Can't Run Outlook2k

knowing you slink :-) you've gone thru ms... changed anything on your machine lately? installations/configurations?

try sending a message from within another application...

OL2000 uses IE5... have you tried fixing it?

my final idea...replace your mapi files - they don't necessarily come with outlook.

This seems to have been triggered by installing MS Photo Editor 2000.  It has since been uninstalled but that didn't help.
Yes, I have been through this site and MS.  I got reinstalling the OS over itself from a similar question here.
I haven't tried IE5 repair or the MAPI files.  I will try that Monday.  I did try Windows Installer Cleanup but that didn't help, either.  I believe it has something to do with Installer.  I may try again with the manual removal using REGEDIT if I can't find anything else.  This time I will be sure to pay attention to anything referencing INSTALLER.  That took forever, though.
At least it didn't flake out last night.  I said we would have a newsletter for the last night of Vacation Bible School and I was finishing it up as the person who needed to make the copies for me was ready to leave.  For some reason I was thinking that a Word document with about ten pictures would fit on one floppy.  I was wrong on that.  I ended up GSplitting the file onto six.  I called her and walked her through reassembling the file and everything fortunately went well.
Oh well.  Time to go home, and then to Bible School to take some more pictures.  Have a nice weekend.

okay, here is the trip that I would do but it sounds like you have already been there.

Uninstall all of Office and Photo Editor (Basically eveything that usses shared office components)

Run eraser 2k (you still may have to visit the \windows\installer folder to remove any office peices

Reboot

Reinstall

Yep, neo, did that.  I didn't think to do a repair on IE5 so I will try that Monday.  I will also replace the mapi files.  Any more suggestions, anyone?

Make that Picture It 2000!!  It has been uninstalled.
Any ideas about Installer causing this problem?

None here.  The only time I have seen a Office app complain like this is when part of its core components are set to run from CD.

When you try to install Outlook (this is an administrative install correct?) - do you have any virus programs running?
Which transform are you running from?  Are you sure that within the CIW that outlook was an option?  Also make sure that you are mapped to the admin. share where office Install is located. . .

I normally install locally.  I do have virus scan running.  I will reinstall Monday without it running and see how it goes.

It is Monday morning.  I have tried the following.
I moved up to IE5.5 (again).  No help.
I replaced MAPI32.dll using SFC.  No help.
I killed off AV software and ran the admin install.  No help.
I am mapped to the correct share.  Outlook has been checked every time I run the admin or local install.
Any other suggestions?

I would chalk it up to an oddity and redo the entire machine from the ground up.

I had rather avoid the entire day of reinstalling stuff, although I am getting to the point of being ready to do just that.
Here is the latest.
I have Office completely uninstalled and am trying to get just the SBS components installed.  I ran McAffee Uninstaller and removed all occfurrences of Outlook.  I did Add/Remove and took out the BackOffice SBS components and reinstalled them.  It indicates that it is reinstalling Outlook but doesn't actually do so.  Any suggestions on this?  Are there some files that I can manually remove to get this completely gone?  Is there an eraser-type program for SBS?

I'm reaching here, but... ran into another Q where the person had a problem with the windows installer file. Haven't heard back if they got it fixed, but you may wanna consider replacing yours - maybe it got corrupted? the file was data1.msi

*lol* just reread that Q - you were involved slink, so you know what I'm talking about.

btw, what OS are you running? For NT, I was instructed to run the latest patch we have after every program installation...maybe an OS file got updated behind your back...

the following article isn't that related, but thought you might want to review it - talks about how it corrupts OE and how to really uninstall Picture It.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q294/7/31.ASP

trying to prevent a totally drive wipe...

The windows installer is an engine for reading the data1.msi (or whatever other msi file such as data2.msi) database and installs components based on the contents of one of them databases.
I've seen where a server share has lost files from the Office 2K admin install (where it mysteriously loses key files such as dll's etc from one of the shares.)  When you do the first admin. install to a share it is always wise to do a backup and a file count/size - and compare to the original installation on a regular basis.
So you have used eraser2K: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q239/9/38.asp -- correct?

There is a means to update the workstation install to the current transform (if all the files are there on the admin server share.) When you did the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) - at the very end of the CIW there is a line (I believe screen 18) where you grab the comd line for the transform parameters -
Example:
D:\Office2000\SETUP.EXE TRANSFORMS=D:\Office2000\NewOffice2000.MST /qb+
By making a shortcut out of the above I was able to take care of the 'this application must be installed to run" error.  Of course that was a few months back - but you can always give it a shot.

OS is 98SE.
I did not have a data1.msi on my hard drive but I did have 4 MSI files that I deleted.  I am reinstalling Office2k to see if that makes a diff.  I am beginning to believe that this can be solved with the admin install because every time I uninstall and run it again I still don't get Outlook to show up (yes, it is checked and says it installs it).  Maybe it will magically wake up and begin working now that those MSI files have been removed.

I took a look at the Picture-It article and applied what it says to do.  I am working with that right now to see if it helped.  I am going to give this thing until the end of the day.  If I don't get it fixed I will split the points and take the "zap it and start from scratch" approach.  I don't consider that a good approach to solving a problem but some things get so convoluted that it is the only one that works.

I am now backing up my computer to another so that I can get my data back in case I really mess things up by playing in the registry.  The rest of the afternoon will be spent removing references from the registry.  I am going to take out all entries to Outlook, Installer-Outlook, and BackOffice SBS.  If I mess up the registry then I will start from scratch tomorrow morning.  If I don't mess up the registry but don't fix the problem (and nobody else has any ideas on how to fix this) then I start from scratch tomorrow.

It is back, finally.  I did avoid a complete reformat and reinstall after all.  Apparently I missed the culprit the last time that I ran through the registry and removed all of the entries.  I did that again and it is working well.  I still don't see the BackOffice SBS entry in the Add/Remove but I don't care about that as long as it works.  I will ask CS to drop the points to 100 and split it with 50 to shekerra and starl.  Thanks for the help.

The reformat was avoided.  I just backed up in case I messed things up when doing the registry edit.
The registry edit took 45 minutes and I almost fell asleep from the constant F3-Delete-Enter routine, but it fixed the problem.  My Outlook is now back up and running.  For some reason I am having trouble getting my Internet EMail added back in, but that is another problem.
Look for a 50 point question for you, shekerra.

This is the second time this has happened.  The first was related to the security update after the I Love You virus.  I talked to Dell for hours the first time and the final suggestion was a reformat.  I figured I would have to reformat if I knocked the registry out of whack anyway so I did the registry edit and it fixed it then, also.
Just add/remove Outlook, run Eraser2k, and then run REGEDIT and do a search for Outlook.  Delete every entry it finds.  I believe it took longer than 45 minutes the first time but I looked at my watch yesterday before and after so I know it was 45 minutes.  It may take a while, but it is less time and trouble than a complete reformat.
Of course, a reformat could have other advantages from cleaning up other programs, errant registry entries, etc.  Good luck on getting it fixed.

Make that a search for Office in the registry.  Sorry about that.