Original Post:

You may also see the error message below:

Cannot find the file ‘PathToFile‘ (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available.

One of our users who we just upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 had this problem this morning. When she double-clicks on an Excel file, the Excel program opens but the file itself doesn’t open until she clicks the minimize or maximize buttons.

The problem seems to have something to do with DDE.

To fix this problem, do the following:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types tab. Select XLS then click the Advanced button.
3. Select Open, then click the Edit button.
4. Under Application used to perform function: make sure there’s a quotation mark before and after %1 just like the picture below:
   



5. Uncheck Use DDE.

Credit goes to the posts from this site.

According to this website, the passwords you enter in Excel are not used directly in protection. They are actually hashed and there are only 194,560 possible hashed values. You can then use a macro to try out all these possible combinations and a modern home computer can crack the password in seconds.

Use the free add-in below from mcgimpsey.com to remove the password for a protected Excel spreadsheet. Simply open it and you will see an extra button called “Remove Passwords.” Open the file you wish to unprotect and click the button to unlock it.

remove_internal_excel_password.xls

Here’s the macro code:

remove_internal_excel_passwords_macro.txt