Installing Outlook in a Terminal Services Environment | Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit (Pro-Resource Kit)

By using Microsoft Windows Terminal Services, you can use Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 without having to upgrade every computer in your organization. Users can work in the latest Microsoft Office 2003 environment even when their computers have limited hard disk space, memory, or processing speed.

Windows Terminal Services allows you to run Microsoft Windows–based programs on a server and display them remotely on client computers. For example, you can install a single copy of Outlook 2003 on a Windows Terminal Services computer. Then, instead of running Outlook locally, multiple users can connect to the server and run Outlook from there.

However, there are some limitations to be aware of. For example, you cannot use Outlook with Cached Exchange Mode when you run Outlook on Windows Terminal Services. Also, to help provide the best supported Outlook experience for your users in a Terminal Services environment, pay special attention to managing Outlook features that might adversely affect performance.

Outlook features that are disabled with Terminal Services

The following Outlook features cannot be used when you are running Outlook in a Terminal Services environment:

Offline store (OST) files.

Features that rely on the OST (for example, Cached Exchange Mode and Offline) are not supported with Terminal Services.
Forms Designer and the Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) editor.

You can view a custom form, but you cannot design a new form or revise an existing form.
Changing the Time Zone from within Outlook.

Changing this setting in Outlook updates a system setting.
Changing Zone security settings from within Outlook.

Changing this setting in Outlook updates a system setting.
Changing the status of a Microsoft Exchange Client Extension.

You cannot change the status; however, if the Exchange Client Extension is already on, it should work correctly.
Adding stationery that was not included with Outlook as part of the Terminal Services installation.
Outlook animations are disabled.

Examples of Outlook animations include Send/Receive animation and the timer in Journal items.

Using WordMail with Terminal Services

Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Office Word 2003 can both use a large amount of memory on the Terminal Services computer. If Outlook users use WordMail as their e-mail editor, this option takes more memory and, as a result, can affect the number of users that you can serve simultaneously in a Terminal Services environment. Although the default editor for Outlook 2003 is WordMail, you can set a different default editor as part of your customized Outlook deployment.

Note

Another option is to disable WordMail by using Group Policy. In Group Policy, load the Outlook 2003 template (Outlk11.adm). Under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office Outlook 2003\Tools | Options\Mail Format, click Message Format. Double-click Message format/editor. In the Use the following Format/Editor for e-mail messages drop-down list, select an option that does not include Microsoft Word. Clear the Use Microsoft Word to read rich text e-mail messages check box. Then click OK.

To set the default Outlook 2003 editor

On the Tools menu in Outlook, click Options.
Click the Mail Format tab.
In the Message format section, set the option Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages.

You can customize this setting in a test installation of Office, then capture your settings by using the Office Profile Wizard. The settings will be saved in an Office profile settings file (OPS file) that you can include with a transform (MST file) or configuration maintenance file (CMW file).

Or, you can use the Outlook: Customize Default Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard or the Custom Maintenance Wizard to set the default e-mail editor.

After configuring the default editor for Outlook, install Outlook with the customization file (MST file or CMW file) that includes this new setting.

On the Resource Kit CD

The Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit core tool set includes the Custom Installation Wizard, Office Profile Wizard, and Custom Maintenance Wizard. You use these tools to customize Office application deployments. These tools are installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program. For more information, see Appendix A, “Toolbox.”

Unlocking registry settings

By default, Windows Terminal Services clients do not have write access to the registry on the Windows Terminal Services computer. To run some Outlook features, you might need to give users write access to some keys and subkeys. For example:

To allow users the use of custom MAPI forms for Outlook 2003, unlock the subkey HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID.
To allow users the use of Microsoft Schedule+ resources, unlock the subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Schedule+\Application.

Resources and related information

The Office Custom Installation Wizard provides a straightforward way to configure and install Outlook 2003. For more information about Outlook configuration choices, see “Customizing Outlook Features and Installation with the Custom Installation Wizard” in Chapter 7, “Deploying Outlook 2003.”

Detailed information about using the Office Profile Wizard to save user options is available. For more information about the Office Profile Wizard and OPS files, see Customizing Outlook Features and Installation in the Custom Installation Wizard on the companion CD.