OL2002: You Receive an Error Message About a Recently Installed Program When You Start Outlook 2002 (287570)

SYMPTOMS

When you start Outlook, you may receive the following error message:

A recently installed program may cause Microsoft Office or other e-mail-enabled programs to function improperly. Outlook can resolve this conflict without affecting the program that originally caused the problem. Do you want Outlook to resolve this problem?

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if there is a file conflict with the Mail Application Program Interface (MAPI) core file on your computer. The file in conflict is the Mapi32.dll file, which is in the following location on Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me):

C:\Windows\System

On Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Microsoft Windows 2000, the Mapi32.dll file is at the following location:

C:\Windows\System32

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, click either Yes or No in the error message.

Scenario 1

If you click Yes in the error message, the Fixmapi.exe utility starts and tries to fix the MAPI file conflict by installing the correct version.

If a currently running program is using the Mapi32.dll file, the Fixmapi.exe utility may not fix the file conflict. In this case, the following dialog box is displayed:

Outlook was unable to resolve the conflict between a recently installed program and Microsoft Office or other e-mail-enabled programs. Outlook needs to modify a system component that another program is currently using. To fix this problem, please restart Windows.

If you click OK, Microsoft Windows does not restart. However, an entry for the Fixmapi.exe utility is placed in the RunOnce registry key. When you restart Windows, the Fixmapi.exe utility tries to correct the Mapi32.dll file conflict.

Scenario 2

If you click No in the error message, a change is not made to the core MAPI file. Because Outlook uses the Mapi32.dll file in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\SYSTEM\Mapi\1033 file, clicking No does not affect the operation of the program.

NOTE: You may have to quit all programs, run the Fixmapi.exe utility by itself, shut down your computer completely, and then restart it.

WORKAROUND

If the Fixmapi.exe utility does not work, follow these steps:

Quit all programs.
Rename the Mapi32.dll file in C:\Windows\System (on Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, rename the file in C:\<windir>\system32) to Mapi32.old.
Locate the Fixmapi.exe file in C:\Windows\System, and then double-click Fixmapi.exe to run the program.
Restart your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

The Microsoft Windows Messaging Subsystem (WMS) installs the core MAPI files in the C:\Windows\System folder, and earlier versions of Outlook access the files from that location. In Outlook 2002, the key MAPI files are stored in a common location.

Simple MAPI programs, such as Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape, and other third-party programs install and access the Mapi32.dll file from C:\Windows\System(32). Programs that support simple MAPI allow you to send documents by clicking Send To on the File menu.

NOTE: This behavior may affect applications such as the Exchange System Manager, even if the Exchange Server is not on the same computer as the Exchange System Manager. The problem will occur after you run FixMAPI. If you elect to replace the MAPI file with the Outlook MAPI file, ESM may not work anymore. Additionally, if you choose not to replace the file, Outlook may not work properly. This error occurs each time you start Outlook until you replace the file with the Outlook MAPI file, thereby breaking the ESM. This is why Microsoft recommends that you do not have Outlook 2000 or earlier on the same computer as the ESM or Exchange server. To avoid this scenario, use Outlook Web Access or a Terminal Server session to access e-mail.