Free/Busy data could not be retrieved

[Alexander Bryant]

Situation: user has a new laptop running Vista (SP1) and Office 2007 (current
patches) in an Exchange 03 environment. User cannot see anyone's Free/Busy
information. The Free/Busy window simply shows hash marks across all times,
all dates for anyone in the company (thousands of employees, all blank). No
one else in the company is having this issue.

Steps taken:
Ran Outlook /cleanfreebusy several times. No good.
Created new Outlook profile for user. No good.
Reimaged the user's laptop from scratch - no good.
The problem seems to be on the Exchange side then, so we set the user up
with another laptop - also Vista/Outlook 07 - to test this. Problem DOES NOT
FOLLOW to this new laptop. So it's not an Exchange server issue.
Unfortunately the user cannot use the other laptop: he needs to use the
laptop with the Free/Busy problem.

Suggestions?

Thank you so much for reading all this and considering the problem.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

As you found, the issue is on the machine.

When you created a new profile, did you:

- Click Start, and click Control Panel. Click Mail icon.
(If you use VISTA select the Classic View to see the
MAIL applet)
- Click Show Profiles
- Delete the profile currently being used.
- Click Add and type the new profile name as you like in the
Profile name box.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Do NOT use the same name as
your original profile. Example: If it was "outlook" then use "John" or
whatever, just not outlook again.
- Click Next and click Finish.
- Try to open Outlook. Choose the new profile in the
profile list and click OK.

Outlook builds many files that are used by the client and they are
named based on the profile name (outlook.xml, etc.). Just deleting
the Outlook Profile does not remove these residual files. By renaming
the profile a completely different name, you avoid using a corrupt file
that is still on the machine.

Nikki

message Situation: user has a new laptop running Vista (SP1) and Office 2007
(current
patches) in an Exchange 03 environment. User cannot see anyone's Free/Busy
information. The Free/Busy window simply shows hash marks across all times,
all dates for anyone in the company (thousands of employees, all blank). No
one else in the company is having this issue.

Steps taken:
Ran Outlook /cleanfreebusy several times. No good.
Created new Outlook profile for user. No good.
Reimaged the user's laptop from scratch - no good.
The problem seems to be on the Exchange side then, so we set the user up
with another laptop - also Vista/Outlook 07 - to test this. Problem DOES NOT
FOLLOW to this new laptop. So it's not an Exchange server issue.
Unfortunately the user cannot use the other laptop: he needs to use the
laptop with the Free/Busy problem.

Suggestions?

Thank you so much for reading all this and considering the problem.

 

[Nikki Peterson]

This may need a bit of updating, however it will show you the
general gist:

Outlook rebuild: Files a Rebuild will not fix:

An update to Outlook may fix it. And/Or a rebuild of your Outlook
profile. However, you would need to find ALL files that effect the
view on your system and replace them.

A simple reinstall will not clean these files up. Close Outlook
first, then:

- Search your hard drive for *.ost and delete all found
(Be sure to search in hidden files)
- Search your hard drive for Outcmd.dat and delete it.
(This file holds your customized toolbar settings)
- Search your hard drive for Views.dat and delete it.
(This file holds your customized system folder views settings)
- Search your hard drive for extend.dat and delete it. (this file holds
your Installed add-ins information)
- 2003: Outlook.xml (This file includes Shortcuts, Calendar, and
Contact links.)
- The navigation pane settings are profile-specific and are stored in
an .xml file with the profile name, in the Application Data\Outlook
folder. To clear all navigation pane customizations, start Outlook
once with the /resetnavpane switch.
- Try opening Outlook again using the switch :
/CleanViews Restores default views. All custom views you created are
lost.
/ResetOutlookBar Rebuilds the Outlook Bar.
- Some of the folders might be hidden folders. To view them, do one of the
following:

Windows XP

Click Start, and then click My Computer.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then
click the Show hidden files and folder option.

Windows 2000

Double-click My Computer on your desktop.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then
click the Show hidden files and folder option.

Nikki

As you found, the issue is on the machine.

When you created a new profile, did you:

- Click Start, and click Control Panel. Click Mail icon.
(If you use VISTA select the Classic View to see the
MAIL applet)
- Click Show Profiles
- Delete the profile currently being used.
- Click Add and type the new profile name as you like in the
Profile name box.
- VERY IMPORTANT: Do NOT use the same name as
your original profile. Example: If it was "outlook" then use "John" or
whatever, just not outlook again.
- Click Next and click Finish.
- Try to open Outlook. Choose the new profile in the
profile list and click OK.

Outlook builds many files that are used by the client and they are
named based on the profile name (outlook.xml, etc.). Just deleting
the Outlook Profile does not remove these residual files. By renaming
the profile a completely different name, you avoid using a corrupt file
that is still on the machine.

Nikki

message Situation: user has a new laptop running Vista (SP1) and Office 2007
(current
patches) in an Exchange 03 environment. User cannot see anyone's Free/Busy
information. The Free/Busy window simply shows hash marks across all times,
all dates for anyone in the company (thousands of employees, all blank). No
one else in the company is having this issue.

Steps taken:
Ran Outlook /cleanfreebusy several times. No good.
Created new Outlook profile for user. No good.
Reimaged the user's laptop from scratch - no good.
The problem seems to be on the Exchange side then, so we set the user up
with another laptop - also Vista/Outlook 07 - to test this. Problem DOES NOT
FOLLOW to this new laptop. So it's not an Exchange server issue.
Unfortunately the user cannot use the other laptop: he needs to use the
laptop with the Free/Busy problem.

Suggestions?

Thank you so much for reading all this and considering the problem.