OL98: Computer Failure May Affect Archive Fidelity

ID: Q214575

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 98

SYMPTOMS

If you perform an archive operation in Microsoft Outlook, and your computer fails for an external reason (such as the power going out), when you restart Outlook, you may notice that some information that should be archived is not present in the original folder or in the folder to which it should have been archived.

CAUSE

During the archive process, there is a small window of time when archival information is only in memory before Outlook writes it to the archive personal store (PST) file. If a computer failure occurs at this exact time, the items that are in memory are lost.

RESOLUTION

Microsoft has a fix available for download. The fix will change the archive mechanism to ensure that Outlook will fully write the archived items to disk before deleting them from the source folder. After applying the fix, there will be no risk of data loss should the computer stop responding (crash) in the middle of the archive process. This problem will also be corrected in future versions of Outlook.

To obtain this fix, please go to the following Microsoft Office Update Web site:

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/arch98en.htm

MORE INFORMATION

The following installation information is from the archive patch Readme.txt file.


      -------------------------------------------------------- 
               README for Microsoft Outlook 98 Archive patch
                          February 24th, 1999            
      -------------------------------------------------------- 
              (c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1999 
                          All rights reserved. 


------------------------ 
HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT 
------------------------ 

To view readme.txt on screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window. 

To print readme.txt, open it in Notepad or another word processor, 
and then click Print on the File menu.

======== 
CONTENTS 
======== 

1. Setup 
   1.1 Shut down Exchange Server services before installing Outlook 98
       archive patch.
   1.2 Outlook 98 archive patch will not install correctly on Windows NT  
       computers if you do not have administrator rights.

======== 
1. SETUP 
======== 


----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 Shut down Exchange Server services before installing Outlook 98 
    archive patch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are installing the Outlook 98 archive patch on a computer also
running Microsoft Exchange Server, be sure to shut down Exchange Server
Services before starting the installation of the patch.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2 Outlook 98 archive patch will not install correctly on Windows NT  
    computers if you do not have administrator rights.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you try to install the Outlook 98 archive patch on a computer running
Windows NT and you do not have administrative privileges on the computer, 
the patch will not be able to install the updated files due to insufficient
write access to the Outlook program directory and the Windows NT system32
directory. You must be logged on as the administrator or have administrator
rights in order to successfully install the patch.

Known Issues

If you ignore the warning to quit Outlook and continue to install the patch, you will lose your Product Identification Number (PID).

The patch is unable to detect the current installation type and will install all of the patch files regardless of whether the Internet Mail Only or the Corporate or Workgroup installation type is installed. Although this does not impose a problem with future upgrades or the ability to switch from one installation type to another, it does mean that some unnecessary files are installed.

The patch will not detect the language in use by Outlook. The welcome screen indicates the language supported by the patch. If you choose to continue with the installation even though you are using a different language, the patch will install incorrect language versions of the Outlook and MAPI files.

If, after the files are decompressed from the .cab files onto your local disk and the new, patched files are being copied, you choose to cancel the installation of the patch by clicking Cancel, the following may occur:

Even though the patch is not successfully installed, you may receive a message that states "Outlook Archive Patch Completed."
A temporary file named Outllib.001, designed to replace the original Outllib.dll and rename itself to Outllib.dll during the final step of installation, may be left on your computer. This does not affect the ability of the patch to create the new Outllib.dll file when the patch is re-run and completed successfully.

If you install an updated Outllib.dll with a more recent date before you install the patch, you cannot perform a silent install of the patch (using the /Q command-line setup switch).

Additional query words: 98 data missing gone lose disappeared deleted


Keywords          : kbdta GnlFilem 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: June 22, 1999