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General discussion

Encrypted Excel file on Win XP Home

by Antler321 Jan 13, 2007 4:46AM PST

I have a Dell 4550 desktop with Windows XP Home and Office XP Professional on it. I tried to open an excel file I had created and used for several years and when I try to open it, it begins starting Excel then pops up the message "Excel cannot open ***.xls. The document may be read-only or encrypted."

The document is not listed in the properties as read-only, but how would it become encrypted? I know that Win XP Home does not support file encryption.

Is this a corrupted file?? And if so, how do I recover it??

Thanks for any help with this. I am at my wit's end and about to pitch this computer out the window. Sad

Karen

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Re: corrupted file
by Kees Bakker Jan 13, 2007 9:36PM PST
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Excel File Permissions
by Jam and Bees Mar 11, 2007 3:27AM PDT

Change your ?Local Security Policy? as follows:

Go to: Start > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy

Then go to: Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options

Find the entry that says:

Network Access: Sharing and security model for local accounts

It should be set to ?Classic ? local users authenticate as themselves?
(NOT ?Guest only ? local users authenticate as Guest?)

Once you change the Local Security Policy, you will need to log off Windows and back on, or restart your computer.

You will find that your files now have the Security tab.

You may need to set the security to show you as owner with permissions.

You may need to close and reopen Excel.

Now you can access those files!

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Excel file won't open
by fconsig Feb 21, 2008 3:13AM PST

My XP home edition does not have Administrator Tools. Frank

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Same problem
by fconsig Feb 21, 2008 3:24AM PST

Hi Karen
Did you ever resolve this problem with the worksheet? Or did you through out the Dell. I am having the same issue.
Frank

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