KB3178673 and KB3178719 preventing my Add-In from loading

[rhinoman42]

Hello,

(I have posted this in Microsoft TechNet as well, but have not found a solution yet)

I have a VBA Add-In I've been using on Excel 2010 for quite some time and have an issue whereby for new users on Excel 2016 the Add-In does not load. I believe I've narrowed the problem down the the two KB updates KB3178673 and KB3178719 which I believe were designed to prevent malicious code from executing. If I back out those updates the problem goes away. However, I do not want to disable those updates permanently so I'm stuck.

In Trust Centre settings I have made the Add-In location a Trusted Location and have enabled all macros in Trust Centre settings (to trouble-shoot the problem) but still no luck.

The Add-In shows up in the Add-Ins list (in Options) but is not loaded (I can confirm that as it is missing from the VBA IDE). Oddly, if I manually unload/reload the Add-In it works, but the next time I restart Excel it does not load again.

Further (and this may be a different issue), when I successfully load the Add-In (manually), it is set to create an Add-In CommandBar on the Ribbon, but it does not. However, if I manually run the routine that creates that CommandBar, it is created successfully. If I step through the process (in debug mode) when the Add-In is loaded I can see that the CommandBar is being created, but as soon as the last line of startup code has been executed the CommandBar disappears again.

I have searched extensively through various forums for weeks now and cannot find an answer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan

 

[RoryA]

Welcome to the forum.

Have you tried unblocking the .xlam file in Windows Explorer?

 

[rhinoman42]

Thanks for the reply RoryA. I saw that on another forum and tried that, and it was a frustrating ordeal in itself as I couldn't see the "Unblock" button. Then I came to the realisation that the button only appears if the file is blocked. So it isn't blocked.

 

[RoryA]

Assuming you did that check on a machine where it isn't working, have you checked the add-ins list to see if it's being disabled? Also, for an add-in it may be worth checking the option in Excel options to display add-in UI errors on one of the problem machines.

 

[rhinoman42]

Thanks again RoryA.

>>have you checked the add-ins list to see if it's being disabled?
Yes, and that's what makes it really odd. In the Add-Ins section of Excel Options, it does appear and is checked, but I can tell by inspecting the IDE that it is not loaded.

>>it may be worth checking the option in Excel options to display add-in UI errors
Interestingly, I was not aware of that option (assuming it is for 2013 and on), but I have since tested that and no errors are reported.

I think the CommandBar part of my problem has something to do with the MDI in Excel 2013 onward, but this problem is secondary and I can't really address it properly until I can get the Add-In to load.

 

[RoryA]

Excel 2013+ are actually SDI rather than MDI.

Have you thought about updating to use CustomUI to create your Ribbon tab instead of CommandBar code?

 

[rhinoman42]

Yeah, I meant SDI.

I've worked around the first problem by loading the AddIn via a stub XLSM file, not a solution but more of a hack. Oddly, once that problem was resolved the menus loaded fine. Thanks for your help Rory.