Issues with the recent update for Outlook 2007

On Tuesday, December 14, we released an update (KB2412171) for Microsoft Outlook 2007. We have discovered several issues with the update and want to inform you about problems you might encounter and what corrective steps we recommend. As of December 16, this Outlook 2007 update has been removed from Microsoft Update.

This Outlook 2007 update was distributed via Microsoft Update. Many of you receive updates automatically and if you installed the update between Tuesday, December 14, and Thursday, December 16, it is likely that you are affected.

The three issues identified in the December 2010 update for Outlook 2007 are as follows:

  1. Outlook fails to connect if Secure Password Authentication (SPA) is configured for an account and the mail server does not support SPA. This is important for Google Gmail users because Gmail does not support SPA. Outlook customers using Gmail who have the SPA option turned on cannot connect to Gmail.
  2. Noticeable performance issues are experienced when switching between folders if you do not have a Microsoft Exchange Server account configured in Outlook. Switching folders might take several seconds depending on the performance of your computer. This issue only applies when you use an IMAP, POP3, or Outlook Live Connector account, such as Windows Live Hotmail, and do not have an Exchange Server account configured in the same Outlook profile. To determine if you are using an Exchange Server account, see the help article What is an Exchange account?
  3. AutoArchive cannot be configured for IMAP, POP3, or Outlook Live Connector accounts if there is no Exchange Server account configured in the same Outlook profile. If you previously configured AutoArchive, no additional items are archived.

If you are experiencing any of the listed issues with Outlook 2007, we recommend that you uninstall the December 2010 update by doing the following:

Uninstalling KB2412171 on Windows 7 or Windows Vista

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click Programs, and then under Programs and Features, click View installed updates.
  3. Click the entry for KB2412171, and then click Uninstall.

Uninstalling KB2412171 on Windows XP

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Click Add or Remove Programs, and then make sure that the Show Updates check box is selected.
  3. Click the entry for KB2412171, and then click Remove.

Note for Office 365 Beta customers: You do not need to uninstall this update. The listed folder switching and AutoArchive issues do not apply because Office 365 accounts are Exchange Server accounts. However, the issue with SPA when connecting to non-Exchange Server accounts that don’t support SPA does apply. In this case, turn off the SPA option by doing the following:

  1. In Outlook, on Tools menu, click Account Settings.
  2. Select your account, and then click Change.
  3. Clear the Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box.

We apologize to our customers for not discovering these issues before releasing the update and for any inconvenience we have caused. We know that you rely on Outlook and for that reason, we thoroughly quality test every update. We failed to meet our own and our customers’ expectation for quality with this update release. We are working to fix these issues and will post a release date for those fixes, and link to download them, as soon as that information is available.

We value the trust that you place in our software, and we are actively working to resolve these issues.

Sincerely,

The Outlook Team

Office Blogs Comments

Comments: (64) Collapse

  • Attempted removal of KB2412171 results in an error message: The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source existrs and that you can access it. System Restore to an earlier date results in an error as well. So now I'm stuck with it? Say it isn't so Bill! I agree with the others who commented about simply sending another update that removes this. I have WASTED HOURS on this issue.

  • Attempted removal of KB2412171 results in an error message: The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it. System Restore to an earlier date results in an error as well. So now I'm stuck with it? Say it isn't so Bill! I agree with the others who commented about simply sending another update that removes this. I have WASTED HOURS on this issue.

  • I wasn't able to find my archiving options. It took me a while to find this site. This seems to have fixed it. I imagine just about everyone archives their email so you should make this uninstall part of your next update release.

  • I agree with Mike's comments below. Microsoft should be the one to fix this by notifying anyone who installed the update via automatic updates. Why haven't they figured that out yet? This disrupted my computer restore process for a week, because I was thinking the issue was something else, and reformatted 2 different times. EXTREMELY annoying and disappointing, but I'm glad I finally read this article while looking for my hotmail Outlook 2007 solution again.

  • I still have the problem and it is not resolved. I deleted the update and within a few hours the system provided to automated updates once again. What do I do now? Thanks

  • This is a joke and is unacceptable. Do you have any idea how much time has been wasted on this shenanigan? You guys need to get a grip on these updates because my issue is still an "ISSUE". No support, no guidance, no updates. Your on your own. Does OPEN OFFICE sound like an alternative? I don't want it to be, but if things like this continue with no fix, you can only push a customer so much that they are not as sticky as they used to me. Food for thought!

  • I uninstalled the update yesterday and outlook worked fine. Today I cannot send or recieve messages from gmail aaccounts that have attachements. So now i am out of contact for the fantasy football draft this week or until I figure out how to fix it. The ettor message is 5505.1.0 authentication required.

  • THANK YOU!!! Fixed it

  • I had noticed not only the impossible sluggishness (on which I spent hours last night deactivating/removing add-ins, running SCANPST, etc.) and it was driving me CRAZY! Just shows to go ya , it's always something, eh? Thank you for posting this info.

  • I had noticed not only the impossible sluggishness (on which I spent hours last night deactivating/removing add-ins, running SCANPST, etc.) and it was driving me CRAZY! Just shows to go ya , it's always something, eh? Thank you for posting this info.

  • You folks at MicroSoft are near perfect at making SURE no one with a problem can do Nothing but, buy your products and SUFFER!  I paid good money to play fair. My problems make outlook 2010 useless... and guess what.... your product and support team are both useless. Micro Soft should be ashamed! Instead you make lots of money.

  • Took me awhile to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be very useful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also engaged! I'm sure you had fun writing this article.

  • Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!

  • Hi Outlook Team , Thanks for sharing this topic with us. I dont have much knowledge in outlook but, now after reading your blog i had some idea on how the outlook will function and look like. Thanks to this...

    godwinsblog.cdtech.in/.../send-sms-directly-from-microsoft.html

  • Thought I would pass this along; recently I’ve been having issues with Outlook too. While it is running and I open another Microsoft program i.e. Word, Excel…, and drag that window over to the next screen (monitor) my computer would freeze up. Of course I would have to reboot the computer every time. I’m hoping that removing the update will solve this problem. Thanks for the information posted on here, greatly appreciate it! 

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