Archive for the ‘Office’ Category

Outlook Message Body Blank

Suddenly many users alerting that the message body of their e-mails, using Outlook desktop app, are blank. Also they cannot type in the body of a new e-mail or reply. Microsoft has released the following statements:

Latest message, May 11, 2021 7:24 PMView historyTitle: Issue affecting viewing email content in Outlook User Impact: Users may be unable to view email message content within Outlook. More info: Impact is specific to the Outlook client and users with access to other protocols, such as Outlook on the web or the Outlook mobile app, can view message content in those platforms as a potential workaround while our fix is applied. Current status: We’ve identified the underlying cause of impact and are applying a fix. This fix will reach all affected users incrementally over the course of the next four-to-five hours. Once users receive the fix, they will need to restart their email client to apply the fix. In some circumstances, users may need to restart their client a second time for the changes to take effect. We expect to complete this process and restore service for all affected users by May 12, 2021, at 3:00 AM UTC. We encourage affected users who are able to do so to leverage the workarounds described above in the “more info” section of this post while we complete the process of fixing this problem. Scope of impact: This issue could affect any user attempting to view an email message in the Outlook client. Root cause: A recent change to systems that facilitate text display management for content within the Outlook client caused impact. Next update by: Wednesday, May 12, 2021, 12:00 AM (3:00 AM UTC)

“May 11, 2021 6:19 PMView historyTitle: Issue affecting viewing email content in Outlook User Impact: Users may be unable to view email message content within Outlook. More info: Initial reports indicate that impact is specific to the Outlook client and users with access to other protocols, such as Outlook on the web or the Outlook mobile app, can view message content in those platforms as a potential workaround. Current status: We’re continuing to analyze recent updates to the environment and the associated code as we work to isolate the cause of impact. Our efforts are focused on determining the most expedient means of remediating this issue. Scope of impact: This issue could affect any user attempting to view an email message in the Outlook client. Next update by: Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 7:30 PM (10:30 PM UTC)“

“May 11, 2021 5:28 PMView historyTitle: Issue affecting viewing email content in Outlook User Impact: Users may be unable to view email message content within Outlook. More info: Initial reports indicate that Outlook on the web is unaffected and users with access to Outlook on the web can view email messages there while we work on a solution. Current status: We’re gathering and analyzing data in an effort to isolate the cause of impact. Initial reports indicate that impact is specific to the Outlook client and users with access to other protocols, such as Outlook on the web or the Outlook mobile app, can view message content in those platforms as a potential workaround. Scope of impact: This issue could affect any user attempting to view an email message in the Outlook client. Next update by: Tuesday, May 11, 2021, 6:30 PM (9:30 PM UTC)”

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Category:

E-mail, Exchange, Office, Outlook, Troubleshooting, Uncategorized

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Printing issues after KB5000808 & KB5000802

Today started, after patch Tuesday, with many machines crashing when one tried to print resulting in the standard “Your PC ran into a problem….” with a Stop Code: APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error, due to win32kfull.sys

UPDATE: Microsoft released updates today, March 16/21 to resolve the problem but you must manually download and install:

Windows 10 emergency updates released to fix printing crashes (bleepingcomputer.com)

UPDATE 2: It seems the first patch further broke some printers resulting in blank pages or missng content. Another ‘out-of-band’ update was released the 18th.

Windows message center | Microsoft Docs

UPDATE 3: Microsoft halts the rollout for the “emergency” patch for the patch for the patch Tuesday update 😦

Microsoft halts rollout of Windows 10 KB5001649 emergency update (bleepingcomputer.com)

With my clients this seemed to happen with any Office or Windows app, even notepad. However Adobe seemed to be OK and oddly if you just right click on any file and choose print, without opening it, it seemed to be OK as well. Many report updating the printer drivers solved the problem, but doing so in my cases “Windows encountered an error”. Uninstalling the printer and reinstalling with the latest drivers did resolve the problem. Also it seems not all printers are problematic. On one system which had multiple printers, the error occurred when printing to any printer, but just reinstalling the Ricoh C2504 printer eliminated the problem for all printers. Google shows Ricoh and Kyocera printers seem to be the most problematic.

Category:

Office, Troubleshooting, Uncategorized, Windows 10

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OneDrive & administrator rights

On a couple of occasions I have run into the following error/message and I see many others have done so based on dozens of posts:

OneDrive can’t be run using full administrator rights.

In my case both machines had been upgraded from Windows 7 with the problem being one is unable to set up OneDrive app and sync locally with Windows Explorer.

The issue is exactly as described by the error. To resolve: Locate OneDrive.exe, the default location is C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive then right click on it, choose properties, and under the Compatibility tab uncheck “Run this program as an administrator”

Category:

Office, Uncategorized, Windows 10

Install Office on Remote Desktop Server

You cannot install a standard version of Office on an RDS server.  Prior to Office 365 you had to buy Enterprise licenses for each user which are quite expensive.  I understand Enterprise licenses are still available and I assume they will still work but you may already have a suitable Office 365 subscription, or you can upgrade to one that will.   Your Microsoft 365 license must include Office Pro Plus, a Business Standard license will not work.  There is an Office Pro Plus license or an E3 or higher license includes Office Pro Plus.  With Office/Microsoft 365 you can use your current licenses but have to download a special installation version and jump through a few hoops.  This method is supported by Microsoft.

(Oct 2020 update: Microsoft has changed the naming of it’s Office 365 subscriptions to new Microsoft 365 names. I believe the minimum license level now is Microsoft 365 Business Premium but be sure to confirm with your vendor. The following is a Sept 2020 article referencing the install with the new licenses https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/deploy-microsoft-365-apps-remote-desktop-services#:~:text=If%20you%20use%20Remote%20Desktop%20Services%20%28RDS%29%20to,installation.%20The%20following%20are%20two%20common%20RDS%20scenarios%3A )

Note: when installing apps on terminal servers in the past you had to put the server in “Install mode” by running from an elevated command prompt 

  •    Change User /Install
  • and to exit Install mode run
  •    Change User /Execute

Though this is still recommended, I tried it without doing so and it worked, but make sure you are an administrator of the machine (local or domain) and all other users are logged out. I recommend a clean reboot before starting.

Create a shared folder such as \\RDS\O365 pointing to C:\Temp\O365  

Download the Office deployment tool from the link below and extract to your shared folder  \\RDS\O365

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36778

Create an .xml configuration file for the download and save to the same folder. I named DownloadConfig.xml 

<Configuration> 
  <Add SourcePath="\\RDS\O365" OfficeClientEdition="64"> 
   <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail" > 
     <Language ID="en-us" />      
   </Product> 
   </Add> 
</Configuration>

Download the custom version of Office.  To do so open an elevated command prompt, change to the directory containing the .xml file  C:\Temp\O365\MayBeSubfolder and run the following command.

setup.exe /download DownloadConfig.xml

This may seem like it hangs, but wait.  I believe it took about 15 minutes with my connection.

Create another .xml configuration file for installation and save again to the same folder. I named InstallConfig.xml

<Configuration>
  <Add SourcePath="\\RDS\O365"
       OfficeClientEdition="64" 
       Channel="Monthly">
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
  <Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="True" /> 
  <Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="1" />
  <Logging Level="Standard" Path="C:\Temp" />
</Configuration>

Deploy Office using:  \\RDS\O365\setup.exe /configure  \\RDS\O365\InstallConfig.xml

Note: you must use the full path

Again it may appear to hang, but be patient

If you ran Change User /Install before starting, run Change User /Execute

Microsoft has more detailed information and options to customize the xml files at:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/deploy-microsoft-365-apps-remote-desktop-services

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/office2019/deploy

Category:

Office, Outlook, Server 2019, TS/RDS, Uncategorized

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Microsoft 365, Outlook, & MFA

When you enable multifactor authentication in Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) with an existing tenant, Outlook starts asking for a password and will not accept your current Microsoft 365 password.  You then need to use app passwords for Outlook, rather than standard MFA with your password and a second option such as the Microsoft Authentication app, Txt, E-mail, or call.  Those options work fine with access to Web and other Office Apps but not Outlook. See the following link to manage App Passwords; https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/user-help/multi-factor-authentication-end-user-app-passwords#:~:text=To%20create%20app%20passwords%20using%20the%20Office%20365,password%2C%20and%20then%20select%20Next.%20More%20items…%20

You can however enable standard MFA methods for Outlook using powershell.  The credit for most of the instructions below goes to; https://www.petri.com/enable-modern-authentication-exchange-online

Instructions to enable MFA with Exchange On-line (paraphrased)

When asked for credentials, you need to use an O365 admin account that does not have MFA enabled.  I create one without an Office license just for this.

I use the PowerShell ISE but I suspect standard PowerShell run as admin will work as well

Connect to an Exchange PowerShell session by running the following 2 lines

$UserCredential = Get-Credential

$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

This is not in the Petri link above, but you need to run the following line to allow running scripts

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Test if MFA is already enabled.  Will return “false” if not enabled

Get-OrganizationConfig | ft name, *OAuth*

Assuming not enabled run

Set-OrganizationConfig -OAuth2ClientProfileEnabled:$true

Then run the following again to confirm now enabled, i.e. “True”

Get-OrganizationConfig | ft name, *OAuth*

Close session

Remove-PSSession $Session

I find it takes 30-60 minutes before the policy is applied and changes in use

Category:

E-mail, Exchange, MFA, Office, Outlook, PowerShell, Uncategorized

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Cannot open e-mail attachments on HP computer

Recently found on 3 two month old HP computers users could not open Office documents that were received as attachments to e-mails within Outlook. After troubleshooting, discovered it was due to an HP add-on utility “HP Single Click” a security app provided with many HP PCs. This can simply be uninstalled from Programs and Features, however any open apps that use it must be closed. A reboot will insure this. Also a reboot is required after uninstalling. Presumably this was caused by a windows or HP update as it had not been a problem in the past. Perhaps more recent updates have resolved the problem.

Category:

E-mail, Office, Uncategorized, Windows 10

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Office 365 authentication did not succeed

I have had a few questions regarding a message “Office 365 authentication did not succeed” suddenly appearing both in the daily reports and the Alert Viewer of Server Essentials.  The alert viewer suggests changing the admin account (or refresh it) in the Office 365 tab of the Essentials Dashboard, however doing so fails with a message stating you are using the wrong account or password.

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In most cases if you log into the Office 365 site using the domain’s admin e-mail account you will find the password has expired and you are asked to update it.  Do so and return to the Dashboard entering the new password which should now allow it to validate and eliminate the error.

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Category:

Essentials, Office, Troubleshooting

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Microsoft Virtual Launch Event for the new Office 365

Virtual Launch Event for the new Office 365
for business.

Date Wednesday, February 27th 8 am PDT and 5 pm PDT

Why Attend?

• Learn how the new Office 365 can help people do
their best work in a world of devices and services

• Hear customers talk about how Office 365
is transforming the way they deliver productivity
tools across their organization

• See how Office 365 delivers new experiences
combining the power of social with collaboration,
email and unified communications

• Join in a live Q&A with Microsoft executives
and product experts

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Category:

Office, Training

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LinkedIn Phishing E-mails

Just as a “heads up” to our clients; there have been a large number of phishing e-mails lately claiming to be a LinkedIn reminder advising there is a pending invitation to add a new contact.  These look quite legitimate.

Always avoid clicking on links in e-mails, it is far better to visit the site in a normal fashion and check your messages and notifications on the site.  However to confirm the message’s legitimacy, hover your mouse over the link and you will see the true site destination in a popup.  Clicking on a masked link could be disastrous, a virus or an attempt to obtain user names and passwords.

 

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Category:

Office, Uncategorized, Virus

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Cannot open the Outlook window. Invalid XML

I recently came across an instance of Outlook 2007 which would not open.  A popup reported; “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.  Invalid XML, the view cannot be loaded”.  This was only occurring on 1 PC, for one user, in an SBS 2008 environment.  If the user ran Outlook on another PC, there was no problem so it was obviously a local problem.  Doing a repair install of office did not resolve, nor did the diagnostics suggested when Googling the issue.  Assuming it was a problem with the Xml file; I closed Outlook, renamed the Outlook.xml file (safer than deleting), and restarted Outlook to find the problem was resolved.  Should you wish to try the same solution, the file path with Office 2007/2010, on Vista\Win 7 is C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.xml   You will need to enable “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” and “Hide extensions of known file types” to view.

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Category:

Office, SBS 2008, SBS 2011, Troubleshooting

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