Unable to open Excel file from Explorer or "Start"

[CDion]

Unable to open any Excel file from Explorer or "Start button / Documents / etc". The only way the user can bring up his file ( from the network, diskette, or locally ) is by actually starting the program first then opening from w/in the app. Error mesage reads " Cannot find...( or one of its components ). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available ". Found nothing on MS's KB.

User is running Windows 95 on a Novell network using Microsoft Office 97 Suite.

Starting to think it's perhaps a Windows problem - more specifically - an Explorer problem solved only by replacing Explorer.exe but thought I'd ask around first; Thanks for helping.

[bwkaz]

Can he open the file if he does an "Open With..."? Select the file (single-click), hold down Shift, right-click it, choose "Open With...", scroll down to Excel, select it, deselect the "Always use..." checkbox, and hit OK.

If it works, try the same procedure but select the "Always..." checkbox, then double-click the file again to see if that works.

<--EDIT: added the next paragraph-->

Also, has Office been moved (I'm talking through Explorer or DOS, not just a remove and reinstall)? If so, try removing (if that doesn't work, just delete the files that were moved) and reinstalling it (basically, do it the right way).

Hope this helps,

Bryan

[This message has been edited by bwkaz (edited 03-14-2001).]

[hyperion]

I had a similar problem with one of our PC's and the problem was with Office 97 and UNC (universal naming convention). I wound up doing a registry hack to stop it from using UNC and then the guy was all right. I'm still looking up the reference (Checking out MS and Novell)

[BFlurie]

The command line in View/ File Options for Excel-type files (.xls) has to have a (space)"%1" after it -- ex. for the Open command:

D:\Msoffice\Excel\Excel.exe "%1"


[This message has been edited by BFlurie (edited 03-14-2001).]

[CDion]

Well first, thanks for the quick responses; this will have been my first venture into the 'forum' environment. It works; thanks again. To my suprise, there were actually two problems as it turned out. Some of the user's file problems were resolved with the "association" fix ( I just *knew* this would bite me some day... ) but the second group refused to get better even after the association fix. A cryptic message kept leaving me to believe that I had some sort of parsing or naming convention problem. In the end, I went back to the MS KB and found Q128959 which worked but I don't understand why 'cause the OS and Office 97 are all 32 bit. Anyway, the user is happy and I'm grateful. Thanks.

[BFlurie]

It happens w/some 32-bit apps too, despite what the article sez. A leftover Windoz long-filename/foldername bug.