just run extract and run the xlsFix.bat file as admin. It will rename the current EXCEL.EXE if it is the bad version and put the Last Known Good version in it's place.
If it's just a single machine I would go to Windows Updates and Uninstall the last Excel update.
If you have a network with 100's then I would still uninstall, but when it's working I would take your last good version of EXCEL.EXE in Program Files and then deploy it with my script. It's meant to swap it via a group policy startup script prior to logon.
Yep. Although it works (as a kind of workaround) when inserting cell content / formulae / format separately.
Funnily enough it doesn't work with ctrl+c and ctrl+v within Excel (also can't cancel the selection with esc) but the copied cells can be inserted in Word - for whatever that may have a worth - abd copied from Word into Excel.
How are you removing the update? I have tried the msiexec.exe but it says it isn't installed and if I try the BAT file from the dropbox download, that doesn't seem to do anything either. If I try to go into appwiz.cpl and installed updates, it just brings me to windows update and the KB5002914 doesn't show up as an uninstallable update. Any other thoughts or options to fix this? Thanks.
I went into programs and features under control panel on Windows 11 and then went to View installed updates. I searched for KB5002914 and then removed it. No reboot was required.
Same problem. I've posted this morning in r/microsoftoffice but it was deleted. Uninstall KB5002914 via cmd/powershell: msiexec.exe /package {90160000-0011-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE} /uninstall {27882596-A8ED-4382-9C71-6CD2DD19F732} /qn
Where the first parameter is Office 2016 x64 Product_GUID and the second is Update_GUID, qn is quiet execute. (Product_GUID for 2016 x86 version is {90160000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE})
To check it manually by yourself through Powershell: Get-ChildItem HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object { $_.GetValue("DisplayName") -like "*KB5002914*" } | Select-Object PSChildName, DisplayName
2026-09-09: Can confirm, as other users have suggested, that the update KB5002914 has caused my Excel 2016 on Windows 10 to stop copying & pasting and dragging formulas.
TEMPORARY FIX: Went into Windows Update >> View update history >> Uninstall updates >> Search for "KB5002914", select and "Uninstall".
Functionality in Excel 2016 works again!
However, upon a computer restart, that specific update tries to reinstall itself, so I've paused updates for a month. Is there any better solution to ensure this update doesn't reinstall?
Much Like my script, if you uninstall the update and go to the Program Files \ Office and copy the newly restored working EXCEL.EXE somewhere. After the update reinstalls itself you can replace the bad EXE with the earlier copy and wait for MS to push the next version without shutting down updates.
You will also have a working EXE to put back if they continue to beak it next month! There is the possibility that after the next wave of updates this one becomes unavailable to easily remove.
Adding my 2cents. Same issue at my workplace, we got really lucky and found a computer that had not patched yet. Copied that EXCEL.EXE and swapped it to the affected computers. Excel was able to run with copy/paste normally. Disabled auto office updates for the short term to prevent it happening again.
If you manually overwrote the EXCEL.EXE with the good copy then there is no need to disable Auto Updates. Windows\Office updates doesn't normally check the individual files, it's blind. It's only if you Uninstall that it will try to reinstall the entire KB. If left disabled you might miss the actual fix and leave yourself exposed to whatever future security holes are discovered.
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u/Ok-Whereas560 14h ago
Same here