Mixed TS Environment 2003 Server / 2008 server & Office

[Craig_I]

We are currently working on updating to Office 2007 and Windows Server 2008
Terminal Services. Our existing environment is Server 2003 with Office 2003
installed.

I've setup a custom install using the /admin switch for Office 2007 to set a
few settings such as telling Outlook not to generate a new profile if one
already exists. However when an existing user with an already existing MAPI
profile of "Outlook" is asked to join our Beta testing of the 2008 TS farm
they still have to run the first time wizard to setup a new Outlook 2007
profile called "Default Outlook Profile."

This wouldn't be a big deal but what happens is this new MAPI profile is set
as the default and when the user logs back into the 2003 TS farm they are not
able to reply / forward to emails along with a whole host of other Outlook
issues.

The current fix is to just change the default profile back to Outlook which
at that time Outlook 2007 uses it.

I have also tried setting up a different custom install which tells Outlook
to modify the existing profile called "Outlook" or create it if it doesn't
exist. In this case an existing user will have a Backup copy of Outlook
created and Outlook 2007 will make a fresh MAPI profile thus creating the
same issue for backwards compatibility to the 2003 servers.

I have tried to find registry values that I could possible set such as
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Setup\First-Run and can't seem to
find any documentation on what it does or what values are valid or even if
it’s the right key I’m looking for. Even the equivalent key that is located
in the HKCU which I can set with 3rd party software (Simplify Suite).

Another fix is to use the Outlook switch /profile and force Outlook to use
the "Outlook" MAPI profile but once these servers are in production and new
people come on that won’t be using the 2003 terminal server farm then you
will get an error every time you open outlook.

The questions is, are you able to force Outlook 2007 to truly use the
existing MAPI profile and create one if it doesn't exist?

Thanks in advance for the help / suggestions

Craig

 

[Cláudio Rodrigues [MVP]]

I think the first thing you should do is to set your new TS to use a
different Terminal Services Roaming Profile. You can do that using group
policies.
This way when they logon to the new 2008 box they do not bring their 2003
profile and settings do not get screwed up.
The setup.exe /adminfile YOURSETTINGS.MSP should work properly.
I would just set it to create a new profile for Outlook and use it and there
you would put your Exchange settings.
That will work for sure.

Cláudio Rodrigues

CEO, WTSLabs Inc.
http://www.wtslabs.com

"Craig_I" wrote:

> We are currently working on updating to Office 2007 and Windows Server 2008
> Terminal Services. Our existing environment is Server 2003 with Office 2003
> installed.
>
> I've setup a custom install using the /admin switch for Office 2007 to set a
> few settings such as telling Outlook not to generate a new profile if one
> already exists. However when an existing user with an already existing MAPI
> profile of "Outlook" is asked to join our Beta testing of the 2008 TS farm
> they still have to run the first time wizard to setup a new Outlook 2007
> profile called "Default Outlook Profile."
>
> This wouldn't be a big deal but what happens is this new MAPI profile is set
> as the default and when the user logs back into the 2003 TS farm they are not
> able to reply / forward to emails along with a whole host of other Outlook
> issues.
>
> The current fix is to just change the default profile back to Outlook which
> at that time Outlook 2007 uses it.
>
> I have also tried setting up a different custom install which tells Outlook
> to modify the existing profile called "Outlook" or create it if it doesn't
> exist. In this case an existing user will have a Backup copy of Outlook
> created and Outlook 2007 will make a fresh MAPI profile thus creating the
> same issue for backwards compatibility to the 2003 servers.
>
> I have tried to find registry values that I could possible set such as
> HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0OutlookSetupFirst-Run and can't seem to
> find any documentation on what it does or what values are valid or even if
> it’s the right key I’m looking for. Even the equivalent key that is located
> in the HKCU which I can set with 3rd party software (Simplify Suite).
>
> Another fix is to use the Outlook switch /profile and force Outlook to use
> the "Outlook" MAPI profile but once these servers are in production and new
> people come on that won’t be using the 2003 terminal server farm then you
> will get an error every time you open outlook.
>
> The questions is, are you able to force Outlook 2007 to truly use the
> existing MAPI profile and create one if it doesn't exist?
>
> Thanks in advance for the help / suggestions
>
> Craig

 

[Craig_I]

The newer term servs are on 2008 which by default if it see's that an
existing 2003 profile is there it goes to *.V2 for the profile. So we are
actually using a separate profile for those servers that have Office 2007
installed, which are all on Server 2008.

I would like to see about completely canceling out the auto create of a new
profile within Outlook 2007. I think i may have found the registry keys but
still am unable to find support documentation on it.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\12.0\User
Settings\{D03399D5-D34A-41CD-8E15-9977DCCDB15A}\Create\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Setup

"Cláudio Rodrigues [MVP]" wrote:

> I think the first thing you should do is to set your new TS to use a
> different Terminal Services Roaming Profile. You can do that using group
> policies.
> This way when they logon to the new 2008 box they do not bring their 2003
> profile and settings do not get screwed up.
> The setup.exe /adminfile YOURSETTINGS.MSP should work properly.
> I would just set it to create a new profile for Outlook and use it and there
> you would put your Exchange settings.
> That will work for sure.
>
> Cláudio Rodrigues
>
> CEO, WTSLabs Inc.
> http://www.wtslabs.com
>

 

[Craig_I]

I believe to have found a solution though I'm not 100% if its considered a
valid one. Howerver the things I need to have happen actual do happen. The
following keys and their contents were complete deleted.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\12.0\User
Settings\{D03399D5-D34A-41CD-8E15-9977DCCDB15A}\Create\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Setup

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\12.0\User
Settings\{277DF7A2-4832-4849-A2CF-60A72BED51B2}

To not compeltely repeat myself please go to my blog at
http://blog.craigirvinsworld.com/2009/10/o...nal-server.html to read more detailed information.

If someone out there can confirm what I did is considered to be a valid
solution I would greatly appreciate it - or at least confirm you did
something similiar.

Thank you,

Craig Irvin