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DDE Client Connections and/or DDE Client Driver on Newer Windows Operating Systems (Win 7 & Later)

How to I connect make DDE Connections on newer operating systems?

If you are using DDE for either a DDE Client connection to TOP Server or the TOP Server DDE Client driver, you won't be able to run TOP Server V6 as a system service on Windows Vista and newer, as DDE cannot interact between an interactive process and a system service.

Newer operating systems have changed the way that applications and services run.  They run in different "sessions" that cannot interact with each other.


If you are using the TOP Server DDE Client driver or must make a DDE connection from your client application, i.e. it doesn't support other options such as OPC or SuiteLink, you will have to run TOP Server in Interactive Mode instead of a system service.

If you are using Windows XP or Server 2003 operating systems, please click here for specific details on DDE usage and those operating systems.


If you continue to have problems, follow these steps:

  1. Set TOP Server in Interactive Mode
  2. Reinitialize
  3. Stop the TOP Server
  4. Stop Excel
  5. Start TOP Server in admin mode
  6. Start Excel in admin mode