Re: MS Office update 2000 -> 2003 killed Outlook Express

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

[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!

[Anteaus]

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.

[John H Meyers]

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.

--

[John H Meyers]

On 6/16/2010 10:00 PM, PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:

[registry details concerning this problem]

> If someone's using Outlook Express as their default Mail Client,
> why is Outlook installed?

Someone else had already installed all of Office 2003;
I am called in only to fix things after they break,
such as this case of broken OE, which this user
had always been accustomed (or had been instructed) to use,
or had simply inherited from some predecessor in his job.

Thank you for your always detailed, knowledgeable, and helpful info.

--

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

1. If OL's no longer used (including Outlook's Calendaring function), Remove
OL from the install of Office.

2. Adjust/correct the Registry as needed per my previous reply.

3. Now configure Automatic Updates to the Notify Only setting then never
Approve the install of an OL update; cf.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525.

If another OL 2003 update is installed, chances are the "sharing" option in
the Registry will appear again. This does not happen if Office/Outlook 2007
or 2010 is installed.

[Thank you for your kind words.]
--
~PA Bear

John H Meyers wrote:
> Someone else had already installed all of Office 2003;
> I am called in only to fix things after they break,
> such as this case of broken OE, which this user
> had always been accustomed (or had been instructed) to use,
> or had simply inherited from some predecessor in his job.
>
> Thank you for your always detailed, knowledgeable, and helpful info.

<PASTE>

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:

> [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
>

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

YW. (Why did you remove the crosspost to OE General in your reply?)

John H Meyers wrote:

> On 6/17/2010 1:18 PM, PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
>
>> 1. If OL's no longer used (including Outlook's Calendaring function),
>> Remove OL from the install of Office.
>>
>> 2. Adjust/correct the Registry as needed per my previous reply.
>>
>> 3. Now configure Automatic Updates to the Notify Only setting then never
>> Approve the install of an OL update; cf.
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306525.
>>
>> If another OL 2003 update is installed, chances are the "sharing" option
>> in the Registry will appear again. This does not happen if
>> Office/Outlook 2007 or 2010 is installed.
>

> Thanks for the additional info.