using XLSread on virtual machine

I am using a virtual Windows 10 Machine (accessing through windows RDC) and am having trouble executing the xlsread function.

I have copied and pasted a working version of the excel spreadsheet to the VM, and have ensured that I can open and edit it (no issues with Excel that I can identify). When running xlsread (i have run the script which contains this line countless times on my physical machine with no error) I receive the following

error:Error using xlsread (line 260)
Excel Worksheet could not be activated.

Running xlsfinfo I get:

ans =

    0×0 empty char array

Does anyone have an idea of what might be causing this, and how to fix it? Thanks in advance

[Harsh]

This post might be helpful: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/305976-error-using-xlsread-line-249-excel-worksheet-could-not-be-activated

You can also consider using 'xlsread' in 'basic' mode.