In this article:  

• Issue description

• Prerequisites

• Possible causes

• Resolution

• Related topics and articles

• How to reach support

Issue description  

When attempting to open scheduled report files generated by ADAudit Plus, users may receive the following error:

Excel cannot open the file ADAuditPlus_1234.xlsx because the format or file extension is not valid.

This occurs when the report is sent via email and the recipient tries to open the XLSX file, which appears to be corrupted.

Prerequisites  

• ADAudit Plus is configured to send scheduled reports in XLSX format.

• A valid email recipient is configured for the report.

• The receiving system has Microsoft Excel installed.

Possible causes  

• The ADAudit Plus service account does not have permission to write to the temporary file path used during report generation.

• By default, the application writes to C:\Windows\Temp, and access issues in this directory may result in incomplete or corrupted Excel files.

In the serverout.txt log file, you may see:

Error: The specified file path not found

This helps confirm the issue is due to inaccessible or un-writable temp paths.

Resolution  

Option 1: Grant full control to the service account over C:\Windows\Temp   on the server where ADAudit Plus is installed

1. Navigate to C:\Windows\Temp.

2. Right-click and go to Properties > Security.

3. Grant Full Control to the ADAudit Plus service account.

4. Restart the ManageEngine ADAudit Plus service.

If you prefer not to modify C:\Windows\Temp permissions, proceed to option 2.

Option 2: Configure a custom Java temporary directory  

Step 1: Edit the wrapper.conf file  

1. Go to:
   <installation directory>\ADAudit Plus\conf

2. Locate and open wrapper.conf (create a backup of the wrapper file first).

3. Search for the -Djava.io.tmpdir property.

If found:  

• Change the value to use a custom directory:

• -Djava.io.tmpdir=../temp

• This creates a temp folder inside the installation directory.

If not found:  

• Add the line manually under the # Java Additional Parameters section:

• wrapper.java.additional.26=-Djava.io.tmpdir=../temp

Ensure the number 26 follows sequentially after the last parameter in the file.

Step 2: Apply permissions  

1. Create the temp folder in the ADAudit Plus installation directory if it doesn’t already exist.

2. Grant Full Control to the ADAudit Plus service account on this folder.

Step 3: Restart the service  

1. Open services.msc.

2. Locate the ManageEngine ADAudit Plus Service.

3. Right-click it and select Restart.

Once restarted, scheduled reports should generate correctly and open without Excel file format errors.

Related topics and articles  

• Configuring scheduled reports in ADAudit Plus

 How to reach support 

If the issue persists, contact our support team here.