OL97: Error Starting OL97 After Removing OL98

If you uninstall Microsoft Outlook 98 and reinstall Microsoft Outlook 97, you may get file errors when attempting to start Outlook 97.

The Outlook 98 uninstall program leaves behind certain critical files. The setup program for Outlook 97 will not update these files with an older version.

You must follow these steps to successfully reinstall Outlook 97:

• Uninstall Outlook 98
• Uninstall Office 97
• Run Eraser97
• Reinstall Office 97 with Outlook 97

To Uninstall Outlook 98

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click to select Microsoft Outlook 98, and then click Add/Remove.
3. Click Remove Outlook 98 and follow the Wizard instructions.

To Uninstall Office 97

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click to select Microsoft Office 97 and then click Add/Remove.
3. In the Setup dialog box, click Remove All and follow the Wizard instructions.

To Run the Eraser97 Program

For information on obtaining and running the Eraser97 program, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To Reinstall Office 97

Reinstall Microsoft Office 97, including Outlook 97, from your original setup medium.

Microsoft NetMeeting

If Microsoft NetMeeting 2.0 is present on the computer when you install Outlook 98, setup will upgrade it to NetMeeting 2.1. When you uninstall Outlook 98, NetMeeting will no longer run properly. To use NetMeeting, you must reinstall version 2.0 from your original setup medium.