Word 2003 automation: works in Windows XP, doesn't work in Windows Server 2003

[YogiBaar]

Hello,

We have encountered a problem with our application. We are using
ASP.NET in conjunction with Word 2003 automation to create some
documents on the server. Yes, I know this is bad practice, I know
Microsoft doesn't support, I know all about the bad things this brings
along. However, the application is set up this way and there are no
plans for a redesign.

The automation works without problems on our developer machines which
run Windows XP and Office 2003. Our test server (and the production
server) runs Windows Server 2003 (Standard) and has Word 2003
installed. The automation fails to execute properly on that. Word gets
started properly, but the call to the Open method fails with a "Command
failed" exception.

Error : Command failed
Stack Trace : at Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Documents.Open(Object&
FileName, Object& ConfirmConversions, Object& ReadOnly, Object&
AddToRecentFiles, Object& PasswordDocument, Object& PasswordTemplate,
Object& Revert, Object& WritePasswordDocument, Object&
WritePasswordTemplate, Object& Format, Object& Encoding, Object&
Visible, Object& OpenAndRepair, Object& DocumentDirection, Object&
NoEncodingDialog, Object& XMLTransform)

We provide all the necessary parameters, and yet it fails. There are a
couple of EventLog events associated with the open attempt, but none of
them can be responsible for the error. I get the same events on my
local machine (XP) and it still works.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance,
YogiBaar

 

[YogiBaar]

As soon as we set the Microsoft Word Document DCOM Component to run
under a specific user that was a local administrator as per
instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q224338
we got it working.

Now I feel a bit silly.