A client called me with an error message displayed when setting up outlook 2003 clients to access an exchange 2000 server. The message related to the point when they tried to “check names” after entering the server name and the user name of the email account they were setting up. Office 2007 trials had been preinstalled on the machines by the supplier. Nice. To facilitate the Office 2003 installation – they had been removed.
The obscure message is “There was an error locating one of the items needed to complete this operation. It might have been deleted” – how useful is that ! Maybe the disk fairies took it ?
Well actually the answer is more about house keeping. After removing the Office 2007 trials from the machines in question I realised something might still be lingering and it turned out to be a file called mapisvc.inf. So to get your outlook 2003 configured – do a search for this file name – rename it to xmapisrc.inf where you find it (potentially in two locations) and then start outlook to configure the profile or if it complains use the Mail icon in control panel.
Thanks to Verity for her help.