quite a lengthy process to fix. Troubleshooting didn't sort it. I ended up having to install the Windows 10 media creation tool. Not sure what it does but it seemed to install windows again while keeping all my files. Took a while but we are working at last. Thanks to everyone who took their time to help. Legends. 👏
 
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