Making Excel 2002 use .NET v2.0.50727 runtime

Question

Good morning,

I have a .Net 2.0 runtime DLL that I am trying to load from Excel (it's correct regasm'd). I've verified with the Fusion Log Viewer that it is trying to load with the 1.1 runtime instead o 2.0, which explains why it's failing.

One solution is to put an EXCEL.EXE.config file next to excel that looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
   <configuration>
    <startup>
     <requiredRuntime version="v2.0.50727" />
    </startup>
</configuration>

However, I do not have admninistrative priviledges on the machine. What are my alternatives to Make Excel 2002 use the 2.0 runtime instead of 1.1?

Regards, Alan.

Answer 1

The behavior you encounter is a bug in both Office XP and 2003. For a fix, you basically have to install the KB908002 update from Microsoft.

See my answers to the following questions:

• Can a .NET Word 2003 add-in be installed outside of the GAC?
• .NET app.config question

Answer 2

An alternative solution is to rename/remove this registry entry: (Reference)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\AppPatch\v2.0.50727.00000\excel.exe