MS Office update 2000 -> 2003 killed Outlook Express
in [Windows XP]
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From: Eddie on 16 Jun 2010 22:46 John H Meyers wrote: > On 6/16/2010 12:12 PM, Don Phillipson wrote: > >> A solution worth trying is System Restore, to turn the >> calendar back to a date prior to the update of MS Office. >> The Office software will remain unchanged, although you >> might lose any Shortcuts/Hotkeys configured since the >> update; WAB (address book) and OE ought by this >> System Restore to be reconfigured as formerly i.e. in >> good working order. > > I was saving System Restore for a "last resort" sort of thing, > but the user having the problem was not so patient, > so we went ahead and did it, without waiting to see > whether a solution exists to fix the OE damage > that had been done by upgrading to Office 2003. > > Outlook Express then functioned again, for sending mail, > but although it did not complain again about its address book (WAB), > we think that there is something still wrong with it (see below). > > Meanwhile, the Office update was undone -- Access was gone, > Word refused to start (would only start an installer, > as it tends to do for new users), and only Excel would open > an existing spreadsheet, with "Help" > "About" identifying it > as being back to the Office 2000 version. > > We downloaded Windows Live Mail and imported everything from OE, > but the address book failed to import. > Every time we tried to force it to import username.wab > the attempt simply immediately returned > to displaying a completely empty "Contacts" window in WLM. > > The purpose of trying to move everything from OE to WLM > is that WLM has its own, completely new storage system, > AFAIAA completely independent of the original OE files (or programs), > so I hope that re-installing Office 2003 might leave WLM unscathed, > even though it had crippled OE the last time. > > This is where we leave things as of today. > > Thanks for trying to help. > --- Just curious; why would you 'update' to 2003? I've heard it's a dog of a program and lacks in many areas. That said, why not simply un-instal 2003 via add/rem and re-instal Office 2000. Ed
From: PA Bear [MS MVP] on 16 Jun 2010 23:00 [Crosspost to OE General, if only for the entertainment value] If someone's using Outlook Express as their default Mail Client, why is Outlook installed? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. Do you have this Registry key?... HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4 .. If not, STOP; If so, is there a DWORD named UseOutlook (NB: no space) and is its value set to 1 (one)? .. If not, STOP; If so, Address Book is configured to share contacts with Outlook, even if you don't use it (can happen with the install of Office). Change the value to 0 (zero), close REGEDIT & reboot: Address Book should be available to you and all should be well. (If that DWORD is not present, don't create it, and don't alter any other DWORD values.) Note that any changes (additions, deletions, edits) made while sharing was enabled will not be available (displayed) in Address Book when sharing is disabled. cf. http://www.insideoe.com/files/wab.htm#share and/or http://support.microsoft.com/kb/191946 -- ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002 John H Meyers wrote: > Someone in my office has just had precisely the same experience > as in the two reports below, where, on XP Pro/SP3, > following an update of MS Office from "2000" to "2003," > Outlook Express is never again functional, > first complaining upon every launch > "Unable to open the Address Book, > The Address book may not be installed properly" > and then also unable to create any outgoing message > (whether new or a reply), always declaring > "There was an error opening this message. An error has occurred." > > The following previous reports of identical incidents > failed to produce any solution for OE, nor have I been able, > after as much searching as I'm capable of imagining to try, > to find any solution mentioned anywhere else. > > Identical previous reports: > > "Install of Office 2003 Pro killed Outlook Express" [Jan. 2004] > http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.office.setup/msg/1dc5f9c6bf0f975a > > "Can't create message in Outlook Express" [Feb. 2006] > (after upgrading MS Office from 2000 to 2003) > http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/55096/ > > Since this problem seems to involve three things: XP, OE, and Office, > should I also try other newsgroups (which?) > > Thanks!
From: Anteaus on 17 Jun 2010 05:46 Outlook 2000 had two modes, Corporate and Internet Only. Corporate was the standard way of working, Internet Only made Outlook take-over the settings of Outlook Express. There was a really nasty gotcha, in that if you uninstalled Outlook 2000, or upgraded to a newer Outlook version whilst in Internet Only mode, it left you with a broken messaging subsystem. Repairing this is difficult, and may involve removing Office 2003, reinstalling Outlook 2000, changing the mode to Corporate, and then reinstalling Office 2003. Or, if this IS you problem it may be easier to start again with a clean slate, at least that way you know you've fixed it.
From: John H Meyers on 17 Jun 2010 12:57 On 6/16/2010 9:46 PM, Eddie wrote: > Just curious; why would you 'update' to 2003? It's what the user's department says is required to use their databases and documents; I am expected to fix the encountered serious side problem (wrecking of OE and loss of ability to send email), rather than to try to talk them out of updating their software, which they will not consider a viable or acceptable response, since lack of ability to use their databases, etc., is just as severe a problem as being unable to use email. Updating OE to WLM is perceived as progress, although the (somewhat late) discovery of an MS KB article, having a potential fix for OE, might have made that unnecessary, had we all been patient enough to wait while researching further. --
From: John H Meyers on 17 Jun 2010 13:26
On 6/17/2010 4:46 AM, Anteaus wrote: > Outlook 2000 had two modes, Corporate and Internet Only. Corporate was the > standard way of working, Internet Only made Outlook take-over the settings of > Outlook Express. > > There was a really nasty gotcha, in that if you uninstalled Outlook 2000, or > upgraded to a newer Outlook version whilst in Internet Only mode, it left you > with a broken messaging subsystem. Repairing this is difficult, and may > involve removing Office 2003, reinstalling Outlook 2000, changing the mode to > Corporate, and then reinstalling Office 2003. Or, if this IS you problem it > may be easier to start again with a clean slate, at least that way you know > you've fixed it. Since we do not use MS Exchange, I believe we are "IMO" mode, whenever anyone uses Outlook, but this particular user was never using Outlook as a client, if that matters. Thanks for your input. -- |