PPTX to Image conversion doesn't work on windows server 2012 production

Question

We have requirement to convert uploaded PPT or PPTX files into image files. We developed this working locally with following (POC code):

Application pptAppli         


        

Answer 1

Here's the narrowed down solution which worked on all the servers, i'm posting this solution after 7 months mature research.

1. Installed Office and activated the product on every servers
2. Created a folder 'Desktop' at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop (64 bit OS)
3. In IIS changed ApplicationPool identity from 'ApplicationPoolIdentity' to 'LocalSystem'.

That's it and i was able to convert slides into images.

Source Code

In case you are interested in code that I was using:

Application pptApplication = new Application();
Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.Presentation pptPresentation = pptApplication.Presentations.Open2007(Server.MapPath("~/tempslides/pptfilename.pptx"), MsoTriState.msoFalse, MsoTriState.msoFalse, MsoTriState.msoFalse);
List files = new List();
for (int i = 1; i <= pptPresentation.Slides.Count; i++)
{
    pptPresentation.SaveCopyAs(serverPath + randomId, PpSaveAsFileType.ppSaveAsPNG, MsoTriState.msoTrue);
    files.Add(Server.MapPath("~/tempslides") + "/slide" + i + ".PNG");
}
pptPresentation.Close();

To run above code, you need to add reference to interop lib in your project.

Hope this helps you to save your time.