FIX: "Error Instantiating Application Object" on Windows NT (163785)

SYMPTOMS

The error message, "Error Initializing Application Object" or "Error Instantiating Application Object," may occur when starting Visual FoxPro on a Windows NT machine (Workstation or Server). The error will occur if you have logged onto NT without administrator rights.

CAUSE

When you install Visual FoxPro or an EXE created with Visual FoxPro on Windows NT, you must be an administrator of that machine. If, after the initial installation, you log on as a user without administrator rights, Visual FoxPro will look in the registry for specific keys but will not find them because the administrator's registry keys will not be copied to all types of users on the machine. When Visual FoxPro does not find the registry keys, it displays the error message:

Error Instantiating Application Object

-or-

Error Initializing Application Object

RESOLUTION

To allow other users to log on to the Windows NT machine and gain access to Visual FoxPro:

Log on as Administrator.
From the Start menu, select Programs, choose Administative Tools then click User domain to get to the Guest User account.
Move the Guest user account into the Administrators group temporarily.
Move the Guest user account into the Administrators group temporarily.
Log on as the Guest user.
Install Visual FoxPro or the EXE while logged on as the Guest user.
Run Visual FoxPro. From the Tools menu, select Options, and then choose the "Set As Default" button.
Log in as the Administrator and remove "Guest" from the Administrators group.

This allows all new users to the computer to get the Visual FoxPro Icons and correct registry settings.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been fixed in Visual FoxPro 5.0a.