Error "An error occurred ... Old format or invalid type library." Connecting to PowerPivot Table.

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Error "An error occurred ... Old format or invalid type library." Connecting to PowerPivot Table.

Published: 18 Jul 2013
Last Modified Date: 20 Jun 2017

Issue

When connecting to a Microsoft PowerPivot table, the following error might occur:

An error occurred while communicating with Microsoft PowerPivot
Old format or invalid type library. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80028018 (TYPE_E_INVDATAREAD))
Unable to connect to the server. Check that the server is running and that you have access privileges to the requested database.

Environment

Tableau Desktop
PowerPivot

Resolution

Update the regional settings on your computer. For more information, see BUG: "Old format or invalid type library" error when automating Excel in Microsoft Support.

Cause

Your computer is running the English version of Excel and the locale for the current user is configured for another language. Excel will try to locate the language pack for the configured language and will report this error if the language pack cannot be found.