'Excel has stopped Working' after I click 'Enable Content'

[NLandry]

Hello,
After I open this one spreadsheet and click 'Enable Content', I get the 'Excel has stopped Working' pop up and then Excel crashes.

The file name is "Report V1.1.xls' and sometimes upon reopening Excel I get a warning pop up that says 'Report V1 (version1).xls: file format is not valid'.

Other members on my team are able to use this spreadsheet & enabling its content without any issues. The day I was provided the spreadsheet, I was able to use it for a few hours without any issues - but when I tried opening it later, it started crashing and I've never been able to use it since.

I am able to Enable Content on other excel spreadsheets without any issues.

I don't have the password to the macro (I had read a fix about going into Visual Basic to make changes but without the password I cannot attempt that fix).

Here is what I tried:
- I have both Excel 2016 and Excel 2013 on my laptop. I have tried running the file with both.
- I have rebooted
- I have changed my trust center to run macros automatically (just crashed upon opening rather than after clicking enable content)
- I have launched the spreadsheet from its original location & from a saved copy on my desktop
- I have renamed the spreadsheet
- I have un-installed Excel 2016, rebooted and attempted to open with Excel 2013
- I have un-installed Excel 2016, rebooted and re-installed Excel 2016
- Tried disabling Addins

I don't know how or if this might impact the situation but after I was provided the file initially, I saved a copy on my desktop and renamed it. I have since removed this renamed copy & have only been using the file from its original location.

I have spent several hours trying to resolve this issue and I don't know what else to do - any help would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Veritan]

There's a couple things I might suggest. First, the .xls extension is an old extension that ended after Excel 2007. It's not in widespread use much anymore. The far more common extensions are .xlsx (for files without VBA code in them) and .xlsm (for files with VBA code in them). My initial guess is that the .xls file format is interfering with your use of the much newer Excel 2013/2016 application. Personally, I don't have any remaining .xls files, all the ones I use are either .xlsx or .xlsm.

Second, if you'd like to have a go at the actual code, here's a thread from StackOverflow which shows how to remove the password from a VBA project. This is not the same as removing the password from the sheet or workbook protection level, it actually removes the VBA project password. I've used it successfully myself, though it was only on a test sheet. The nice thing about this method is that it doesn't require any HEX editing, which can be complicated.

 

[NLandry]

There's a couple things I might suggest. First, the .xls extension is an old extension that ended after Excel 2007. It's not in widespread use much anymore. The far more common extensions are .xlsx (for files without VBA code in them) and .xlsm (for files with VBA code in them). My initial guess is that the .xls file format is interfering with your use of the much newer Excel 2013/2016 application. Personally, I don't have any remaining .xls files, all the ones I use are either .xlsx or .xlsm.

Second, if you'd like to have a go at the actual code, here's a thread from StackOverflow which shows how to remove the password from a VBA project. This is not the same as removing the password from the sheet or workbook protection level, it actually removes the VBA project password. I've used it successfully myself, though it was only on a test sheet. The nice thing about this method is that it doesn't require any HEX editing, which can be complicated.

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
I saved the file as .xlsm as suggested. I also received the VBA project password and tried the fix (basically asks to go in Visual Basic - Options General & untick compile on demand - then add a module - close visual basic & SAVE spreadsheet.) but when I try to save the spreadsheet it crashes same as before.

 

[Veritan]

You mentioned that other members of your team are able to use this file without any issues. Could one of them save it as a .xlsm file and then give you a copy of that file? It sounds like there may be something wrong with your local copy of the file. It's also possible that the file has become corrupted. MS has a page for how to repair a corrupted file that might help you out. Mostly, I googled the error message and found several sites with information on this. You might see if some of them can help you figure out what's going on. If nothing else, are you able to copy the actual information in the workbook into a brand new workbook and then just use the new one? It may take some time to correctly transfer everything over to a new workbook, depending on how much information you're dealing with, but this usually works for me.