mscms.dll error
This is a big irritation…
I’ve started getting errors every time I open an Office application. Specifically, the error message reads:
“EXCEL.EXE – Bad Image
C:\Windows\system32\mscms.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support.”
After clearing that message three times, it comes up with a final error message entitled:
“EXCEL.EXE – Unable to Locate Component
This application has failed to start because mscms.dll was not found. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.”
Grrrr….
For reference, the application (be it Excel or Outlook, and I haven’t check the others) still open and seem to work normally.
So here’s what I know:
- I added an IMAP account to my Outlook settings, synching up my gmail account to Outlook
- I installed Visual Studio 2008
- I installed PefectDisk 2008 (with VMWare))
I believe the problem surfaced when I turned off IMAP and deleted my IMAP account from my Outlook profile.
I’ve tried the following steps to fix the issue:
- Running a Repaid installation on Office 2007
- Running regsvr32 on the file (it does still exist)
- Uninstalling Office and reinstalling
- Running a complete Registry cleanup (as administator) using CCleaner
So far nothing has worked, and I can’t find anything remotely hopeful on the net. In fact, the only reference I’ve been able to find about this issue so far has been unanswered public ng threads for Outlook.
Suggestions welcome…
on May 8th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Just to follow up on this a bit… It is affecting Excel and Outlook, but it is not affecting Word, Powerpoint or Access. Outlook comes up with the OUTLOOK.EXE – Bad Image error message, and yet still opens once the errors are cleared.
on August 20th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hi Ken, have you found a solution to this problem yet? I’ve been having the same problem for months and still can’t find a solution. Please let me know if you know how to fix it. ty
on August 20th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Err… I made a solution, but I wouldn’t say I found it, exactly.
I formatted my laptop and started over. I’m prone to do it every few months anyway, and it seemed like it was probably due for it.
I wish I had a better answer.
on August 29th, 2008 at 2:00 am
If you go to C:\Windows\System32\, right click mscms.dll and go to properties then take a look at tab “Version”
What is the version of your file?
Have you tried downloading the .dll from the internet and overwriting the original one? (from http://www.nodevice.com/dll/MSCMS_DLL/item10619.html for eg..)
on August 29th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Too late for me now, but hopefully someone will respond letting us know if that worked for them.
on September 11th, 2009 at 6:42 am
hey Dan Fujita……….thaankooozz
thanks a lot
it worked