Since March 2008 there has been a ‘hotfixes’ for a problem in Outlook 2007 when you create a new profile. That interim hotfix has now been replaced with a permanent and fully tested fix – but before you rush to download the chances are good you already have the fix.
Since March 2008 there has been a ‘hotfixes’ for a problem in Outlook 2007 when you create a new profile. That interim hotfix has now been replaced with a permanent and fully tested fix – but before you rush to download the chances are good you already have the fix.
The problem
The bug can happen when you create a new profile in Outlook 2007. The wizard closes prematurely but if you try to make a new message you are told a dialog box is still open.
Because Outlook thinks a dialog box is open, many other actions aren’t available including closing Outlook altogether. Instead, you have to manually close outlook.exe from the Windows task manager.
The conflicting patches
Microsoft has released a patch for this problem in KB 952142 but notes that this new patch isn’t necessary if you’ve already installed an update from early June .
At the time Microsoft said the KB 950219 update related to Outlook and IMAP and Internet Calendar features. Now it appears there was much more to that update than Microsoft disclosed at the time. The KB article has been revised and now has a list of over 10 hotfixes that were bundled into the early June update.
The ‘new’ update KB 952142 isn’t necessary if you installed the KB 950219 update. In fact KB 952142 won’t install if the other patch is already in place.
Talk about messy – we now have two separate paths of Outlook updating. Installations with the KB950219 patch and those with KB952142 . It’s not at all clear why Microsoft has done this because it would seem to create more problems and confusion.
Which one to choose?
We’re inclined to suggest applying the earlier KB950219 patch because it includes a fix for the ‘new profiles’ issue.
The only issue we can see with KB950219 relates to the undisclosed IMAP updates in that patch. Microsoft hasn’t documented the IMAP related changes – at the time we described it as a ‘mystery update‘ saying “With the lack of proper documentation or explanation it’s impossible for any customer to make an informed decision about whether to install the update.”.
However most people will get the newer KB952142 patch which is being pushed out to Office 2007 users via Microsoft Update.
