How to configure Office applications to run under the interactive user account

We do not recommend or support Automation to a Microsoft Office application from an unattended user account. For more information about why we do not recommend Automation in this context, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
257757  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757/ ) Considerations for server-side Automation of Office
If there is no choice but to automate Office from an unattended user account, use the steps in this article to configure the computer to run the Office application as the interactive user.
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MORE INFORMATION
Caution Automation of any Office application from an unattended, non-interactive...
Caution Automation of any Office application from an unattended, non-interactive user account is risky and unstable. A single error in code or configuration can result in a dialog box that can cause the client process to stop responding (hang), that can corrupt data, or that can even crash the calling process (which can bring down your Web server if the client is ASP).

Warning Office was not designed, and is not safe, for unattended execution on a server. Developers who use Office in this manner do so at their own risk.

Regardless, it may absolutely required to use Office in this manner. In these cases, special configuration must be done to avoid errors on Office startup. The steps in this article demonstrate how to configure Office to run as the interactive user account when it is started for Automation.

When you automate under the interactive user account, you should be aware of the following problems:

    * Normally, the Interactive User is defined as the the user that is logged on to the local console (that is, the user who is physically at the computer). On computers that use Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services or Microsoft Windows XP Terminal Services, the Interactive User is defined as a user who is logged on to the local console or a user who is connected to the computer through a remote Terminal Server client.
    * When it is started through automation, the Office application always runs under the security context of the user that is doing the automation. If the user is logged on to the server locally, the application runs under that user context. If a user is connected through a Terminal Server session, the application runs under that user account.

      Note If you have multiple Terminal Server connections, the application runs under the context of each user who is logged on.
    * When the Office application is started from a user context that does not have interactive privileges (such as the SYSTEM account), a user must be logged on to the server at the local console, regardless of whether Terminal Services is being used, otherwise an error occurs and the application does not start.

The following table shows some scenarios you may experience when an Office application is configured to run as the Interactive User:
Collapse this tableExpand this table
Programming action Logged on at local console? Results
Programmatically create an instance of the application from a user session logged on the machine remotely through a Terminal Server Client Yes Success: The application starts under the desktop of the local or remote user that is running the Automation code.
No Success: The application starts under the desktop of the remote user that is running the Automation code.
Programmatically create an instance of the application from an account with a non-interactive SID (ASP, Service, etc.) Yes Success: The application starts under the desktop of the user that is logged on locally (the user that is physically at the machine).
No Error: 0x8000401A - CO_E_RUNAS_LOGON_FAILURE The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect. Check the username and password.
Programmatically create an instance of the application from an MTS/COM+ package that is configured to run as INTERACTIVE Yes Success: The application starts under the desktop of the user that is logged on locally. Terminal Server sessions are not "interactive" in this case.
No Error: 0x8000401A - CO_E_RUNAS_LOGON_FAILURE The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect. Check the username and password.
Programmatically create an instance of the application from an MTS/COM+ package that is configured to run as a specific user Yes Success: The application starts under the desktop of the user that is logged on locally, and not the specific user account for the package.
No Error: 0x8000401A - CO_E_RUNAS_LOGON_FAILURE The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect. Check the username and password.
Because the changes in DCOM are global, configuring Office in this manner can have negative side effects for other clients on the system that use Office. It is possible that another client application will not be able to use the Office application after the settings are made. Consider carefully what impact this has to your server before you make any changes to the DCOM configuration settings.

If the problems listed here are too great for your design, or cause other unidentified problems, it is possible to configure Office differently and still allow it to start from an unattended process or service. For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
288367  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288367/ ) How to configure Office applications to run under a specific user account
288368  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288368/ ) How to configure Office applications for automation from a COM+/MTS package
Configuring Office as the interactive user
To set up an Office Automation server under the interactive user account, follow these steps:

   1. Log on to the computer as the Administrator and install (or reinstall) Office using a complete install. For system robustness, it is recommended that you copy the contents of the Office CD-ROM to a local drive and install Office from this location.
   2. Start the Office application that you intend to automate. This forces the application to register itself.
   3. After the application is running, press ALT+F11 to load the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) editor. This forces VBA to initialize itself.
   4. Close the applications, including VBA.
   5. Click Start, click Run, and then type DCOMCNFG. Select the application that you want to automate. The application names are listed in the following table.
      Collapse this tableExpand this table
      Office program Application name
      Microsoft Access 97 Microsoft Access Database
      Microsoft Access 2000/2002 Microsoft Access Application
      Microsoft Office Access 2003 Microsoft Access Application
      Microsoft Office Access 2007 Microsoft Office Access Application
      Microsoft Excel 97/2000/2002 Microsoft Excel Application
      Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Microsoft Excel Application
      Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Microsoft Excel Application
      Microsoft Word 97 Microsoft Word Basic
      Microsoft Word 2000/2002 Microsoft Word Document
      Microsoft Office Word 2003 Microsoft Word Document
      Microsoft Office Word 2007 Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document
      Click Properties to open the property dialog box for this application.
   6. Click the Security tab. Verify that Use Default Access Permissions and Use Default Launch Permissions are selected.
   7. Click the Identity tab and then select The Interactive User.
   8. Click OK to close the property dialog box and return to the main applications list dialog box.
   9. In the DCOM Configuration dialog box, click the Default Security tab.
  10. Click Edit Defaults for access permissions. Verify that the following users are listed in the access permissions, or add the users if they are not listed:
          * SYSTEM
          * INTERACTIVE
          * Everyone
          * Administrators
          * IUSR_machinename (See note)
          * IWAM_machinename (See note)
      Note These accounts only exist if Internet Information Server (IIS) is installed on the computer.
  11. Make sure that each user is allowed access and click OK.
  12. Click Edit Defaults for launch permissions. Verify that the following users are listed in the launch permissions, or add the users if they are not listed:
          * INTERACTIVE
          * Everyone
          * Administrators
          * IUSR_machinename (See note)
          * IWAM_machinename (See note)
      Note These accounts exist only if IIS is installed on the computer.
  13. Make sure that each user is allowed access, and then click OK.
  14. Click OK to close DCOMCNFG.
  15. Start Registry editor and verify that the following keys and string values exist for the Office application that you want to automate:
      Microsoft Office Access 2003/2007:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\MSACCESS.EXE
      AppID: {73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}

      Microsoft Access 2000/2002:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\MSACCESS.EXE
      AppID: {73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}

      Microsoft Access 97:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\MSACCESS.EXE
      AppID: {8CC49940-3146-11CF-97A1-00AA00424A9F}

      Microsoft Office Excel 2003/2007:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\EXCEL.EXE
      AppID: {00020830-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

      Microsoft Excel 97/2000/2002:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\EXCEL.EXE
      AppID: {00020812-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

      Microsoft Office Word 2003/2007:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\WINWORD.EXE
      AppID: {C184E717-402A-438F-B99E-77C2CD4091C8}

      Microsoft Word 97/2000/2002:
      Key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\WINWORD.EXE
      AppID: {00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
      If these keys do not exist, you can create them by running a .reg file on your computer that resembles the following .reg file:

      REGEDIT4

      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\WINWORD.EXE]
      "AppID"="{00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\EXCEL.EXE]
      "AppID"="{00020812-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

      [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\MSACCESS.EXE]
      "AppID"="{73A4C9C1-D68D-11D0-98BF-00A0C90DC8D9}"
     

      Note The sample .reg file is for Access 2000 or Access 2002. If you are using Access 97, change the AppID key to:

      "AppID"="{8CC49940-3146-11CF-97A1-00AA00424A9F}"

  16. Restart the system. This is required.

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REFERENCES
For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles...
For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
169321  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169321/ ) COM servers activation and NT Windows stations
184291  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184291/ ) COM objects fail to print when called from ASP
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APPLIES TO

    * Microsoft Office Access 2007
    * Microsoft Office Access 2003
    * Microsoft Access 2002 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Access 2000 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Office Excel 2007
    * Microsoft Office Excel 2003
    * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
    * Microsoft Office Word 2007
    * Microsoft Word 2002
    * Microsoft Word 2000
    * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition