Excel Connection Manager Failed to Connect via SSIS VS19

New to the SSIS world and I got it working before on Excel Version 2016 & Version 2007-2010 [after ages of troubleshooting] but then it just stopped working [endless testing on various solutions I've read, seems to be a reoccurring issue] and now it continues to not work.... any assistance would be appreciated.

Here's the situation: Importing Excel to the SSIS environment via VS19. when I try to view the Table in the Excel Source Editor, it comes up with the following error message:

Could not retrieve the table information for the connection manager 'Excel Connection Manager'. Failed to connect to the source using the connection manager 'Excel Connection Manager'.

• Using Visual Studio Community 2019 - 16.6.30128.74
• Using a 32-bit Excel from Microsoft Suite for Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 - 16.0.11929.20776
• In Visual Studio Installer, I have activated the "Data storage and processing" tile with the "SQL Server Data Tools" ticked

• I am running the package in 32-bit mode

  Project properties >> Debugging >> Run64BitRuntime = False

• I have installed both AcccessDatabaseEngine 32bit and 64bit for 2010 & 2016 on my computer -- x64 2010 redistributable - 14.0.7015.1000 -- x32 2010 redistributable - 14.0.7015.1000 -- x64 2016 redistributable - 16.0.4519.1000 -- x32 2016 redistributable - 16.0.4519.1000

• Have even done the Passive/Quiet model installation steps

  1. Open the Command Prompt by typing cmd in the Windows search box under the Start menu and selecting cmd.exe
  2. Type the file path and file name of the [relevant] install file, followed by a space and /passive or /quiet [if passive didn't work].
  3. Open the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Windows search box under the Start menu and selecting regedit.exe
  4. Deleted the mso.dll registry value in the following registry key:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\FilesPaths"

[above for 2010] and [below for 2016]

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\FilesPaths"

• I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the SSDT
• I've tried using all available excel version options [2007-2010, 2013, 2016] in the Excel Source Editor to no avail

• I've even tried the DelayValidation method someone suggested [still didn't work]

  Project Task >> Properties >> DelayValidation = True

• Even checked my connection string on my Excel Connection Manager

  Excel Connection Manager Connection >> Properties >> ConnectionString >> Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0

• Ran a repair on both my VS19 and my Office

• Made sure that all my excel files were closed

Current workaround: I've had to save all my excel files to a .xls versions and change the config to 97-2003 in order for my SSIS to register the tables from the workbook. What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something? It was working before and now it's C#$% itself.

Can someone please suggest another solution of why I can't use my excel 2010, 2013 or 2016 version to import my Excel Source to my SSIS environment in VS19 please. Thank you.

So, I basically had to start from scratch. Wipe my laptop and reinstall everything. SSMS, VS all the add-ons, everything. Now it works perfectly, so I think it's either the sequence that I've downloaded things or something that was already in my laptop was stopping the applications from working properly. Gosh that was a nightmare. But my problem is now fixed.