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jkirmanFlag for United States of America

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Outlook / Office 2010 crashing on Windows XP SP3

Outlook / Office 2010 on Windows XP  crashes with error "The procedure entry point EnumCalendarInfoExex could not be located in the dynamic link library kernel32.dll"

Greetings,

A client I recently started working with has a legacy app they need to run on Windows XP SP3.  Outlook 2007 was running OK on that PC for several years, and the Exchange email provider recently advised that we needed to upgrade to Outlook 2010 SP3 to maintain compatibility with a planned Exchange upgrade.  After implementing that upgrade to Office 2010 SP3 I am now getting the above error whenever I run an Office 2010 app, whether it is Word, Excel, or Outlook.  I have dealt with this issue before by removing KB KB4462157 but in this instance that didn't help.  Overall I've removed the following Office 2010 updates and rebooted, but am still getting the error message:

KB4462157
KB4461579
KB4461625
KB4462172
KB4462187
KB4661521

Appreciate any thoughts on what else I can try.

Thanks.

jkirman
Avatar of Sajid Shaik M
Sajid Shaik M
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do u have any KB4011273  if there uninstall n check

all the best
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Dr. Klahn

You've encountered a problem with a system file.  The version of kernel32.dll on that system is missing an entry point that is required for Office to operate.

On an XP system the final version of kernel32.dll was 5.1.2600.7248.  Locate it on that system and check the Properties.  If it is a version previous to the final, the system is missing at least one XP Update, possibly SP3.  If that is the case, enable Automatic Updates (yes, Microsoft still supplies them) and BITS, give it internet access, and let it download and install the updates.  If *that* fails then make a full backup of the system, do the POS registry hack and try Automatic Updates again.  (The POS hack still works; I get an occasional update.)

However, if the version of kernel32.dll is in fact the last version I don't see what could be done about that.  I doubt that a later version of the DLL could be expected to work on XP, and XP would reject it anyway -- it's a protected system file -- even though later versions are available.

User generated image
http://www.dlldownloader.com/kernel32-dll/

In this situation rather than trying to crowbar in a version of Office that came out 10 years after XP, ... I'd look at an alternative such as Thunderbird for email, or bring that system forward to Vista 32-bit.  Most XP applications still ran under Vista.  It is not a good solution but you're not keeping the XP system around because it's beautiful or easy to maintain.

I would, however, note this:  Having that XP system in your network is a major security issue.  It can only use SMB V1 for Microsoft networking, which means you have manually enabled SMB V1 on  your network, which means in turn that you've got a 30 year old security hole begging to be exploited.  You should get the XP system off the network as soon as possible and disable SMB V1, or disable Microsoft Networking on the XP system -- which would also solve the Office problem:  It would then no longer be able to get at any server on your network.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3206185/the-ancient-microsoft-networking-protocol-at-the-core-of-the-latest-global-malware-attack.html
Avatar of jkirman

ASKER

Thanks for your suggestions.  I'll respond to your individual comments:

Sajid Shaik M:  thanks but I am not seeing KB4011273  in the list of updates.  I also searched the registry for it, but it is not present.

Dr. Klahn:  I looked at the version of kernel32.dll on the PC, and it is version 5.1.2600.6532, so I would guess it is 1 rev behind the version you referenced.  Note that the PC is, according to System Properties, running XP Service Pack 3.   Automatic updates has been enabled on this PC for a while, but it has not gone beyond the current version / revisions of the XP system files.

When searching around for newer versions of kernel32.dll, I came across references to the "Unofficial WIndows XP Service Pack 4".  Any thoughts on whether this is a valid path to explore?

Also, can you please clarify / explain on how to implement the POS registry hack?  I assume this allows the XP PC to get updates past the normal end-of-life / end-of-updates from Microsoft.

Thanks

jkirman
Avatar of jkirman

ASKER

To Dr. Klahn:  No need to clarify re the POS hack, this was a simple lookup on my part, I added the following info to the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\PosReady]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

Rebooted, and will post updates and progress on this.

Thanks again.

jkirman
https://soggi.org/misc/articles/Windows-Embedded-POSReady-2009-Update-Hack-Windows-XP.htm

I note that XP POSReady 2009 has now reached end-of-life (July) so whether the POS updates can still be obtained automatically through Automatic Updates is in doubt.  The only way to find out would be to try it.  And don't try it without making a full backup of the system first because once Update starts putting in changes, getting them back out is exceedingly difficult.

From what I see on the page above there are about 200 patches.
try running a repair of outlook/office
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ASKER

Nobus:  I tried the repair, rebooted, and unfortunately no luck there.  Thanks anyway.

Dr. Klanh:   I decided to "go for broke" on the POS XP updates.  The update process did in fact pull down the XP updates, and I installed them all.  Took a few sessions, as I normally don't select more than 40 at a time, as I've seen the update process fail when trying to do e.g. 150 updates.  There were c. 160 updates in all, close to your estimate above.    After running each batch of XP updates I tested running the Office 2010 apps, but they always crashed with the same EnumCalendarInfoExex error.  After all updates were completed, I  checked the version of kernel32.dll, and it was the final version 5.1.2600.7248, as per your initial comment above.  However and unfortunately, it made no difference.  I also re-checked c. a dozen articles dealing with the same issue and error, and searched for the following KB's to remove:

4462157
4461522
4461614
4461579 (found and deleted)
4462174
4011273
4011711
4462177
4462223
2863821
4018313
4462186

Of the above KB's, only the one indicated above, KB4461579, was present.  I deleted it, rebooted, but no luck.

So... time to move on.  We'll have to shift the email function to another PC running WIn 10, and will continue for the moment to use the XP PC for the legacy app.  I've advised the client of the security risks, and we'll be evaluating an application to replace the legacy app in the next few weeks.

Thanks to all for your efforts and suggestions.  No result or solution was found, but thanks to Dr. Klahn for making me aware of post-support EOL updates for XP.

Cheers

jkirman
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