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S-071159: When I publish a report in the SOLIDWORKS® Simulation software,

why do I receive the error 'SolidWorks Simulation is unable to create a report


because it failed to instantiate Microsoft Word’?

The SOLIDWORKS® Simulation software is not able to communicate with the Microsoft® Word application on
your system. Publication of SOLIDWORKS Simulation reports depends on the resource file 'MSWORD.OLB' and
the associated registry entries. If there is an issue with this file or with the registry entries, programs such as
SOLIDWORKS Simulation are unable to run Microsoft Office to send study data to the report. This issue can
occur if you roll back to an older version of the Office software after installing a newer version.

To resolve this issue, first determine if your version of the SOLIDWORKS software supports the version and
software package type of your Microsoft Office installation. Contact your IT department to verify that you have a
complete and valid installation. It might be possible to resolve this issue by uninstalling the Microsoft Office
products. However, if you do not want to do this, try the following steps to correct your Microsoft Office
environment without uninstalling the Microsoft Office software.

CAUTION: Before attempting this procedure, be sure to consult your IT department.

1. To avoid potential problems with your system, create a full backup of the registry.
2. Exit all Microsoft Office programs.
3. Open Windows Task Manager and verify that the 'winword.exe' process does not appear in process
details. If it does, select each instance of that process and then click on 'End Task'.
4. Open the Microsoft Word application.
5. In Windows Task Manager, right-click on the 'winword.exe' process > 'Open File Location'.
6. In the Windows Explorer dialog box of the Microsoft Word installation folder that appears, verify that
the file 'MSWORD.OLB' exists. If you do not see this file, contact your IT department to verify the
version, license, and installation integrity of your Microsoft Office installation. Be sure to check the
current system requirements on the official SOLIDWORKS website.
7. Copy the file path in the address bar of the Windows Explorer window. For example, the default file path
for the Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit version is 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 16'.
8. Run 'regedit' to open the Registry Editor.
9. In the Registry Editor, browse to:
'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
10. Locate and expand the subfolder for the highest version number that is available. For example, '8.7' for
the Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit version. If you see multiple subfolder entries, such as '8.7' and '8.6', you
must select the '8.7' entry because it is highest version.
11. Browse to the subfolder of the highest version subfolder that contains a registry string (REG_SZ) with
the path to file 'MSWORD.OLB'. For example:
'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\8.7\0\win64'
12. Modify the registry entry and paste the full path to the MSWORD.OLB file on your system. For example,
'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 16\MSWORD.OLB' for Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit. Note that
the exact file name and extension (MSWORD.OLB) must appear at the end of the path.
13. In the Registry Editor, browse to:
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib\{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
14. Repeat steps 10 through 12.
15. Close the Microsoft Word application and then ensure that the 'winword.exe' process does not appear
in Windows Task Manager.
16. Try again to publish a SOLIDWORKS Simulation report.
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If the issue persists, follow these steps to provide additional information to your support representative:

1. Open the Microsoft Word application and go to ‘Account’ > ‘About Word’. Capture a screenshot that is
similar to the attached image.
2. Run 'regedit' to open the Registry Editor.
3. In the Registry Editor, export the following registry keys.
• 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib\{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
• 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}'
4. Rename the file extensions to .txt.
5. Provide the files to your support representative. State the last time that you successfully published a
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Report on this system (if ever).
6. Ask your IT department to investigate and list the installation history of Microsoft Office products and
updates on your system.
7. If possible, try to using a different computer at your location to publish a SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Report.
8. Create a SOLIDWORKS Rx Problem Capture with a video that depicts the issue.

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