Can Microsoft.office.interop.word.dll work without installing office?

calendar_today Asked Oct 24, 2013
thumb_up 8 upvotes
history Updated April 16, 2026

Question posted 2013 · +4 upvotes

My ASP.Net-C# application works with mailmerge and the dll by name Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll V14.0.0.0. All is well on my desktop (where office is installed). However when this application is deployed on the production machine, the following error is thrown:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80040154): Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {000209FF-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).

When the class is registered, the following error is found:

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll was loaded but the entry-point DLLRegisterServer was not found. Make sure, this is a valid dll or OCX and try again.

How do I fix this problem? Office suite can’t be installed on the production machine.

Accepted answer +8 upvotes

No, the Interop libraries are just a shell over the real Office library code. Thus you need to have Office installed where your app is running

Word VBA objects referenced (4)

  • Interop.Word — Exporting a Range to a Table in a Word Document
  • Interop.Word — Using events with the Application object (Word)
  • Microsoft.Office — Controlling One Microsoft Office Application from Another
  • Microsoft.Office — List the Name and Office Location of Each Manager Belonging to an Exchange Distribution List

Top ms-word Q&A (6)

+8 upvotes ranks this answer #13 out of 31 ms-word solutions on this site .