MS Office update 2000 - 2003 killed Outlook Express

My bad. I read Windows 2000 instead of Office 2000. Sorry about that John

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"John H Meyers" wrote in message
...
On 6/16/2010 3:15 PM, Peter Foldes wrote:

If you think a bit then you would realize that Windows 2000 came with
OE5 and IE5. Of course if you do not know the Update that you are
installing and which you never mentioned then obviously this issue will
happen if you already had OE5 updated to OE6

On 6/16/2010 3:17 PM, Peter Foldes wrote:

Also W2K SP3 changed OE5 to OE6. Which Service Pack is installed


I already identified the system on which this problem occurred
as being XP Pro/SP3; both of the postings to which I referred
were also reporting the same problem on Windows XP,
one on XP Pro and the other on XP Home.

It is MS _Office 2000_ which is being updated to _Office 2003_

_Windows 2000_ has absolutely nothing to do with this case.


Why, by the way, would updating to _Office 2003_
"obviously" wreck OE6, since "Outlook Express" and "Outlook"
are supposedly completely independent programs?

It is indeed OE6 which has been wrecked, but neither the cause
nor the solution are yet apparent -- an upgrade to _Office 2003_
has managed to do some damage, and the reports already found seem to suggest
that this must be a known issue, unlikely to have affected only three people
who have ever updated Office 2000 to Office 2003 on Windows XP.

Thank you for trying to help.

--

My bad. I read Windows 2000 instead of Office 2000. Sorry about that John

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"John H Meyers" wrote in message
...
On 6/16/2010 3:15 PM, Peter Foldes wrote:

If you think a bit then you would realize that Windows 2000 came with
OE5 and IE5. Of course if you do not know the Update that you are
installing and which you never mentioned then obviously this issue will
happen if you already had OE5 updated to OE6

On 6/16/2010 3:17 PM, Peter Foldes wrote:

Also W2K SP3 changed OE5 to OE6. Which Service Pack is installed


I already identified the system on which this problem occurred
as being XP Pro/SP3; both of the postings to which I referred
were also reporting the same problem on Windows XP,
one on XP Pro and the other on XP Home.

It is MS _Office 2000_ which is being updated to _Office 2003_

_Windows 2000_ has absolutely nothing to do with this case.


Why, by the way, would updating to _Office 2003_
"obviously" wreck OE6, since "Outlook Express" and "Outlook"
are supposedly completely independent programs?

It is indeed OE6 which has been wrecked, but neither the cause
nor the solution are yet apparent -- an upgrade to _Office 2003_
has managed to do some damage, and the reports already found seem to suggest
that this must be a known issue, unlikely to have affected only three people
who have ever updated Office 2000 to Office 2003 on Windows XP.

Thank you for trying to help.

--

On 6/16/2010 11:28 AM, I 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/micro...c5f9c6bf0f975a

"Can't create message in Outlook Express" [Feb. 2006]
(after upgrading MS Office from 2000 to 2003)
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/55096/


Now here's a curious coincidence:

Quoting http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917288

Error message when you open the Windows Address Book or you open Outlook Express
after you install cumulative security update 911567 (MS06-016)

After you install cumulative security update 911567 for Outlook Express
that is described in security bulletin MS06-016,
you may experience the following symptoms when you try
to open Outlook Express or the Windows Address Book:

You may receive an error message that resembles the following:

'unable to open address book. Address book may not be installed correctly'

When you open Outlook Express, you may be able to receive e-mail,
but you cannot send e-mail or reply to e-mail.

[End quote]


Why, those are _exactly_ the same symptoms as in the problem
which we have just experienced, and others have reported in the past.

Could it be that the Office 2003 update happened to include
essentially the same update as the above-referenced "security update"?

The symptom is said to be potentially due to a previously undetected
address book corruption, which the "security update" subsequently detects;
might this be why Windows Live Mail also refuses to import the original address book?


--

On 6/16/2010 11:28 AM, I 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/micro...c5f9c6bf0f975a

"Can't create message in Outlook Express" [Feb. 2006]
(after upgrading MS Office from 2000 to 2003)
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/55096/


Now here's a curious coincidence:

Quoting http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917288

Error message when you open the Windows Address Book or you open Outlook Express
after you install cumulative security update 911567 (MS06-016)

After you install cumulative security update 911567 for Outlook Express
that is described in security bulletin MS06-016,
you may experience the following symptoms when you try
to open Outlook Express or the Windows Address Book:

You may receive an error message that resembles the following:

'unable to open address book. Address book may not be installed correctly'

When you open Outlook Express, you may be able to receive e-mail,
but you cannot send e-mail or reply to e-mail.

[End quote]


Why, those are _exactly_ the same symptoms as in the problem
which we have just experienced, and others have reported in the past.

Could it be that the Office 2003 update happened to include
essentially the same update as the above-referenced "security update"?

The symptom is said to be potentially due to a previously undetected
address book corruption, which the "security update" subsequently detects;
might this be why Windows Live Mail also refuses to import the original address book?


--

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

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

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.

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.

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.

--

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.

--

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.

--

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.

--

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.

--

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.

--

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.

--