Outlook 2000 on Vista

For all of you out there that hate Microsoft’s activation and want to run your copy of Office 2000, including Outlook, on you new Windows Vista machine or those that are upgrading a computer to Vista I have developed a step-by-step guide to getting Outlook 2000 working on Windows Vista. This is not perfect, so be sure to read the issues at the end. Let’s get started. Pull out your Office install disk (you’ll need it) and follow these steps:

1. Install Office 2000 normally on Windows Vista (if you are installing Office on a clean copy of Vista then skip to step #12).
2. If you are upgrading a computer that already has Office installed you will need to reinstall Outlook.
3. Insert your Office 2000 CD.
4. Do not run setup from the pop up when inserting the CD.
5. Go to the Control Panel and click the Uninstall a program link in the Programs section.
6. Highlight Office and click on Change in the options above.
7. Click the button by Add or Remove Features.
8. Set Outlook to Not Available and click Update Now.
9. Again, Highlight Office and click on Change.
10. Click the Add or Remove Features button again.
11. Now set Outlook to Run from My Computer and click Update now.
12. Is everyone with us now. You have Outlook Installed or reinstalled and are ready to configure it.
13. Run Outlook. If this is a clean install follow the wizard to setup your e-mail account. If you did the reinstall of Outlook you will probably have to manually setup your account.
14. If you try to create an e-mail message and click the To: button you should get a WAB error.
15. Shutdown Outlook.
16. Run Windows Explorer.
17. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\System.
18. Copy wab32.dll and wab32res.dll to C:\Windows\System32.
19. Start Outlook.
20. This could be enough for most, but if you continue to be prompted that Outlook is not the default e-mail program you have a little further to go.
21. Open Explorer and find your Outlook.exe file (usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe).
22. Right click Outlook.exe and choose properties.
23. Click the Compatibility Tab.
24. Change the options to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2, and check the box to Run this program as an administrator.
25. Now click on Show settings for all users.
26. Set the compatibility to Win XP SP2 and check Run this program as an administrator on this page too.
27. Run Outlook again, and answer Yes if asked to make it the default e-mail program. You might want to exit and run Outlook again until it starts without asking.
28. Exit Outlook.
29. Go back to the properties for Outlook.exe and remove all the checks from both properties pages.
30. Your finished! Congratulations!

Issue:

Just in case you thought you were finished, there are two problems, and they effect people differently depending on whether you upgrade a computer to Vista or you install Office 2000 on a clean install of Vista.

The first problem has to do with your contacts. When you copy the WAB (Windows Address Book) files above you are getting Outlook to use the Windows Contacts… not the Outlook Contacts. You will have to learn to live with this. When you click the To: button in an e-mail the Windows Contacts is listed, so it is relatively easy to do your contact maintenance from this place. But you cannot use the Contacts in Outlook dirrectly.

The second problem is with clicking on e-mail links on web pages. If you install Office on a clean copy of Vista it will try to launch Windows Mail when you click on e-mail links. I have not been able to change this behavior. However, if you upgraded your computer to Vista then you will get Outlook as the default e-mail provider for the MAILTO protocol.

That’s all I have for you. Please feel free to contact me (scott@satx.rr.com) and let me know if this helped you, or just post a comment.

Enjoy!