Home → Troubleshooting → @RISK for Excel: Other Issues → "Method 'Initialize' of object '_RiskOL' failed"
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Applies to: @RISK 6.x/7.x
When I launch @RISK, I get this error message:
"Method 'Initialize' of object '_RiskOL' failed"
This could have several causes. The procedure below runs roughly from fastest to slowest. If you try @RISK after a given step and it now works, you can ignore the others.
Please check your Excel add-ins: File » Options » Add-Ins in Excel 2007 and newer, Tools » Options in Excel 2003. @RISK may or may not be listed as an active add-in; it will work fine either way. But if any other @RISK components, such as RISKOptimizer, are listed as active add-ins then please make them inactive. (In Excel 2007 or newer, click the round Go button at the bottom of the right-hand panel to bring up the list of add-ins and remove the appropriate check marks.) After making any add-ins inactive, close Excel and try @RISK again.
In the Advanced section of Excel's options, verify that Use system separators is ticked. (More detailed directions, with a screen shot, are in "This add-in requires Excel to use the system separators.".)
If you're running Excel 2013 or Excel 2016, click File » Options » General and remove the check mark from the last option, "Show the Start screen when this application starts." Click OK and close Excel.
Temporarily deactivate all add-ins except those that come with Excel. Close Excel and re-launch @RISK to test it. If @RISK now works, you can add them add-ins back one at a time to find the culprit. There might even be more than one culprit, though this is not very likely.
If @RISK still doesn't work, leave the other add-ins inactive while you continue with this procedure. It's possible that the problem is one or more add-ins plus one of the causes below. You can add them back when you have @RISK working again.
Follow the procedure in Removing Outdated References to Office from the System Registry to check for outdated references, and remove them if they exist.
Repair @RISK, and if that doesn't work do a clean uninstall and reinstall. (You might wish to skip the repair and just do the clean install. We suggest a repair only because it's a lot simpler and a has a good chance of solving the problem.)
Last edited: 2020-01-08