OL2000: Error Message "Unable to load free/busy information."

When you use the meeting planner to view another person's free/busy time, you may receive the following error message:
NOTE: Microsoft Office 2000 has built-in functionality that allows you to get more information about difficult-to-troubleshoot alerts or error messages. If you want to enable this functionality for this and other error messages in Microsoft Office 2000, please download the Microsoft Office 2000 Customizable Alerts file from the Microsoft Office Update Web site at the following address:

NOTE: If you reached this article by clicking the Web Info button in an error message, you already have Customizable Alerts enabled.

If the Other Person Upgraded from Schedule+

This problem occurs when someone migrates to Outlook and does not choose to delete Schedule+ information from their server. Their .SCD or .CAL files remain on the server and generate free/busy information that conflicts with the Outlook calendar.

To resolve this problem, run Outlook with the /CleanSchedPlus command-line switch on each computer containing Outlook, and then run Outlook with the /CleanFreeBusy command-line switch on each computer.

First, determine the path to Outlook by following these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Find and then click Files or Folders.
2. In the Named box, type Outlook.exe and then click Find Now.
3. Note the path to the Outlook executable file for reference. For example, the default path is:
   
   c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe
4. On the File menu, click Close.

To use the /CleanSchedPlus command-line switch, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and click Run.
2. In the Open box, type the complete path noted earlier in step 3, including the file name. Press SPACEBAR once and then type a forward slash (/) followed by the command-line switch, for example:
   
   "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe." /CleanSchedPlus

NOTE: The full path needs to be in quotation marks to preserve long file names.

To use the /CleanFreeBusy command-line switch, repeat steps 1 and 2, substituting the /CleanFreeBusy switch for the /CleanSchedPlus switch in step 2.

Alternate Resolution for Microsoft Mail Server

Alternately, with Microsoft Mail Server, if someone migrates to Outlook and does not use Schedule+ as their calendar, have their mail administrator remove the files in their CAL folder. Then, have them add an item to their calendar to regenerate their .pof (free/busy) file. This action serves the same function as running the /CleanSchedPlus and /CleanFreeBusy switches.

There Is a Problem with the Other Person's Published Free/Busy Information

You can refresh the free/busy information by running Outlook with the /CleanFreeBusy command-line switch on the computer that is having problems publishing free/busy information.

First, determine the path to Outlook by following these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Find and then click Files or Folders.
2. In the Named box, type Outlook.exe, and then click Find Now.
3. Note the path to the Outlook executable file for reference. For example, the default path is:
   
   c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe
4. On the File menu, click Close.

Next, run Outlook with the /CleanFreeBusy command-line switch, using the following steps:

1. Click Start, and click Run.
2. In the Open box, type the complete path noted earlier in step 3, including the file name. Press SPACEBAR and then type a forward slash (/) followed by the command-line switch, for example:
   
   "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe." /CleanFreeBusy

NOTE: The full path needs to be in quotation marks to preserve long file names.