OL2002: Outlook Does Not Obey the Deployed Setting for Instant Messenger Install URL (287891)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
This article was previously published under Q287891

SYMPTOMS

When you verify the option to integrate the MSN Instant Messenger with Outlook 2002 and you click Yes when you receive the installation prompt, the Microsoft Office Web site appears and redirects you to the Microsoft Office update page. After you select a country, you are redirected to the MSN Instant Messenger installation page on the Internet instead of the location specified by the administrator.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because both the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) and the Custom Maintenance Wizard (CMW) create the following key:

HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\InstantMessaging

Value Name: InstallURL
Type: String
Value: The value is the path the administrator specified which is ignored by Outlook.

Outlook 2002 does not verify this key and the key does not work.

If the policy key is present, Outlook 2002 verifies the key and if the key works. The following is the path of the policy key:

HKey_Current_User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\InstantMessaging

Value Name: InstallURL
Type: String
Enter the path of the installation file or Web page for the value.

WORKAROUND

For administrators that want to customize this Uniform Resource Locator (URL), use the following methods to work around this problem.
  • If you use policies in your organization, set the policy (from the Outlook 10 administrator template) and apply it to all the users and computers that you want. This is done separately from the CIW.

    161334 Guide to Windows NT 4.0 Profiles and Policies (Part 1 of 6)

    For more information about group policies in Microsoft Windows 2000, please see the following Microsoft Web site:         Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding the Group Policy Feature Set
  • Note the MSN Instant Messenger installation URL is mentioned on the Change Office User Settings screen of both the CIW and CMW. Unfortunately, it does not work when it is set in those screens. If you do not use policies and you want to customize this setting, mimic the policy by manually writing the registry key in the registry that the policy would normally have been written. Note that if the policy is used at some point in the future, this setting might be removed from the registry. Therefore, when you do turn the policy on, you should customize this setting again at that time. You can include the .reg files in the CIW or CMW packages that add these registry entries when installed. For more information, please view the following Microsoft Web site:

    http://microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/one/depb06.htm#dex81

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/8/2001
Keywords:kbbug KB287891
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.