CIW Cleanup

[Frank]

I've been working on a system image with SysPrep and I used the Custom
Installation Wizard for my Office 2003 install. Later, I had to re-do the
image and uninstalling Office was part of that process.

After re-installing Office and re-running SysPrep, Outlook no longer
auto-configures when a new user logs on; instead I get the Office wizard to
configure the Exchange account.

So, what changed? What lingered from the uninstall? What should I look for
to clean out in order to uninstall Office once again?

Thanks for your help

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

When you configure Outlook the first time, it resets certain registry values that indicate Outlook has not previously run. Details should be in the excellent white paper "Configuring Outlook Profiles by Using a PRF File" at http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?assetid=HA011403051033&QueryID=pHm7c_60I&respos=3

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Frank]

Sue,

Thank you for pointing me to that white paper.

Let me ask this. My Outlook profile IS working on an image I created for my
desktops. My image for the laptops is NOT working because of the uninstall
and re-install of Office. I also uninstalled and re-installed Office on my
Citrix server; that too is NOT working.

Am I understanding correcting that I could take the Custom11.prf file that
IS working on my desktop image and replace the same file on the laptop image
and on Citrix? (Although, I'm not using caching on Citrix and I would need to
modify that piece somehow). But is that possible? Does everything pull from
THAT .prf file?

Thanks!

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

If a .prf file is present and the ImportPRF value is pointing to it and the FirstRun, and First-Run values are 0 or not present, as described in the white paper, then Outlook will process the .prf file on startup and create or modify a profile as the .prf file instructs. Where the .prf file comes from doesn't matter. What is important is that the ImportPRF value points to it.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Frank]

Sue,

Thanks for your help with this. I have a better understanding now of this
file. Here was my resolution to the problem. I took the Custom11.prf file
from my desktop image and copied it to my laptop (which I will re-image) to
\program files\microsoft office. I even fixed the problem on my Citrix server
by finding the .prf file in a server backup.

I realized now that when I uninstalled Office -- and deleted the Microsoft
Office folder -- I deleted the Custom11.prf file that ordinally remains in
the folder.

When I re-ran CIW and chose Modify for the Outlook profile, no .prf file
existed to make modifications.

The Outlook profile works now on Citrix also after restoring Custom11.prf.

Thanks again!