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Outlook 2007 | Automatic profile configuration and Autodiscover

  • Artigo

Through my various experiences from support calls involving Outlook 2007 and Exchange Server 2007, I have learnt that there is lot of confusion related to profile configuration and autodiscover service.

On most of the occasions, I have found that we are perplexed about the part played by Outlook client and the part played by the Autodiscover service. So, to share my understanding of the process, after referring all the official document, available at Microsoft TechNet sites I am documenting the steps below.

There are three phases in complete Outlook 2007 profile configuration when the mailbox is on Exchange Server 2007.

1. Identifying users "Display Name" and "E-mail address" field

 (i). This is performed by Outlook client, basically a simple AD lookup. It comes into play when the user is logged on to the domain.

 (ii). It can be controlled by the DWORD ExchangeAddressDetect at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Preferences

2. Configuring the "basic" outlook profile

 (i). This is again done by the Outlook client, and known as the "Auto Account Setup" process. This phase configures Outlook profile , provided the user is logged onto the domain.

 (ii). Outlook client can be stopped from configuring the profile automatically by creating are DWORD value DisableAutoStartup at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover

3. Configuring the additional features such as OOF, Availability, OAB and UM (if used)

 (i). Now the Autodiscover feature comes into play.

 (ii). Outlook client's role is limited to locating the autodiscover url (via SCP object or DNS depending on the situation).Once the URL is contacted, access to all other features depends on the settings configured.

Now, what happens if the mailbox is on Exchange Server 2003 and the user is using Outlook 2007 client? Will the outlook client configure the profile automatically? The answer is "Yes" (conditions apply). In that case only phases 1 and 2 come into picture, and the profile thus configured is a fully functional one.

 

Additional related information:

White Paper: Exchange 2007 Autodiscover Service

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332063(EXCHG.80).aspx

Deploying additional registry values in the Office Customization Tool for Outlook 2007

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc837949.aspx

How Outlook 2007 works with different Exchange Server versions

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178996.aspx

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Outlook 2007 profile configuration