Bizzare Unreadable content error in a known GOOD Excel 2007 file.

This one has me stumped .

I'm migrating to a new AMD Ryzen build, and as an interim measure have cloned my Windows 7 box

The clone (VMWARE) is running nicely on the new machine. Of course everything is an EXACT copy .

So , I have a rather large and complex file, lots of controls, ActiveX , etc, which still loads fine on the real computer. I have multiple versions of this file , and they all load without error.

On the VM , I am getting the dreaded "Excel has found unreadable content ....do you want to recover..." . Of course it completely deletes ALL the VBA if you click YES



How is this possible ? Same Excel 2007 , same everything. Its a clone !

I tested some other workbooks with VBA on the same clone , and they seem to load fine. No errors. I tried a xlsm vs xlsb, same problem.

I notice , in the 'recovered' workbook that the ActiveX objects are not displaying properly. They show up if you click over them , but vanish quickly. Very odd


The VM has even more memory than the original host, so I don't think its a memory issue.

Couldn't find a case like this googling, so I'm here asking if you folks have any idea what the problem might be.

This is a stumper.

PS I did uninstall Visual Studio on the clone before testing the file, but I don't think that should be hosing Excel. I might have to try loading up the full image again, to eliminate that as a culprit.

you say the vm has more memory then the host ??
how does that work?

host is using memory and the VM but this can never be more then what the host has or do you mean the host has 16GB and the VM has 12GB of the 16?

Grtz

Sounds like an issue with temp .exd files on the clone. Try searching for them and deleting them.

Old machine had 8 gig ram, new one 32. So Easy to up the memory available on the VM.

"The VM has even more memory than the original host", in other words, the original hardware.

Originally Posted by rorya

Sounds like an issue with temp .exd files on the clone. Try searching for them and deleting them.

Did that. Maybe I missed some ? I think there is only one location where they exist.

EDIT. I see there may be some other location. Will try deleting. Don't see why that would cause a problem , as its an exact copy, but will check it .

That makes it more likely to my mind that it's the temp files. One of the many reasons to avoid using activex controls on worksheets whenever possible.

Per your own comment, it’s not a clone because you uninstalled something.