Excel Takes a Long Time to Load

Overview

Excel takes a long time to perform one or more of the following:

• Loading Excel
• Closing the Data Source Settings window
• Displaying the Progress window when running a report.

Cause

Microsoft Windows is checking http://crl.microsoft.com to see if the digital signature is valid for each of the Jet Reports .NET assemblies, and for some reason this is taking longer than would typically be expected.

More information on this issue can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/936707.

Resolution Process

There are two possible solutions to this issue

1. Recommended Solution:

   Place a specially-coded Excel config file (excel.exe.config) in the Excel program folder (this is the folder where Excel.exe is located.  i.e. “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16” for Excel 2016).  This instructs Windows not to validate the digital signatures of .NET assemblies loaded by Excel.

   A zip file containing an Excel config file with the necessary XML markup is available HERE. If there is already an Excel config file present in the Excel program folder, you will need to add the XML markup to it.

   Additionally, the .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 or later needs to be installed in order for this to work.  The installed versions of the .NET Framework can be checked in "Add or Remove Programs".

   Please note that bypassing the checking of digital signatures could cause security issues.  Hence, this solution should only be attempted when long load times are preventing users from reasonably working with Excel.

   For users of Dynamics NAV 2009R2 and ealier:  This solution will also need to be applied to the JetFrontServer.exe assembly.  To do so, take the excel.exe.config file and copy it to %ProgramFiles%\JetReports.  Then, rename the config file to JetFrontServer.exe.config.

2. Warning: the following steps will prevent ALL programs from checking .NET signatures and should only be performed with authorization by an experienced system administrator:

   • Start Windows Control Panel
   • Navigate to Internet Options
   • Navigate to the Advanced tab
   • Uncheck the box for Check for publisher's certificate revocation under the Security section.