"Unable to read file" error message when you open a workbook in Excel 2002 (812384)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2002

SYMPTOMS

When you try to open a workbook, you receive the following error message:
Unable to read file.
After you click OK, the Document Recovery task pane does not appear, and the workbook is not recovered.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the file contains damage to different portions of the file structure. Microsoft Excel 2002 detects the first piece of damage, and then tries to repair it by starting Excel in Safe mode. Excel then detects the remaining damage in the document, and then tries to restart itself in a minimal-load mode. This second attempt to restart Excel fails, and the symptom occurs.

RESOLUTION

Service Pack Information

This problem is corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3. To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

307841 How to obtain the latest Office XP Service Pack

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Office XP service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later: 
   Date         Time   Size        File name
   -------------------------------------------
   11-Jan-2003  03:41  14,998,252  Excelff.msp
   15-Jan-2003  18:25   2,444,012  Excelop.msp
After the hotfix is installed, the English version of this fix will have the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. 
   Date        Time      Version      Size       File name
   -------------------------------------------------------
   9-Jan-2003  14:31:35  10.0.4907.0  9,181,768  Excel.exe


Note This hotfix does not address all occurences of this error message; it only makes sure that Excel tries to fix all occurences of corruption in the file. If the file is corrupted beyond repair, you may still receive the error message that is listed in the "Applies to" section, and you cannot open the file.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.

MORE INFORMATION

Excel Minimal-Load mode occurs if Excel loads into memory the absolute minimum necessary to run itself.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:4/7/2006
Keywords:kbQFE KBHotfixServer kbopenfile kberrmsg kbofficexppresp3fix kbenv kbui kbOfficeXPsp2fix kbOfficeXPPreSP2fix kbOffice2000preSP3fix kbfix kbbug KB812384
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