I was working on a PowerPivot application today for my PowerPivot training videos in my SSAS training videos and, for whatever reason, my internet connection happened to be down when I opened it up. Uh-oh – PowerPivot won’t work (by default) unless you are connected to the internet!

tl;dr solution: (1) disable your network card, (2) close Excel 2010, (3) re-open Excel 2010, (4) enable PowerPivot add-in

The Long-Winded Version

It starts like this: Excel takes 60-90 seconds to even load and shows this splash screen:

You then get this message popup:

For easily searching, here is the error text:

Name:
From: file:///C:/Program Files/Microsoft Analysis Services/AS Excel Client/10/Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Modeler.FieldList.vsto

************** Exception Text **************
System.TimeoutException: The deployment manifest could not be downloaded because a connection to the network could not be established. Ensure that you can connect to the network, and try again.
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.GetManifests(TimeSpan timeout)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.Deployment.ClickOnceAddInDeploymentManager.InstallAddIn()

How to enable PowerPivot to work without a network connection

To enable PowerPivot to work without a network connection, follow these steps

1. Disable your network card
2. Close Excel 2010
3. Re-open Excel 2010
4. Enable the PowerPivot add-in by doing this:

Go to File –> Options –> Add-ins –> Manage COM add-ins and check the box next to PowerPivot, then OK, and that’s it!

Tada!