OL2000: "Outlook Requires Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 or Greater" Error Message If You Start Outlook

If you start Microsoft Outlook after you install Microsoft Office, you may receive the following error message:

This behavior can occur if Microsoft Outlook Express is not installed on the computer. Outlook Express must be installed for Outlook to function correctly. This situation can occur if you install Microsoft Internet Explorer by using a custom option that does not include Outlook Express, and then install Outlook. For example, this behavior may occur in the following situation:

• You use Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) to create a custom installation package to deploy Internet Explorer.
  
  -and-
• You do not include Outlook Express in the custom IEAK package. Outlook Express is not installed on the users' computer.
  
  -and-
• You deploy Office (including Outlook) to users.

To resolve this behavior, use the following method that is appropriate to your situation.

Method 1

Use this method if you want to install Outlook Express on the users' computers.

For additional information about how to install Outlook Express, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to use IEAK 5.5 to create a custom installation package to deploy Internet Explorer (and Outlook Express), visit the following Microsoft Web site: For additional information about how to install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 with Microsoft Office 2000, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Method 2

Use this method if you do not want Outlook Express installed on the users' computers.

Use the Microsoft Office Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) to create a custom transform (.mst) that includes the registry entries for Outlook Express, and then use this transform to deploy Office to your users. By doing this, users can use Outlook without installing Outlook Express on their computers.

NOTE: The steps in this article assume that you have already created an administrative installation point for Microsoft Office 2000. For more information about how to create an administrative installation point, see the "How to Create an Administrative Installation Point" section of the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit (ORK) at the following Microsoft Web site:

Step 1: Create a Registry (.reg) File

1. Start Notepad, and then open a new blank document.
2. Copy and paste the following text in the file:
   REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{44BBA840-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}] @="Microsoft Outlook Express 5" "IsInstalled"=dword:00000001 "ComponentID"="MailNews" "Locale"="EN" "StubPath"=hex(2):22,25,53,79,73,74,65,6d,44,72,69,76,65,25,5c,50,72,6f,67,72,\ 61,6d,20,46,69,6c,65,73,5c,4f,75,74,6c,6f,6f,6b,20,45,78,70,72,65,73,73,5c,\ 73,65,74,75,70,35,30,2e,65,78,65,22,20,2f,41,50,50,3a,4f,45,20,2f,43,41,4c,\ 4c,45,52,3a,49,45,35,30,20,2f,75,73,65,72,20,2f,69,6e,73,74,61,6c,6c,00 "Version"="5,00,2314,1300"
3. On the File menu, click Save.
4. In the File name box, type oe.reg, specify a location where you want to save the file, and then click Save.
   
   NOTE: Verify that you included the quotation marks (") when you type the file name. This action creates the file with the .reg extension.
5. Quit Notepad

Step 2: Create a Custom Transform

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, point to Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit Tools, and then click Custom Installation Wizard.
2. Click Next.
3. In the Open the MSI File screen, click Browse, locate the Office .msi file that you want to use, click Open, and then click Next.
   
   The file is located in the root folder of the administrative installation point. For example, path\Data1.msi, where path is the location of the administrative installation point.
4. In the Open the MST File screen, do one of the following, as appropriate to your situation:
   • Click Do not open an existing MST file to create a new transform, and then click Next. -or-
     
     
   • Click Open an existing MST file, enter the file name and path of the transform to open and modify an existing transform, and then click Next.
5. In the Select the MST File to Save screen, specify the name and path of the .mst file in which you want to save changes, and then click Next.
   
   Microsoft recommends that you place the .mst file in the same folder as the .msi file so that it is easier to locate.
6. In the subsequent pages of the CIW, specify the features and options that you want for the Office installation.
7. In the Add Registry Entries page, click Import.
8. Locate and then click the .reg file that you created in step 1, and then click Open.
   
   The CIW extracts the registry entries from the registry file and adds them to the transform.
9. Click Next, and then specify the options that you want in the remaining pages of the CIW.
10. Click Finish, and then click Exit.

For more information about how to add registry entries to a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard, see the "How to Set Registry Entries" section of the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit (ORK) at the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform, see the "How to Use a Transform with Office Setup" section of the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit (ORK) at the following Microsoft Web site:

Step 3: Run Office Setup with the Custom Transform

To install Office on a user's computer, include the file name and path of the transform file in the Office Setup command line. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type the following line, and then click OK:
   admin_path\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=transform
   where admin_path is the path to the administrative installation point, and transform is the path to the custom transform file.

For additional information about why Outlook 2000 requires Outlook Express, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about how to deploy Internet Explorer 5.5 by using IEAK, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For additional information about how to deploy Office, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The Custom Installation Wizard is included in the Microsoft Office Resource Kit core tool set (ORKTools.exe) which is available for download from the following Microsoft Web site: For complete information about how to customize your Office installation and how to deploy Office in a network environment, see the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit (ORK) at the following Microsoft Web site: