[Fixed!] Runtime Error 438 in Excel VBA (5 Solutions)

Reason 1 – Incorrect Workbook Reference

The following code has an incorrect workbook reference. Running this code will give runtime error 438.
VBA Code with Incorrect Workbook Reference which results in runtime error 438 in excel To understand the defective code, enter the following code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub incorrect_workbook_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba").Select
    Incident = Range("D5")
    Location = Range("C5")
    People = Range("E5")  
    MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
End Sub

The code shows a runtime error 438 because the Set statement is not used correctly to assign a reference to the workbook object, which causes the object variable to be empty and unable to perform subsequent actions on it.

Runtime Error 438 in Excel VBA

Solution: Correct Workbook Reference

Modify the previous code to eliminate runtime error 438. Enter the modified code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button:

Sub correct_workbook_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Incident = Range("D5")
    Location = Range("C5")
    People = Range("E5")
    MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
End Sub

VBA Breakdown:

Sub correct_workbook_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")

This VBA code defines three variables: Incident, Location, and People. It then sets a Workbook object variable wb to refer to a workbook named runtime error 438 excel vba, which is selected using the Workbooks method.

Incident = Range("D5")
Location = Range("C5")
People = Range("E5")

The code then assigns the values of cells D5, C5, and E5 to the variables Incident, Location, and People, respectively.

MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
End Sub

Finally, a MsgBox is displayed showing the concatenation of the three variables in a sentence.

In this modified code, the Set statement has been used to correctly assign the reference to the workbook object named runtime error 438 excel vba.

Output MsgBox with Corrected Workbook Reference

Reason 2 – Invalid Worksheet Reference

The following code has an invalid worksheet reference. Running this code will display runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Invalid Worksheet Reference which results in runtime error 438 in Excel

To understand the defective code, enter the following code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button:

Sub invalid_worksheet_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    Incident = Range("D6")
    Location = Range("C6")
    People = Range("E6")
    If ws = "run_time_error" Then  
        MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
    End If
End Sub

This code shows runtime error 438 because ws is a worksheet variable that stores the worksheet and “run_time_error” is just a string. So, they are not comparable.

Runtime Error 438

Solution: Insert Valid Worksheet Reference

Modify the code to eliminate runtime error 438.

Enter the modified code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub valid_worksheet_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    Incident = Range("D6")
    Location = Range("C6")
    People = Range("E6")
    If ws.Name = "run_time_error" Then
        MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
    End If
End Sub

VBA Breakdown:

Sub valid_worksheet_reference()
    Dim Incident, Location As String
    Dim People As Integer
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")

This VBA code defines three variables: Incident, Location, and People. It then sets a Worksheet object variable, ws that refer to a worksheet named run_time_error within the active workbook, using the ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets method.

Incident = Range("D6")
Location = Range("C6")
People = Range("E6")

The code then assigns the values of cells D6, C6, and E6 to the variables Incident, Location, and People, respectively.

If ws.Name = "run_time_error" Then   
        MsgBox "The " & Incident & " in " & Location & " killed " & People & " people"
 End If
End Sub

The code checks if the worksheet variable ws refers to a worksheet named “run_time_error” using an If statement. It then shows a MsgBox.

In this modified code to fix the error, ws.Name has been used to check the name of the worksheet object with a string, “run_time_error”. The Name property returns a string, so both sides of the If statement have the same data type. So, no error occurred this time.

Output MsgBox with Valid Worksheet Reference

Reason 3 – Incorrect Range Object Reference

The following code has an incorrect range object reference. Running this code will display runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Incorrect Range Reference which results in runtime error 438 in excel

To understand the defective code, enter the following code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub incorrect_range_reference() 
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    Dim myRng As Range
    Set myRng = wb.Range("B4:E14")
    myRng.Select
End Sub

The code shows a runtime error 438 because the Range object belongs directly to the worksheet, ws, not to the workbook, wb.

Runtime Error 438

Solution: Insert Correct Range Object Reference

Modify the code to eliminate runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Corrected Range Reference

Enter the modified code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub correct_range_reference() 
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    Dim myRng As Range
    Set myRng = ws.Range("B4:E14")
    myRng.Select
End Sub

VBA Breakdown:

Sub correct_range_reference()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets("run_time_error")

This VBA code sets a Workbook object variable wb to refer to a workbook named runtime error 438 excel vba, using the Workbooks method. It then sets a Worksheet object variable ws to refer to a worksheet named run_time_error within the workbook wb, using the Worksheets method.

Dim myRng As Range
Set myRng = ws.Range("B4:E14") 
myRng.Select
End Sub

The code defines a Range object variable myRng to refer to cells B4:E14 of the worksheet, ws, using the Range method.

To fix the error, the modified code uses the ws worksheet object instead of the wb workbook object to set the myRng range. It selects the myRng range using the Select method.

Selected Dataset with Corrected Range Reference

Reason 4 – Wrong Property of an Object

The following code includes the wrong property of an object. Running this code will display runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Wrong Property of an Object

To understand the defective code, enter the following code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub wrong_property()
    Dim summa As Integer
    summa = 0
    Dim values As Range
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets(1)  
    Set values = ws.Range("E5:E14").values  
    For i = 1 To values.Cells.Count
        summa = summa + values.Cells(i)
    Next i 
    MsgBox "The total number of people died : " & summa
End Sub

It shows a runtime error 438 because .values property can’t be used in a Set statement. There is no such property.

Runtime Error 438

Solution: Remove the Wrong Property of an Object

Modify the code to eliminate runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Correct Property of an Object

Enter the modified code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub wrong_property_fixed()
    Dim summa As Integer
    summa = 0
    Dim values As Range
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets(1)
    Set values = ws.Range("E5:E14")    
    For i = 1 To values.Cells.Count
        summa = summa + values.Cells(i)
    Next i
    MsgBox "The total number of people died : " & summa
End Sub

VBA Breakdown:

Sub wrong_property_fixed()   
    Dim summa As Integer
    summa = 0
    Dim values As Range
    Dim wb As Workbook
    Set wb = Workbooks("runtime error 438 excel vba")
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = wb.Worksheets(1)

This VBA code defines a variable summa as an integer and initializes it to zero. It then defines a Range object variable values and a Worksheet object variable ws. The code sets ws to refer to the first worksheet in the workbook runtime error 438 excel vba using the Worksheets method.

Set values = ws.Range("E5:E14")  
    For i = 1 To values.Cells.Count
        summa = summa + values.Cells(i)
    Next i  
    MsgBox "The total number of people died : " & summa
End Sub

These lines set values to refer to the values of cells E5:E14 in the worksheet, ws. The code used a For Loop to sum up the values in the values range and finally got the summation of the numbers in an output MsgBox.

To fix the error, we removed the .values property and set the range of values to the desired range.

Output MsgBox with Correct Property of an Object

Reason 5 – Missing Property of an Object

The following code has an object whose property is missing. Running the code, will display runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Missing Property of an Object

To understand the defective code, enter the following code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub missing_property()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    If ws(1, 1) = "" Then
        MsgBox "No Error"
    End If  
End Sub

The code tries to access the cell value using the Worksheet object variable, ws like an array, which shows a runtime error 438. So, a property of the Worksheet object seems to be missing here.

Runtime Error 438

Solution: Add Property of an Object

Modify the code to eliminate runtime error 438.

VBA Code with Property of an Object

Enter the modified code in your VBA Editor and press the Run button or F5 key to run the code:

Sub missing_property_fixed()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")
    If ws.Cells(1, 1) = "" Then
        MsgBox "No Error"
    End If
End Sub

VBA Breakdown:

Sub missing_property_fixed()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Set ws = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("run_time_error")

This VBA code sets a Worksheet object variable, ws, to refer to a worksheet named run_time_error within the active workbook using the ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets method.

If ws.Cells(1, 1) = "" Then
       MsgBox "No Error"
 End If    
End Sub

The code checks if the value of the cell at the first row and first column of the ws worksheet is an empty string using an If statement. If the cell is empty, the code returns a MsgBox.

To fix the error, the code needs to use the Range or Cells method to refer to a specific cell or range of cells, like ws.Cells(1,1) or ws.Range(“A1”), instead of trying to access a cell without proper indexing.

Output MsgBox with Property of an Object