ODBC export to Excel fails under Windows 7, Windows 8.x and Windows 10

Question

I just created some code (at the bottom) from scratch that shows a simple Excel export. The code fails with an exception when database.OpenEx is called.

Answer 1

The problem arises in fact due to a bug in the security updates. Currently I see no other solution than to uninstall, the security patch or using another export format.

Affected patches are:

Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP

KB4041681 -- 2017-10 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x86-based Systems KB4041678 -- 2017-10 Security Only Quality Update for Windows Embedded Standard 7 for x64-based Systems

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2

KB4041693 -- 2017-10 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 8.1 for x86-based Systems KB4041687 -- 2017-10 Security Only Quality Update for Windows 8.1 for x86-based Systems

Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 (version 1607)

KB4041691 -- 2017-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016

Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 (version 1703)

KB4041676 -- 2017-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1703

There are multiple threads in other communities (Tectnet, Answers, Social MSDN) discussing the same problem without any workaround except uninstalling the patch.

Edit (2017-11-21): For Windows 10 the bug is fixed with KB4048955!