Hello to anyone who can advise.
If I open Excel, firstly I get a system message asking if I want to allow the application to make changes to this computer (what's that all about ???).
If I try to open a file from within the program there's no problem.

If, however, I try to launch Excel by double clicking on an .xls or .xlsx file I get the message "There was a probem sending the command to the program" and the launch fails

Has anybody else seen this and does anyone have advise on how to correct it?

Mike J

Hi Mike J,

Based on your description, if this issue only appeared in Excel files? Have you ever checked if it worked fine in safe mode?

>>There was a probem sending the command to the program<<, depending on this error messages there are many possible reasons that this issue occurs. I will provide several methods to help you.

Method 1:

Open Excel in safe mode and check if it works fine, if it works fine in safe mode try to disable Add-ins in Excel.

• Go to File menu, click Options.
• Click the Add-ins tab.
• Select Com Add-ins from drop down list and disable all add-ins.

Method 2:
This problem may occur if the Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) check box in Excel options is selected.

• Go to File menu, click Options.
• Click the Adbanced tab.
• Clear the Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) check box

Method 3:
To work around this problem, disable hardware acceleration until a fix is released by your video card manufacturer. Make sure to check regularly for updates to your video card driver.

• On the File tab, click Options.
• In the Options dialog box, click Advanced.
• In the list of available options, select the Disable hardware graphics acceleration check box.

Method 4:
Try to repair your Office programs.

About how to repair Office programs please refer to this link:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Repair-an-Office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b?CorrelationId=6cdc16a8-30b4-45d5-bb28-b8b38b62f8ff&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Please try these methods and let me know if they work for you.

To get more methods about solving this issue, please refer to this article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3001579

Hope it's helpful.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su