OL2000: (CW) New User Prompted to Make Outlook the Default Mail Client (218381)

NOTE: The procedures in this article only apply if you have installed Outlook with the Corporate or Workgroup option. With this option, you can use Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) services. To determine your installation type, click About Microsoft Outlook on the Help menu. If you have the Corporate or Workgroup installation, you see "Corporate or Workgroup".

SUMMARY

To control whether users can choose Outlook as the default mail client, the administrator should use the OUTLOOKASDEFAULTAPP property in the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW).

To register Outlook as the default manager of e-mail, calendar, contacts, and news items using OUTLOOKASDEFAULTAPP property, follow these steps:

Start the CIW.
On the Modify Setup Properties panel, click the OUTLOOKASDEFAULTAPP property, and then click Modify.
In the Value box, select one of the following values:
All (the default setting)
Mail Only
Mail, Calendar, Contacts

NOTE: If you don't want users to see any prompts when they run Outlook for the first time, do not use the Ask user when Outlook first runs value for the OUTLOOKASDEFAULTAPP property.

MORE INFORMATION

An administrator who installs Outlook should not start Outlook for the first time while logged in as the administrator. You will receive a prompt to make Outlook the default mail client. If you click Yes, and then after the installation the administrator "locks down" the system through system policies, users do not have the option of setting the default mail program. Furthermore, if the administrator clicked No to the question, users will not be able to set Outlook as the default mail client.

The registry key that determines if Outlook is the default mail client is in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) subtree. When a system is locked down, the HKLM subtree can not be modified. In the above scenario, the administrator has already written to the registry and placed Outlook in a default client state. Users do not have the ability to write to the HKLM subtree and therefore can not change the default client state.

REFERENCES

For additional information about related issues, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

222335 OL2000: Outlook Returns Permissions Error on First Run

For detailed information about using the Custom Installation Wizard to install Outlook in a locked-down environment, refer to the Microsoft Office Resource Kit. The topic, "Installing Outlook 2000 on a Locked Down System," is available on the Microsoft Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/two/35t3_6.htm

For more information about the Microsoft Office Resource Kit, visit:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/