Upgrade to Outlook 2003 while Outlook is running

[A. Wright]

We are currently setting up a administrative installation point with a
custom transform file to deploy Outlook 2003 to our users. Right now we're
doing it manually to test it, but eventually we want to deploy it to
everyone via SMS. The problem is that it will upgrade to Outlook 2003 even
while the old version of Outlook is running. This messes up several custom
things we are trying to make work. I assumed the upgrade process would
detect if Outlook was already running and prompt the users to close it, but
it hasn't in the several times I've tested it.

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to fix this?
Thanks for your time!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Why not deploy it to install it on startup instead? This is less troublesome
to the end-user as well; they just get an extra coffee when booting the
computer.

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[A. Wright]

Yes, that probably would be a better way to go. I think we will do that
when the time comes to deploy it. But I am more worried that Outlook 2003
will install even when Outlook 2002 is running, especially when I've
configured the transform to remove all previous versions of Outlook.
Especially given that I know there is a tendency for users to be impatient
in the company I work for. I wouldn't put it past a number of them to start
Outlook even while an upgrade was in progress, not only because they are
impatient, but also because they don't realize the harm in running Outlook
at the same time it is being upgraded.

Is there any way to make sure Outlook is closed when it's being upgraded?
Thanks!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

If you deploy it on Startup (not Logon) people won't be able to logon before
the computer is finished installing. This will eliminate the possiblility
that Outlook is running.

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[A. Wright]

That does make more sense. Thanks, sorry for the confusion.

Another question though, is this a feature of SMS 2003? We won't be able to
upgrade to that for at least a few months. Until then we just have SMS 2.0.
And I'm looking in the Advertisement Properties, and under the Schedule tab
in the Mandatory Assignments section, and my only options are to assign it
at a particular date and time, or "Immediately after this event". And in
that drop down menu, my only choices are "As soon as possible", at logon, or
at logoff Is "At Startup" a feature of 2003 that 2.0 doesn't have?

Thanks a lot for your help!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You're welcome!

I haven't used SMS that much to know/remember. I use Group Policy for the
deployment of software myself. Assign the package to a computer policy and
it will be installed after the OS has booted but before the CTRL+ALT+DEL
screen will be displayed. During install the user will see a screen that
Office is being installed.

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[Guest]

I have tested the install while Outlook 2000 is running. I didnt have any issue.
The user did have to close Outlook at the end of the install to see the new version but everything worked fine
Installing during startup would cause too much grief in our environment..Start up time would be 10 minutes.

 

[A. Wright]

Yes, Outlook itself upgrades fine, even if outlook.exe is running. The
problem we have is with Cisco's Viewmail. It needs to be reinstalled with
Outlook, otherwise there are plugin errors when it starts. We also need to
add some custom registry entries to disable some annoying Viewmail .wav
files that are played when emails arrive that are marked "important". We
also have a batch file that runs that moves the user's .ost file to a
backup. This fixes a problem when Outlook tried to convert the .ost file to
unicode format, and the users were prompted that they couldn't overwrite the
existing the .ost file. And last, a registry entry is added to disable the
Outlook 2003 Welcome email, which we feel is just unnessary. All three of
these things do not happen if the outlook.exe process is running.

Right now we've thrown something together that closes Outlook. It's a combo
of Perl for MSDOS, and pslist.exe / pskill.exe from Sysinternals. Not
ideal, but it's what we've come up with. I still can't believe that MS
wouldn't check to see if Outlook was running or not when it was being
upgraded.

Aaron

I have tested the install while Outlook 2000 is running. I didnt have any issue.
The user did have to close Outlook at the end of the install to see the

new version but everything worked fine.

Installing during startup would cause too much grief in our

environment..Start up time would be 10 minutes..

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Or with a WMI script;

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = 'outlook.exe'")
For Each objProcess in colProcessList
objProcess.Terminate()
Next

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-----

 

[A. Wright]

I finally figured out that the upgrade *does* check to see if Outlook is
running. The prompt just wasn't being displayed because I specified /qb-
when I ran setup.exe. But thanks to everyone for the discussion!

Only problem now is that there is still an "Ignore" button when the user is
prompted that Outlook is running and needs to be closed. I need to figure
out how to disable that ignore button, but I'll start a new post for that.

Thanks Again!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You can use the /qb+! switch to hide the cancel button but to display the
progress indicators and completion dialog.

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-----

 

[A. Wright]

Impressive WMI script!

I have NOCANCEL=1 set in my transform file. What I'm looking for is a way
to disable the *Ignore* button, but I'm not finding any NOIGNORE option
Do you know of a way to do this?

Thanks!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

When does this happen and where is it coming from? Is it the message from
Windows XP when an applications hangs? If so you should think about the
script I gave you. It just kills all the outlook.exe processes without any
message.

--
Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
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Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
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[A. Wright]

The message comes up as Outlook is getting ready to upgrade. I have an
administrative installation point set up with a custom transform file. I run
"setup.exe /settings outlook.ini transforms=outlook2003.mst /qb" It
displays some progress bars saying that Office is configuring and getting
ready to install. Then a box pops up that says "The following applications
should be closed before continuing the install", and it lists "Inbox -
Microsoft Outlook". And this is exactly what I want. Only problem is that
the user is given 3 choices, Cancel, Retry, or Ignore. I want to get rid of
that Ignore option because I know we have users that will choose it and mess
up their Outlook upgrade.

Does that make more sense? Sorry I wasn't clear before.
Thanks!
Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Makes more sense indeed but I don't know how you can disable that other that
deploy on startup what I told you before. This is the recommended way to go
to make sure all registry entries are being set correctly for all users that
will ever use the workstation.

--
Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
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Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
-Save Embedded Pictures in Their Original Format
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[A. Wright]

The more I get into this, the more I think you are right. I tested
deploying it via SMS and it messed a lot of other things up. I think we'll
be going with the group policy. Thanks a lot for your tips!

Aaron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You're welcome!
Let me know if you get stuck somewhere.

--
Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office related News
Also Outlook FAQ, How To's, Downloads and more...

Tips of the month:
-Save Embedded Pictures in Their Original Format
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3