Email desktop alerts (toast notifications) aren't displayed in Outlook on Windows Server 2012

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard, Windows Server 2012 Standard

Original KB number:   3182782

Symptoms

When you have Microsoft Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2013 running as a RemoteApp in Windows Server 2012, you don't receive new email desktop alerts (toast notifications) as expected.

Cause

New email desktop alerts are created by explorer.exe. In a RemoteApp session, explorer.exe doesn't exist. Therefore, it can't create alerts.

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Outlook when it's running as a RemoteApp in Windows Server 2012.