GroupWise 8 and Outlook 2013 on same workstation.

I know I'm asking about an old version of GroupWise here, but unfortunately, I'm stuck with it for the moment (not a big fan myself). Thought I'd take a shot here and see if anyone has an idea.

I have a few Windows 7 systems that are running GroupWise 8. These systems also need Microsoft Office (they're not using Outlook but need Word, Excel, etc). I can get both installed fine, but these newer systems are running the "Click to run" version of Office 2013, which to the best of my knowledge doesn't allow a "custom" install without Outlook.

Problem is that the GroupWise 8 client will work great - once. I can send/receive emails, dig through the address book, and pretty much do anything I want. However, after I close it, I get the following next time I try to open it:
"Groupwise is not properly installed. The Groupwise components could not be initialized. Please run GroupWise setup, or contact your system administrator."

I've found that I can go to Control Panel -> Mail, show profiles, delete the profile (Novell Groupwise is the only listing there), open GroupWise, and it works perfectly. Again, only until I close it, then it reverts back to the above. I get the error again next time I try to open it.

Things I've tried:
- Remove/reinstall GroupWise (no luck).
- Remove both GroupWise AND MS Office 2013 and reinstall them in different orders (no luck).
- Verified that GroupWise 8 is set for all its defaults in Default Programs (it is).
- Run Outlook once (without setting anything up) and let it create a profile, THEN open GroupWise. No luck.

This has something to do with the fact that GroupWise 8 and Outlook 2013 are on the same machine, because GroupWise 8 works fine if I completely remove Office 2013. Problem is...the users kinda need Office 2013. Anyone dealt with this before and have an idea of what to do? Currently, I just have users of the affected workstations running with GroupWise web access, but that's a Band-Aid fix at best. This is happening on about 5-6 different workstations (the rest are all running Office 2010 custom installs without Outlook).

I am trying to convince them to upgrade to GroupWise 2014 or switch to something else entirely, but right now I'm not having much luck there.
jhighwindAsked:
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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
I would stick with Office 2010 without Outlook until you can migrate away from the old product. Office 2013 installs Outlook and Office 2010 allows Outlook not to be installed. But Office 2010 is a perfectly good product and in support.

I have Office 2013 on my Windows 8.1 computer and Office 2010 on my Windows 7 computer. Office 2010 works just fine.

I doubt GroupWise 8 will work on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, so migration away from it will have to come at some point.
jhighwindAuthor Commented:
Yeah, I kind of suspected as much. From what I've read (and I Googled this to death), there's no easy way to make the old Groupwise work with Outlook 2013 on the same machine, and no way to "custom install" the click-to-run version of Office 2013 to exclude Outlook.

GroupWise 8 actually does run on Windows 8.1 (or at least I have successfully made it run on the one Windows 8.1 machine we have on this network), so long as no version of Outlook is installed. GroupWise 8 just REALLY does not seem to like it if Outlook is installed on the same machine, default program or not.

The "fun" thing about this is that it's too late to get money back on the Office 2013 licenses that came with these workstations. If there's no way to make it work, I may just have them bite the bullet and install 2010 on those workstations.
JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
Office 2010 runs on Windows 8.1 as well. so you probably just need to stick with Office 2010 for the time being.
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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
Another possibility would be to build a virtual machine using VMware Workstation. Install GroupWise in the VM and use Unity Mode so it looks like one machine.  This will work (I use it) but brings the expense of VMware and another OS license.  Much easier to stick with Office 2010.

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JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented:
@jhighwind  - Thanks and I was happy to help.
jhighwindAuthor Commented:
I'll accept that. I kind of suspected there wouldn't be an easy way to make GW8 work with Office 2013 on the same machine.

I'm going to just tell them to bite the bullet and get Office 2010 for these few, and make sure they avoid Office 2013 on future workstation purchases until they finally decide to upgrade the antiquated version of GroupWise.

Thanks for your input.
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