Microsoft: Outlook desktop app crashing due to missing identity setting
- Reference: 1660306508
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/08/12/outlook_crash/
- Source link:
The [1]article is related to that most common of Outlook (Desktop) ailments: "Outlook closes shortly after it is opened." In our experience, the problem tends to be accompanied by a terse message box saying something bad has happened or a simple abrupt disappearance of the UI.
In this instance, the scenario is: "When you start Outlook Desktop, it gets past loading profile and processing, briefly opens, and then stops responding," according to Microsoft.
[2]
So far, so not particularly unusual. After all, occasional instability is expected with Outlook. However, in this instance, Microsoft has provided additional details that can be checked through the Windows Event View Application to confirm that this particular problem is being caused by a blank Registry setting.
[3]
In this case, the EmailAddress setting in the Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\Identities . This should be set to the identity of the user but if it is blank, Outlook appears to react with all the resilience of jelly under a hiking boot.
[4]There can be only one... Microsoft Excel Champion
[5]Wi-Fi hotspots and Windows on Arm broken by Microsoft's latest patches
[6]Microsoft CRM tool to pull sales data from email, Teams calls, Office 365
[7]Android without Google – and yes it has apps: The Reg talks to founder about the /e/ smartphone
"We do not know why the EmailAddress key is not being set properly," said Microsoft. It's something that should be set by the Office application and the preferred route to resolution is to sign out of Office and sign back in again in order to repopulate the identity settings. A turn-it-off-and-turn-it-on-again approach to matters.
If that fails, Microsoft suggests a Registry change to turn off Support Diagnostics (apparently the option to submit an in-App ticket using Help and Contact Support leads to a path that could stop Outlook responding). Still no luck? Then perhaps manually set the email address, although Microsoft didn't sound too hopeful about the solution, saying users "can try" the approach.
The Outlook team is looking into the issue. In the meantime, we thought we were joking when we suggested [8]Competitive Outlook as a companion to the Excel All-Stars esports event. Perhaps reality is catching up. Round 1: Opening Outlook without it crashing. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/outlook-closes-shortly-after-it-is-opened-2d32d880-70a0-4ee0-b1e9-9e920721abdd
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YvZ5I7Gzo0k2w6H68s3DNAAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YvZ5I7Gzo0k2w6H68s3DNAAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/excel_esports/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/20/windows_patch_issues/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/16/microsoft_launches_tools_to_suck/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/android_without_google_e_smartphone/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/excel_esports/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I have no Outlook problems at all
I was going to post that precise post to the same version!
Sounds like their usual quality, to be honest.
I hate Outlook with a vengeance, it's not even a particularly great email or calendaring client and it really only has two things to do: email and calendaring!
I don't get the obsession with it and I would be happy to never have to manage it again and haven't used it personally for years now.
The whole profile-on-the-local-machine thing is so archaic too, it really needs to just die and become nothing more than a small cache of the server content that in the case of problems, one click and you start afresh from server-only data.
And programs that forcibly integrate with it or MAPI should be shot on sight. It's the only kindness you can afford them.
There is a reason it is called 'LookOut'
And you have described one of the several hundred thousand reasons why.
I have managed to avoid it since 2009. Long may that continue.
Re: There is a reason it is called 'LookOut'
Round here it's referred to as "OutHouse", for obvious reasons.
Your profile is now synched with the cloud settings. You don't download everything - just a date range you specify.
If you want to feel real hate, try the PWA version. Doesn't stay as PWA all the time, having an odd habit of launching browser windows for some options, but not for others. Then there's the problem of switching between calendar and email - why so slow?
There are several hundred things that annoy me about Outlook. One is that it contains an inferior clone of Lotus Organizer - Organizer was brilliant but for some reason they refused to integrate it with... anything, ever.
Then there's the crashing. Outlook and Excel seem to have a competition of who can go the most wrong this week.
The constant UI nonsense - I dread any updates as they nearly always break my workflow because some intern in Microsoft's soi-disant "design" department decided it would look prettier if they moved everything around and changed the shade of green or something equally nonsense.
I could go on, but I suspect it would be a good idea if I didn't - for the sake of my blood pressure, if nothing else.
In an outfit the size of MS I very much doubt that it is an intern determining any UI change like that. These changes go quite high up the committee feeding trough.
I trust M$ will refund all their Office 365 tenants their rent
until this problem with their tenancy is solved.
IIt's shit like this ..
that makes it worthwhile having a managed support contract.
Last year, I was working on a Kaseya administered estate. Due to a fuckup with their documentation*, a supposed update managed to install shed loads of crap on over 100 PCs.
My first contact with their customer support was along the lines of "yes ... and at no extra cost".
As I started to look at undoing the damage, it turned out that (a) they had no rollback (not quite what they told our IT director when he was researching) and each app would need a custom script.
Luckily we had a managed service contract with their reseller, and (despite some protests) they did the 16+ hours worth of work to fix things).
Still using the desktop version means local account?
"We do not know why the EmailAddress key is not being set properly,"
Wrong question. Why is the EmailAddress key being set _at all_? If it has a value, which one presumes it did as of yesterday, just use it.
My guess is MS is looking for the domain account -- this is 2022 after all. Not finding one, MS dutifully inserts the null email address.
So that's like three logic errors in one bug. Good work.
It's different with multiple accounts
I have 7 MS accounts. That regedit address has 7 entries under some weird entry (one starts with 453d96a9-eb0c-48c8-9f8f-a9b1...). So, I can see why they want it and I can see why it might crash if they don't have one. But it shouldn't CRASH - it should come up and ask for an email address (and maybe password) if the entry has disappeared.
Alan
Magic 8 ball says, “Outlook not so good”
I’ll ask it about Exchange Server next
Magic 8-ball says, “Outlook not so good”
I’ll ask it about Exchange Server next
I have no Outlook problems at all
It's probably because I'm still running Outlook 2010 and Microsoft hasn't upgraded any new bugs for years now.