Outlook COM Addin deployment on Windows 2003 server

[Nasim]

My Shared COM Addin IDTExtensibility2 based works great on XP clients but when I install it on Windows 2003 server it doesn't work. I am creating registry under HKLM hives, after installation LoadBehavior value becomes 2, although addin works if I switch it to 3 but as soon as another user starts outlook session Loadbehavior values swithces to 2 from 3 and addin doesn't work at all.

I have granted machine level code access rights on the server so CAS is not an issue. Misha Shneerson mentioned in his blog Outlook 2003 COM addins should be registered under HKLM for all users implementation. But still I can't find any clue why my addin get disabled.

I will highly appreciate if anybody can help me out.

Many thanks

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

Try going through the troubleshooting steps outlined in
http://blogs.msdn.com/vsod/archive/2008/04/22/Troubleshooting-com-add-in-load-failures.aspx.
In particular enabling Fusion logging might provide you with clues as to why
the addin is being disabled.

 

[Nasim]

Hi Ken,

Many thanks for your help. I managed to install and run my addin on terminal server. I did setup Fusion log and gone through each log. Although my addin is working but I found following failed log:

*** Assembly Binder Log Entry (30/06/2008 @ 10:18:17) ***

The operation failed.
Bind result: hr = 0x80070002. The system cannot find the file specified.

Assembly manager loaded from: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorwks.dll
Running under executable C:\MSOffice\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE
--- A detailed error log follows.

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = SCOTTDUNN\NasimG
LOG: DisplayName = pimOutlook, Version=1.0.3102.35430, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=f10c4531eedbfdf9
(Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL
LOG: Dynamic Base = NULL
LOG: Cache Base = NULL
LOG: AppName = OUTLOOK.EXE
Calling assembly : (Unknown).
===
LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: Download of application configuration file was attempted from file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/OUTLOOK.EXE.config.
LOG: Configuration file C:\MSOffice\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE.config does not exist.
LOG: No application configuration file found.
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine .config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: pimOutlook, Version=1.0.3102.35430, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=f10c4531eedbfdf9
LOG: GAC Lookup was unsuccessful.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook/pimOutlook.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook.EXE.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook/pimOutlook.EXE.
LOG: All probing URLs attempted and failed.

My addin name is pimOutlook and it is installed on [Program Files]/[Company Name]/pimOutlook. I dont know why GAC lookup operation is unsuccessful. Do I need to use RegAsm to register my assembly (I guess my setup program does the same thing). I am sorry for bothering you once again. Can you please guide me how to resolve this issue.

Many thanks

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

So the addin is now running? What did you change to get it to run?

You had mentioned that this was a shared addin, are you using shimming at
all to provide an isolated AppDomain?

Your addin class gets registered in either HKCU (or in your case HKLM) under
\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins, which is how Outlook recognizes
it as an Outlook COM addin. In addition, the Connect class or whatever class
you use to handle the IDTExtensibility interface must also be registered,
but the addin wouldn't run if it wasn't. I'd check that anyway though, it
usually gets registered under its class name in HKCR.

The other thing I'd look at is what your machine.config policy is set up as.
It seems that's where the problem lies according to the logs.

Hi Ken,

Many thanks for your help. I managed to install and run my addin on
terminal server. I did setup Fusion log and gone through each log.
Although my addin is working but I found following failed log:

*** Assembly Binder Log Entry (30/06/2008 @ 10:18:17) ***

The operation failed.
Bind result: hr = 0x80070002. The system cannot find the file specified.

Assembly manager loaded from:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorwks.dll
Running under executable C:\MSOffice\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE
--- A detailed error log follows.

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = SCOTTDUNN\NasimG
LOG: DisplayName = pimOutlook, Version=1.0.3102.35430, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=f10c4531eedbfdf9
(Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL
LOG: Dynamic Base = NULL
LOG: Cache Base = NULL
LOG: AppName = OUTLOOK.EXE
Calling assembly : (Unknown).
===
LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: Download of application configuration file was attempted from
file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/OUTLOOK.EXE.config.
LOG: Configuration file C:\MSOffice\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE.config does not
exist.
LOG: No application configuration file found.
LOG: Using machine configuration file from
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine .config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: pimOutlook, Version=1.0.3102.35430,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=f10c4531eedbfdf9
LOG: GAC Lookup was unsuccessful.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL
file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL
file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook/pimOutlook.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL
file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook.EXE.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL
file:///C:/MSOffice/OFFICE11/pimOutlook/pimOutlook.EXE.
LOG: All probing URLs attempted and failed.

My addin name is pimOutlook and it is installed on [Program
Files]/[Company Name]/pimOutlook. I dont know why GAC lookup operation is
unsuccessful. Do I need to use RegAsm to register my assembly (I guess my
setup program does the same thing). I am sorry for bothering you once
again. Can you please guide me how to resolve this issue.

Many thanks

 

[Nasim]

Hi Ken,

Yes my addin is now running. Previouosly it was running on Windows XP machines but I was struggling on Windows 2003 Terminal server.

I followed your forwarded article http://blogs.msdn.com/vsod/archive/2008/04/22/Troubleshooting-com-add-in-load-failures.aspx and gone through each troubleshooting steps. Additionally I included a fix from Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908002 in my setup program as a prerequisit and it worked for me. You are right my addin is registered under HKLM hives and required classes are registered under HKCR.

I don't have much expertise to explain what is in my machine.config file. Do you want me to copy it here for your persual or I can provide you some specific information that you need to understand the problem.

Many thanks

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

If the machine.config file isn't too large copy it here, and provide as much
other information as you have. It all might help us in figuring out your
remaining problem.

It can't be too serious a problem though if the addin is now running.