MS Office update 2000 -> 2003 killed Outlook Express

[John H Meyers]

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!

--

 

[Bickford Schmeckler]

Wow..posts from 2004 and 2006.
"John H Meyers" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C18FB94.2040208@nomail.invalid...
: 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!
:
: --

 

[John H Meyers]

On 6/16/2010 12:58 PM:

> Wow..posts from 2004 and 2006.

Office 2003 has evidently not reformed itself
to stop causing the same trouble as always.

Now, do you have any useful information?

--

 

[Don Phillipson]

"John H Meyers" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C18FB94.2040208@nomail.invalid...

> 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

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.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[Peter Foldes]

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

--
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" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C1924DE.1010907@nomail.invalid...
> On 6/16/2010 12:58 PM:
>
>> Wow..posts from 2004 and 2006.
>
> Office 2003 has evidently not reformed itself
> to stop causing the same trouble as always.
>
> Now, do you have any useful information?
>
> --

 

[Peter Foldes]

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

--
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" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C18FB94.2040208@nomail.invalid...
> 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!
>
> --

 

[John H Meyers]

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.

--

 

[Peter Foldes]

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" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C193AA5.1030809@nomail.invalid...
> 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.
>
> --

 

[John H Meyers]

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 (WA,
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.

--

 

[John H Meyers]

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/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/


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?


--

 

[Eddie]

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 (WA,
> 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

 

[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]

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.

--

 

[John H Meyers]

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.

--

 

[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
>
> 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!

 

[John H Meyers]

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.

--

 

[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.

 

[- Bobb -]

If resolved - nevermind, but just saw this thread among my 1100 unreads and
didn't read every message in ths thread. If NOT resolved:

The FIRST part of your description" someone in my office ...following an
update of MS Office from "2000" to "2003".

Did you ask IT, or whoever did the Office 2003 tinkering ?
So this was a server/client setup ? A company you work for ?
Sent out a CD for you to install ?
DOES Outlook 2003 work ok ?
Was it meant for OE ? Or did they assume ( as most biz would) that you were
using Outlook ( not Express version).
If so, I assume their script set Outlook to be the default and during the
install, IF it was set to recognize OE at all, it would have migrated the
data into Outlook and then made Outlook the default. That IS after after all
why the update was mandatory. Right ?

I've had issues in the past ( Office2000-2003 time frame), where remote
sales folks ( who were assumed to be running Outlook from our server) would
boot their PC offline, then connect ,fetch their email and disconnect (
booted into cached-mode, never actually logging onto the main server.). We
got calls from some of those sales folks because WHEN /IF they logged on to
main server, some settings WOULD have been changed allowing their mail to
then work properly ( repointed folders etc). As long as they did not log
onto domain - no change. And OE can't log onto domain.

Go to Control Panel - Mail - and check settings - let us know here.
Is it outlook - where are the files stored etc, compare to where OE THINKS
the files are, etc

Google - lots of good help for OE migration

"John H Meyers" <jhmeyers@nomail.invalid> wrote in message
news:4C196FC9.6040003@nomail.invalid...
> 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/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/
>
>
> 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?
>
>
> --