Cannot open Excel file in C#

Question

I have the following C# function in my project, which is supposed to open and return an existing Excel workbook object:

Application _excelApp;

// ...

private W         


        

Answer 1

I found the following page:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/b81a3c4e-62db-488b-af06-44421818ef91/excel-2007-automation-on-top-of-a-windows-server-2008-x64

Where it says that...

it’s not supported to automate office products UI less. It seems that Windows Server 2008 and Excel 2007 enforce the given statement.

The questioner then describes exactly the situation I am in with a Windows Service that cannot open an Excel file, although the same code in a command-line program has no problem.

The response advises to create the following folder:

Windows 2008 Server x64: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop

Windows 2008 Server x86: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop

I have tried this and it worked a treat! Can anyone explain why it is needed and any downsides?

Thanks,

--- Alistair.