How to: Install Office Primary Interop Assemblies

How to: Install Office Primary Inte...

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This page is specific to

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office system (version 3.0)

How to: Install Office Primary Interop Assemblies

You must install the Microsoft Office primary interop assemblies in the global assembly cache and register them before you can debug or run a Visual Studio Tools for Office solution. The interop assemblies enable managed code to interact with a Microsoft Office application's COM-based object model. For more information, see Office Primary Interop Assemblies.

You can install the complete set of primary interop assemblies in the global assembly cache in two ways:

Perform a Complete installation of Microsoft Office.
Install them from the redistributable primary interop assemblies package.

Note:
Visual Studio Tools for Office installs private copies of the primary interop assemblies outside of the global assembly cache. These copies of the assemblies are used for building projects. However, the primary interop assemblies must also be installed and registered in the global assembly cache to perform most development tasks, such as running or debugging projects. For more information, see Office Primary Interop Assemblies.

Note:

Visual Studio Tools for Office installs private copies of the primary interop assemblies outside of the global assembly cache. These copies of the assemblies are used for building projects. However, the primary interop assemblies must also be installed and registered in the global assembly cache to perform most development tasks, such as running or debugging projects. For more information, see Office Primary Interop Assemblies.

Note:
You must be an administrator on the development computer to install Visual Studio Tools for Office, the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime, the .NET Framework, and the Microsoft Office primary interop assemblies.

Complete Installation

To install the primary interop assemblies when you install the 2007 Microsoft Office system

Install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or later.
The .NET Framework is required for the primary interop assemblies to be installed in the global assembly cache during the next step.
Install Microsoft Office and select the Complete installation option.

To install the primary interop assemblies when you install Microsoft Office 2003

Install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later.
The .NET Framework is required for the primary interop assemblies to be installed in the global assembly cache during the next step.
Install Microsoft Office and select the Complete installation option.

During a Typical installation of Microsoft Office, the primary interop assemblies are set to be installed on first use if the .NET Framework is installed. This installation option works on end user computers when an end user runs a Microsoft Office solution. For more information about installing Visual Studio Tools for Office, see Installing Visual Studio Tools for Office.

Redistributable Primary Interop Assemblies Packages

To install the primary interop assemblies for the 2007 Microsoft Office system by using the redistributable package

Install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or later.
The .NET Framework is required for the primary interop assemblies to be installed in the global assembly cache during the next step. For more information, see How to: Install Prerequisites on End User Computers to Run Office Solutions (2007 System).
Run the Windows Installer package available for download from 2007 Microsoft Office System Update: Redistributable Primary Interop Assemblies.

To install the primary interop assemblies for Microsoft Office 2003 by using the redistributable package

Install the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later.
The .NET Framework is required for the primary interop assemblies to be installed in the global assembly cache during the next step. For more information, see How to: Prepare End User Computers to Run Office Solutions (2003 System).
Run the Windows Installer package available at Office 2003 Update: Redistributable Primary Interop Assemblies.

To install the primary interop assemblies when you install the 2007 Microsoft Office system

To install the primary interop assemblies when you install Microsoft Office 2003

To install the primary interop assemblies for the 2007 Microsoft Office system by using the redistributable package

To install the primary interop assemblies for Microsoft Office 2003 by using the redistributable package

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