When trying to deploy BAM activity: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009\Tracking>bm.exe deploy-all -DefinitionFile:BAMSample.xls”, you can get “Old format or invalid type library” error:
“Microsoft (R) Business Activity Monitoring Utility Version 3.8.368.0 Copyright (C) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Using ‘BAMPrimaryImport’ BAM Primary Import database on server ‘…’…
ERROR: Failed to open BAM Excel workbook file – ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009\Tracking\MyBAMSample.xls’. Old format or invalid type library. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80028018 (TYPE_E_INVDATAREAD))”
📝 One-Minute Brief
The “Old format or invalid type library” error in BizTalk (often seen in TPE or BAM Excel tools) is usually caused by a conflict between the system’s Regional Settings and the installed version of Microsoft Office. Specifically, if you are using a non-English regional setting with an English version of Office (or vice-versa), the COM interop fails. The solution is to ensure the English (United States) language pack is installed or to temporarily set the thread culture to match the Office version.
Cause
When you use a locale setting other than English (United States) while installing the English version of BizTalk Server, your deployment of the Bam.xls file generates a fnGetString or “Old format or invalid type library” error.
In other words, this error occurs when the culture of the current thread (your Windows Regional Settings) does not match the culture of the Microsoft Office version installed on your machine.
For example, if you have Windows set to Portuguese but are using English Microsoft Office, the COM interop used by BAM tools cannot bridge the gap, resulting in the “Invalid Type Library” exception.
Solution
Change the computer locale to English (United States) and re-run the bm deploy command at the command prompt.
To change your computer locale to English (United States), you need to:
- Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Regional and Language Options.
- In the Regional and Language Options dialog, on the Regional Options tab, choose the English (United States) locale from the drop-down box, and click OK.
Other Possible Solution
To work around this problem, you can either install the Office Multilingual User Interface (MUI) pack or change your locale to US-EN just for the duration of the deployment.
