

Update - On NovemMicrosoft informed us that they may have identified Office as the root cause of the problem, and they are now refocusing their efforts accordingly. If you observe an "access denied" error in step 10 of of the troubleshooting guide, we will arrange a troubleshooting session with Microsoft. Microsoft is currently working directly with Macabacus customers to troubleshoot and resolve this issue.

The unique nature of this problem and inability to reproduce it on demand has made troubleshooting difficult and inconclusive. This issue is a priority for Microsoft, which has several teams involved in researching this matter. We reported this issue to Microsoft in April 2019 and have been working with them since to identify the root cause of the problem. There are posts in several online forums on this topic, including this Microsoft forum. The impact is widespread, with add-ins from many vendors affected. This problem affects only some computers / Office installations, and seems to occur most commonly in new computers running Windows 10 and Microsoft 365, Office 2016, and Office 2019.

The only way to detect this condition is by setting the environment variables as described in step 10 of this troubleshooting guide and observing the resulting error. Consequently, when VSTO add-ins load and attempt to access these DLLs, access is denied and loading is aborted. The OEM delivered a defective computer with a fatal flaw, and you should return the computer for a refund.Īn Office or Windows bug introduced in or around March 2019 strips user permissions from Office DLLs used by VSTO add-ins like Macabacus. If you are experiencing this problem with a new computer, then the OEM preinstalled a buggy Office version contrary to Microsoft guidance.
