Monkey Tools

Installation and Activation Issues

Article Overview

While we hope that Monkey Tools installs easily and keeps running, the reality is that software is a complicated thing, and sometimes things break. This article is intended to capture the most common issues that can occur, and provide solutions to get you (back) up and running as quickly as possible.

This article is divided into three main sections

Issues Which Prevent or Block Installation

For the most part, installing Monkey Tools is easy, and can be accomplished following the steps in the Installing Monkey Tools support article. Having said this – for those who do run into issues – these are the most common we’ve experienced.

Issue 1: Your Organization Blocks Web Installers

For a variety of reasons, Monkey Tools installs using a “Click Once” installer via the https://monkeytools/software/monkeytools.application link. Whether you download the installer or run it from the web, it will still contact https://monkeytools.ca for the installation files as well as future updates. If your organization blocks Click Once installers or the ability to install software from the internet, it will most likely block the installation of Monkey Tools.

Issue 2: Digital Certificate Prevents Installation

Monkey Tools is signed by a “Sectigo RSA Code Signing CA” certificate, which should be trusted by most organizations. We have encountered one government agency who does not trust this issuer however, which blocks the installation of Monkey Tools completely. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to resolve this issue, as the IT department needs to whitelist our digital certificate provider.

Issues Which Prevent License Activation

In most cases, activating your Monkey Tools license can be done by following the steps listed in our Activating Your License article. If you run into an error, however, please read the section below for known issues/resolutions.

Issue 1: License Activation Blocked

Monkey Tools licensing is managed via Soraco‘s licensing service, which makes a call to the https://qlm2.net domain. If you are experiencing issues with activating your license, we suggest that you whitelist this domain in your firewall software. If that still doesn’t solve the issue, please reach out to us.

Issues Which Occur After a Successful Installation

We consider a successful installation one where you were able to install Monkey Tools and see the Monkey Tools tab in your Excel ribbon as shown below.  If you’ve never got to this point, skip down to the section on “Issues which prevent installation” below.

Issue 1: Monkey Tools tab disappears

Issue Symptom

  • Monkey Tools was installed and appearing on your ribbon, but no longer appears when you launch Excel.
  • Trying to enable the add-in via File -> Options -> Add-ins -> Manage COM Add-ins -> Go and checking the box next to Monkey Tools returns the message “Not loaded. A runtime error occurred during the loading of the COM Add-in.”
 

Potential Resolution 1 - Hidden Corrupted Excel Instance

The first (and most likely) cause of this issue is that Excel is be running in a hidden and corrupted instance. To resolve this:

  • Close all instances of Excel
  • Type Windows + R to launch the Run prompt
  • Type taskmgr -> Enter to launch the Task Manager
  • Click More Details and select the Details tab
  • Look for “EXCEL.EXE” in the list of process names and select it
  • Click End Task
  • Re-launch Excel

At this point, Monkey Tools should be back on your ribbon.

If you do not find EXCEL.EXE in the list, check the next potential cause below. 

Potential Resolution 2 - Expired Digital Certificate

Monkey Tools installer is signed with a Code Signing Digital Certificate.  One challenge with these certificates is that they only last for a certain amount of time before we need to be re-certified and re-sign our installer.

While we do attempt to make sure that our installer is updated early enough that everyone will update and get the new certificate, sometimes this doesn’t happen.  When that certificate expires, Excel no longer trusts it, and therefore disables the application.

Giving that the update mechanism is built in to Monkey Tools, (which won’t run,) the solution is unfortunately to do the following:

  1. Uninstall Monkey Tools
  2. Reinstall Monkey Tools using the updated installer

Your license information should be preserved between installs, but if not, this article should help you reactivate your license.

Is Your Issue Not Listed?

We currently don’t have any other issues listed here. But if you encounter an issue that you think should be covered, please take the time to:

  • Submit a bug via the Monkey Tools help menu, or
  • Submit a bug through our contact form

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