Excel COM Automation Fails with RPC_E_CALL_REJECTED and EXCEL.EXE Crash After Recent Office Update

Question

Excel COM Automation Fails with RPC_E_CALL_REJECTED and EXCEL.EXE Crash After Recent Office Update

Abhishek Mendon 0

We have an intermittent Excel COM automation issue that started after recent Windows/Office updates.

Environment:

Windows Server 2022
Excel Version 16.0.20228.20186
PowerShell COM automation using New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
Automation initiated remotely via SSH -> PowerShell

Symptoms:

Excel workbook opens successfully, then subsequent COM calls fail with:

RPC_E_CALL_REJECTED (0x80010001) - "Call was rejected by callee"

Occasionally cleanup fails with:

0x800AC472

Event Viewer shows EXCEL.EXE crashes:

Faulting module: mso98win32client.dll

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Example log:

Excel Object created

Opening workbook...

Excel workbook opened

ERROR: Call was rejected by callee. (0x80010001)

The same PowerShell script and workbook run successfully when executed interactively on the server, but intermittently fail when launched remotely through our automation process. This behavior began after the recent Office/Windows updates.

We would like to know if there are any known issues with Excel build 16.0.20228.20186 related to COM automation, RPC_E_CALL_REJECTED (0x80010001), mso98win32client.dll crashes, or non-interactive/server-side Excel automation.

Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-15T20:42:06.46+00:00

Hi Abhishek,

I hope you are having a great day.

I’m following up on the support thread we've been working through together. At this stage, I’m still working to better understand the issue you’re facing so we can identify the most effective solution.

If you have any additional details to share or if there’s anything specific you’d like me to focus on, please feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to help if you need anything else.

We’re committed to ensuring everything runs smoothly and that your experience remains uninterrupted.

Thank you again for your patience and collaboration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

2 answers

Your answer

Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-15T20:42:06.46+00:00

Hi Abhishek,

I hope you are having a great day.

I’m following up on the support thread we've been working through together. At this stage, I’m still working to better understand the issue you’re facing so we can identify the most effective solution.

If you have any additional details to share or if there’s anything specific you’d like me to focus on, please feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to help if you need anything else.

We’re committed to ensuring everything runs smoothly and that your experience remains uninterrupted.

Thank you again for your patience and collaboration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Answer 1

Abhishek Mendon 0

Just to clarify the process and the current issue.

Our automated process does an ssh to the windows server and then runs a powershell script with parameters sent. This powershell script opens a excel file, refreshes the pivot data and then save a copy of the sheet. The windows server has an open session always with the ssh user logged in.

Now the automated process is failing but if I RDP to the windows server and run the powershell script in a powershell cli then the script succeeds. After this when I run the automated process again for the same excel file the process runs fine. But if I try to run the automated process for a different excel sheet I see the failure again. I have to run the process manually on an RDP session for each excel file and then run the automated process again for the same excel file consecutively for it to complete successfully.

We applied windows patches and did office update before this issue started happening.

Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-18T17:36:27.4033333+00:00

Hi Abhishek,

Thank you for your response and for providing additional information.

The fact that a workbook can be processed successfully through your automated workflow after it has been opened and processed once in an interactive RDP session suggests that there may be an initialization process occurring at the workbook or Office level. This initialization appears to complete successfully during the interactive session, but it does not seem to occur consistently when the automated process is launched via SSH.

In addition, I was unable to find any references in recent release documentation or update notes describing behavior similar to the issue you are experiencing.

In this situation, I would recommend creating a support ticket with Microsoft Technical Support so that the issue can be investigated in greater depth. The support team has access to advanced diagnostic tools and analysis capabilities that can be used to examine system logs, as well as compare the behavior of Office versions before and after the update, in order to identify the root cause of the problem.

To create a support ticket with Microsoft Technical Support, you can refer to the following documentation:

Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.
Abhishek Mendon 0 Reputation points

2026-08-18T17:58:29.9166667+00:00

The issue was fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling office 365.
Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-19T18:14:29.4666667+00:00

Thank you for sharing.

It's great to hear that your issue has been resolved.

If you need any further assistance, please feel free to reach out to me. I will be happy to continue assisting you.
Abhishek Mendon 0 Reputation points

2026-08-24T19:03:38.89+00:00

Issue happened again. Now we keep seeing the 'Restart to apply privacy settings' message after the remote process runs once. I have to open excel, click on the prompts then close excel. After this the remote process is successfull one time.

My suspicion was that hidden background Excel processes were not closing completely after the first run, leaving the files locked in the server's memory. I have updated my script to force a clean shutdown of all background processes after every run. I added explicit COM object release functions (ReleaseComObject) and system garbage collection ([System.GC]::Collect()) to force hidden background Excel processes to fully close after every run. Now the script runs fine but we still don;t know hoe to fix the 'Restart to apply privacy settings' issue.
Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-25T17:42:37.9366667+00:00
Hi Abhishek,

Based on your description, you currently have to repeatedly dismiss the prompt and reopen Excel to prevent the message from appearing again.

This behavior usually indicates that Office is attempting to save or apply a privacy setting, but the setting is not being successfully persisted between automated launches.

Could you please help me check the following:

Create a new Windows profile, then connect via SSH using the new account and verify whether the issue still occurs.

Please contact your organization's IT department and check whether any policies are being applied. Specifically, confirm whether those policies are automatically reapplied each time Excel starts.

I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you!
Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-26T20:41:44.2766667+00:00

Hi Abhishek,

I would like to follow up and see how things are going on your end.

If you have any updates regarding this issue, please feel free to share them with me. I will be happy to continue assisting you.

Kind regards,
Abhishek Mendon 0 Reputation points

2026-08-27T13:34:15.2633333+00:00

I haven't found time to do the testing yet, and I am a bit busy this week. I will update you once I get a chance to do the testing you recommended.
Ryan-N 15,555 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-08-27T16:16:27.26+00:00

Thank you for your response.

Please feel free to focus on your work and take the time you need. Whenever you have any updates regarding the issue, feel free to share them with me, and I will continue to support you.

Answer 2

Hi Abhishek,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.Thank you for sharing the detailed information.

Based on your description, I understand that the issue only occurs when Excel is automated through a non-interactive session (SSH > PowerShell) and does not occur when the same script is executed in a direct interactive user session.

This suggests that the root cause may be related to Office automation in an unattended environment, rather than the workbook file itself.

At this time, we have not identified any publicly documented known issue specific to Excel build 16.0.20228.20186 that causes the RPC_E_CALL_REJECTED error or results in a crash of mso98win32client.dll.

To further investigate the issue, could you please help check the following:

1/ Run the same script in an interactive RDP session

Instead of executing the script through SSH, please try running the same script within an interactive Remote Desktop (RDP) session and verify whether the issue still occurs.

2/ Test with a different workbook

Please create a new workbook containing only a few cells of simple data, then run the script again and check whether the issue persists.

3/ Disable all Excel add-ins

Please try disabling all Excel add-ins to rule out the possibility of an add-in conflict causing the issue.

Once you have completed the steps above, please let me know the results so that I can continue assisting you and recommend more appropriate troubleshooting measures.

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