Thanks, but that's not the issue here.

The same query on the same Excel file works fine immediately after (and for some varying time after) a service restart.

Likewise, though I didn't include this in my o.p., the issue some have written about re: NTFS permissions in the user temp folder is not germane. I can run the same query on the same spreadsheet without problem after a service restart. So NTFS permissions aren't in play.

Anyone else have an idea?

Rich