Form Controls stop working after December 2014 Updates

For some users, Form Controls (FM20.dll) are no longer working as expected after installing MS14-082 Microsoft Office Security Updates for December 2014. Issues are experienced at times such as when they open files with existing VBA projects using forms controls, try to insert a forms control in to a new worksheet or run third party software that may use these components.

You may received errors such as:
"Cannot insert object"
"Object library invalid or contains references to object definitions that could not be found"
"The program used to create this object is Forms. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Forms or ensure that any dialog boxes in Forms are closed."  
* Note In this last error message, the Forms text may also be replaced by the GUID of the control.

Additionally, you may be unable to use or change properties of an ActiveX control on a worksheet or receive an error when trying to refer to an ActiveX control as a member of a worksheet via code.

Steps to follow after the update:

After updating, the cached control type libraries (extender files) may be out of sync. To resolve this issue, you must delete the cached versions of the control type libraries (extender files) on the client computer. To do this, perform a search on your hard disk for files that have the ".exd" file name extension and delete all the .exd files that you find. These .exd files will be re-created automatically when you use the new controls the next time that you use VBA. These extender files will be under the user's profile and may also be in other locations, such as the following:

%appdata%\Microsoft\forms

%temp%\Excel8.0

%temp%\VBE

Scripting solution:

Because this problem may affect more than one machine, it is also possible to create a scripting solution to delete the EXD files and run the script as part of the logon process using a policy. The script you would need should contain the following lines and would need to be run for each USER as the .exd files are USER specific.

del %temp%\vbe\*.exd

del %temp%\excel8.0\*.exd

del %appdata%\microsoft\forms\*.exd

del %appdata%\microsoft\local\*.exd

del %temp%\word8.0\*.exd

del %temp%\ PPT11.0\*.exd

Additional step:

If the steps above do not resolve your issue, another step that can be tested (see warning below):

1. On a fully updated machine and after removing the .exd files, open the file in Excel with edit permissions.

2. Open Visual Basic for Applications > modify the project by adding a comment or edit of some kind to any code module  > Debug > Compile VBAProject.

3. Save and reopen the file. Test for resolution.

If resolved, provide this updated project to additional users.

Warning: If this step resolves your issue, be aware that after deploying this updated project to the other users, these users will also need to have the updates applied on their systems and .exd files removed as well.

If this does not resolve your issue, it may be a different issue and further troubleshooting may be necessary.

References with further information: 

3025036 "Cannot insert object" error in an ActiveX custom Office solution after you install the MS14-082 security update
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036/EN-US

3017349 MS14-082: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution: December 9, 2014
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3017349/EN-US

2726958 MS14-082: Description of the security update for Microsoft Office 2013: December 9, 2014
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726958/EN-US

2553154 MS14-082: Description of the security update for Microsoft Office 2010: December 9, 2014
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553154/EN-US

2596927 MS14-082: Description of the security update for the 2007 Microsoft Office suite: December 9, 2014
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2596927/EN-US

December 15th, 2014 4:59am

We have an issue with many of our computers running our software that uses OptionButtons in a WebBrowser control.  We have tried the workarounds described here and they do not fix the problem for us.  We need a fix for this ASAP.
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December 15th, 2014 1:46pm

This, finally, fixed the problem for me (on 3 computers):

* Search & erasing all *.exd files then,

* Office program or suite: REPAIR (seems to fully reinstall, have keys or account info ready)

I have turned off all Office automatic updates... now...

I understand this is not a viable solution for those managing many computers.

December 15th, 2014 3:23pm

"Cannot insert object" error in an ActiveX custom Office solution after you install the MS14-082 security update:

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036/EN-US?wa=wsignin1.0



Okay so that hints that click2run gets an automated fix.... and what about msi versions?

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December 15th, 2014 3:43pm

Asking again.  Is this the final fix for this issue or will there be an automated fix for impacted users that use msi versions of Office?
December 17th, 2014 11:41am

Is there any fix for this? I have multiple sites with this issue and no practical fix.
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December 22nd, 2014 4:27pm

Microsoft has released a 'Fix it' that should solve (part of) the problem: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/3025036
December 22nd, 2014 4:44pm

I'm the IT support for a company with 21 satellite locations. I cannot travel to all these sites for this. If MS can push down an update that breaks this I think the answer is to push down a fix.
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December 22nd, 2014 4:49pm

When I asked in the partner forum, they said they are working on it but it may not be until the next Patch Tuesday before it's released.
December 22nd, 2014 4:51pm

Hello,

what do I do when I have an excel saved with the new KB, but on my computer I don't have the new KB.

I'm unable to install the new KB since I'm not the administrator and this won't be done by the IT department for some months?

I can't use these exdel's anymore...

Excel seem to have change something in my activeX objects that conflicts.

Thanks,

Wouter

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January 2nd, 2015 3:05pm

Hi Wouter!

i met the same issue. Could you fix it anyway?

Thanks,

Peter

January 14th, 2015 9:46am

I also need Microsoft to push out a Global solution as I can't fix this on my client's PCs, so it's a massive issue for my team. All our products use axtive x in excel! is there any news on a patch?
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January 15th, 2015 7:06am

Sadly, there was no patch for the faulty updates among the monthly updates for January 2015. Microsoft has really dropped the ball on this... :-(
January 15th, 2015 12:04pm

Hello,

I found something: if you copy all the sheets to a new workbook (don't forget your code in modules and old workbook), the new workbook is working again.

It works for me, but took me almost 2 days...
It's not the "magic" solution, for this I'm still waiting.

Best regards,

Wouter


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January 19th, 2015 2:54am

Hello,

I found something: if you copy all the sheets to a new workbook (don't forget your code in modules and old workbook), the new workbook is working again.

It works for me, but took me almost 2 days...
It's not the "magic" solution, for this I'm still waiting.

Best regards,

Wouter


January 19th, 2015 10:44am

Please use this if you need a fix for a large organization

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9875022

it does the delete immediately

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January 30th, 2015 4:40pm

I've tried that and it makes no difference.

I've attempted to uninstall the offending patches but they don't appear in the list in Control Panel/Programs/Installed Updates.

I've tried removing the exd files and then installing the two patches mentioned above, but it makes no difference.

I'm at the point now where I cannot get my templates to work for a large proportion of our business. I've tried different versions, rebuilding the file from scratch, running the FixIts and nothing has made any difference. It's now costing us business as we are unable to service our clients needs without the workbook in question.

Can anyone suggest a solution? Something other than the delete the .exds, un-install/re-install/Fixit loop that gets nowhere?

Thanks

Gordon

February 5th, 2015 3:45am

Please use this if you need a fix for a large organization

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9875022

it does the delete immediately

Angel, Does this run over all servers and pcs in the domain? If not what is the recommended method of updating all users? We have 30 offices and 1000 users to update and it needs to happen overnight.

Thanks

Gordon

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February 5th, 2015 3:47am

In case it is of any help in identifying why this update caused errors, the specific instance I have experienced is as follows:

The application uses Visual Basic (6.5) for Excel.  The piece of code causing an error (438) was as follows:

Public currcombo(12) As ComboBox 
. . . . 
Sub comboset()
'   set up comboboxes for test selection
    
 With Workbooks(currCRW).Sheets("client results")
    
'   set up test selection combo controls

    Set currcombo(1) = .F14
    Set currcombo(2) = .F15
    Set currcombo(3) = .F16
. . . . .etc

The error occurred on the first Set statement where 

In this case (in two environments: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and 32 bit, Excel 2007)  the cure was to uninstall the problem security update KB2596927.
February 22nd, 2015 2:59pm

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