How to solve Add-In load problems?

[David Thielen]

Hi;

If an Add-In does not load, what is Microsoft's suggested approach to
resolving why it won't load?

 

[Wei-Dong XU [MS]]

Hi Dave,

Currently we are finding one support professional for you regarding this
issue. When any update, we will reply here at the first time.

Best Regards,
Wei-Dong XU
Microsoft Support

 

[Peter Huang [MSFT]]

Hi Dave,

Isolating Office Extensions with the COM Shim Wizard
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dno2k3ta/ht
ml/ODC_Office_COM_Shim_Wizards.asp

Using the COM Add-in Shim Solution to Deploy Managed COM Add-ins in Office
XP
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnoxpta/htm
l/odc_comshim.asp

So far there is no such offical document about how to troubleshoot Addin
load issue. Common we add Trace code in the Addin if the Addin is failed
because of our code.
If the error occurred far before OnConnection is called, then the error is
inside the Office Exe. Because the Office symbols is not public, so we have
no direct way to troubleshoot it, or you need to contact MSPSS directly
with Dump Anaylysis.

Commonly the error may be caused by registry/permission. For .NET
component, we still need to care the CAS setting.
e.g. we can use caspol -s off to turn off the CAS check temporarily, use
Filemon/Regmon or Event log to view the error.

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[David Thielen]

Hi;

Yes, that is my question - when it is inside winword.exe - what is the
method to determine why winword did not load the Add-In. You are right that
it may be cause by registry settings or other problems - but how do we find
out what problem in each case?

 

[Peter Huang [MSFT]]

Hi Dave,

If the problem is inside winword, because there is no public symbols,
direct debug is not proper, or we will see many assembly codes in the
debugger.
So we have to guess and then confirm our idea.
e.g. If it is a registry issue, we have the tool regmon.
The common approach I have pointed out in my last post.

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[David Thielen]

Guess is a very inefficient approach. And in a recent case my problem was I
needed to install KB907417. No amount of guessing, checking the registry, etc
would solve that.

So my question is, if guessing does not work, how can I find out
specifically what problem Word is having with my Add-In?

 

[Peter Huang [MSFT]]

Hi

I am sorry I miss one point, search in the KB or internet will also be an
approach.
But to produce such a KB, we also need to reproduce the problem and then
send to Dev for confirmation if this is problem in the product and then
will publish a hotfix or KB for the problem. That is why we commonly need
to contact MSPSS to handle such problem. Because we need symbols to debug
through the Winword.exe to catch the exception, sometime we even need to
check the source code. But that is all not public and is handled by MSPSS.
As I state before without symbols, the problem will be full of assembly
code. Also guess will be the approach to resolve a problem, we need to
guess what may be the problem and then confirm our guess when there is no
direct approach(e.g. Debugging...).

Best regards,

Peter Huang
Microsoft Online Partner Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.