I want to get or create a referenced instance of all other versions of Excel
that might exist, besides the current running version.

Set xl = CreateObject("Excel.Application.8")

The above picks up the default version, not necessarily XL97.

I can get full path's to Excel.exe versions by reading the registry from
....Office\version\Excel\InstallRoot\
but following fails entirely (even if an instance of the version in sPath is
running).

Set xl = Getobject(sPath & "Excel.exe")

Any ideas appreciated,
Peter T

PS, this question has been asked before but not answered, at least not that
I've been able to find.