Visio2000: Users with Restricted Access Cannot Run Certain Wizards (267253)

SYMPTOMS

When you try to run certain Wizards, you may receive one of the following error messages:

An OLE Automation Error has occurred. Make sure the following file is installed and registered : vaoutils.dll

-or-

Unexpected Error. Quitting

The following Wizards may encounter this error:

Chart Shape Wizard
Import Flowchart Data Wizard
Page Layout Wizard
Property Reporting Wizard
Custom Property Wizard

CAUSE

These Visio wizards use a dynamic link library (DLL) module that must be registered. Users with restricted access may not have sufficient rights to allow registration of the vaoutils.dll module.

With Administrator rights, manual registration of vaoutils.dll is not necessary, and these wizards should operate correctly.

If you have Power User rights, you can register vaoutils.dll by using the step in the "Resolution" section of this article to ensure all the registry keys are present for the wizards.

RESOLUTION

To workaround this problem, ask your administrator to give you (temporarily if necessary), Power User rights. With membership in the Power Users group, follow these steps to register the dll and the wizards:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type the following command (including the quotation marks), and then click OK:
regsvr32 "c:\Program Files\Visio\Solutions\Visio Extras\vaoutils.dll"
If the command is successful, you will see the following message:
DllRegisterServer in c:\Program Files\Visio\Solutions\Visio Extras\vaoutils.dll succeeded.
NOTE: If the command is unsuccessful, search your computer's hard disk for the vaoutils.dll file. The file may be located in a different folder.
Start Visio and then run the Wizards listed in the "Symptoms" section of this article to add their respective registry entries.

After this process is complete, your administrator may remove your membership from the Power Users group. If a similar problem persists with the operation of the wizards, then Power User rights may have to be permanently restored to ensure consistent behavior.

MORE INFORMATION

Members of the Power Users group have more permissions than members of the Users group and fewer than members of the Administrators group. Power Users can perform any operating-system task except tasks reserved for the Administrators group. The default Microsoft Windows 2000 security settings for Power Users are very similar to the default security settings for Users in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0.