File Won't Open on Double-Click

Hopefully this will be an acceptable forum to put this in. Honestly, I'm not sure where else.

So, here's the problem:

If I double-click on an Excel file, I get the following message: ""Windows cannot find /path/. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." Excel opens up fine, but without the workbook. If, within Excel, I open the file up using OfficeOrb -> Open, it opens just fine.

Why, you ask, did I not put this in the MS Office area? Because the same thing occurs with National Instruments LabView .vi files. Only difference is that the file opens in LabView. So, this suggests a Windows Explorer issue, not an MS Office issue.

Here's another strange thing: It doesn't really seem to have anything to do with any particular install. While I was working on finding a solution for this, somehow the same thing happened with my Word documents. Figuring it might be some kind of odd issue, I decided to roll back with a restore point. That fixed the Word issue, but not the Excel or LabView ones.

Now, I'd love to blame SP1, but the LabView one started before I installed SP1.

I've tried most of the simple solutions people have suggested for the Excel one (which annoys me far more than the LabView one, to be honest). My "Ignore other applications..." box is unchecked, to no avail. Most posts on this topic are with Office 2003 and XP, so they are of limited value (I suspect XP is the more important limitation).

Anyone got any ideas?

Okay, so incredibly, I solved this. Hours and hours later, I solved it.

This is going to sound incredibly stupid, but the solution (for both applications) was as follows:

1) Go to the root directory for the executable for the program (example: C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Office/Office12)
2) Right-click on the executable (in this case, EXCEL.EXE)
3) Select "Properties"
4) Click on the "Compatibility" tab
5) Unselect "Run this program as an administrator"

Yes, that's right. I solved a problem by not running the program as an administrator.

If anyone has a similar problem, but this is not the issue, let me know. I probably ran across an alternative while I was searching.

Now if I can just figure out how to tip my own scales for this solution...

One added detail that hung me up for weeks... in addition to the above instructions... Make sure you also click on the "Show setting for all users" button. Uncheck the "Run this program as an administrator" option in this window as well!!!

This is really weird. I wonder how this "run as admin" got into there in the first place because it normally is not.

FightingScallion said:

Okay, so incredibly, I solved this. Hours and hours later, I solved it. . .

Now if I can just figure out how to tip my own scales for this solution...

Click to expand...

I'd be happy to tip your scales for you, FightingScallion, you earned it! BUT you don't have a Rep+ icon. So if you can tell me how to do it, I will.