Excel 2016 (Protected Mode) Crashing When Opening Files From Email

Anonymous
2015-09-29T23:14:57+00:00

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

  • Receive an Excel file in email (both GMail and (desktop) Outlook 2016 (using a live.com account, not a GMail one) have been tested);
  • Double click on it to open it. (Excel 2016 is already open);
  • The file opens in Excel with that irritating little "Oooooh, very dangerous! Could be scary monsters inside!" message which, I'll admit, is potentially useful for files from outside the organisation which is the only reason that I leave it on. Of course, there's no point if it doesn't actually work.

Then one of two things happens. Either

  • You go to click the Enable Editing button and Excel completely hangs on you; or
  • You get the "Excel (Protected Mode) {breathless pause...} Has! Stopped! Working! Pretending to check for a solution that has never once been found in my lifetime, please waste your time waiting" dialog.

There is nothing wrong with the file itself. I have tried with two different files, both have a problem. In both cases if instead of opening them from the Email application I save them to a trusted location I can open them without problem. But opening them directly from either browser or Outlook completely crashes Excel 2016 in a way that it didn't with Excel 2010.

Anyone else?

PS: If anyone from Microsoft responds to this post, looking into this specific question, I'll be more than happy to listen. If instead they copy and paste a script about restarting Windows in Safe Mode I may just need to throw a shoe at something.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2015-11-10T23:39:54+00:00

I just heard back from a displaylink tech support person.  Apparently they are aware of the issue.  He had me do a work around that has fixed the issue for me.

  1. Open a blank excel document.
  2. Go to file

3.  Go to options

  1. Go to advanced
  2. Under Display
  3. Check the box...Disable graphics hardware acceleration.

7.  Click apply.

This has fixed my issue until there is a driver update.

Thanks...Matt

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Anonymous
2016-02-24T04:16:51+00:00

Updated to displaylink driver 7.9m5 dated 2/23/2016 and problem was resolved for me.

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88 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-09-30T04:55:37+00:00

    Hi,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for posting your query.

    We understand how you feel about the situation. We're sorry for the trouble this has caused.

    Before we proceed, I need more information to help you better.

    1. What is the exact and complete error message?
    2. Upload the Event Viewer logs for the crashes related to Excel.

    To access event viewer go to Control Panel, System and Security, Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer.‌

    You may create a New Windows User account and verify the result.

    Please refer to the suggestion from the article below to create new Windows User Account and check if it helps.

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-user-account#create-user-account=windows-8

    Reply with necessary information and we’ll be happy to help you further.

    Thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-09-30T05:20:39+00:00

    Hi,

    1/ The exact message is the one that I described above; "Microsoft Excel (Protected Mode) Has Stopped Working". This appears for only a second or two and does the usuals "swooshing" bar which is supposedly checking for a solution.

    2/ The Event Viewer log may or may not mean anything to you but seems to me to be light on for details:

    Faulting application name: EXCEL.EXE, version: 16.0.4229.1024, time stamp: 0x55f00f09

    Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.3.9600.17415, time stamp: 0x54504ade

    Exception code: 0xe06d7363

    Fault offset: 0x00014598

    Faulting process id: 0x8e5c

    Faulting application start time: 0x01d0fb3e6a76539e

    Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE

    Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\KERNELBASE.dll

    Report Id: a9349ca8-6731-11e5-bf28-240a649f1167

    Faulting package full name:

    Faulting package-relative application ID:

    I will take a look at creating a new account but I think we both know that that will be an exercise in frustration and futility. Futility in that it almost certainly has nothing to do with the account. Frustration in the way that in Windows 8 and above when you bound almost everything into the user's Microsoft account and crippled features like OneDrive when the user creates a local account.

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  3. Vijay A. Verma 104.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-09-30T10:15:17+00:00

    Try following -

    File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View > Uncheck all options

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