Outlook 2007 updates

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2687404
13 November 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2863811
8 April 2014



2687404 extracts to a many launguage specific msp files and the outlook-x-none.msp.  The outlook-xx-xx.msp should be matched to the language version you have installed.

3863811 extracts to only outlook-x-none.msp.  The language files are not present so installing only this msp will not apply the updates to the language files.

It is possible that not all of the files listed on the webpages may be present if they are related to Outlook features which are not installed.

outlook-x-none.msp in the 3863811 is a later version and carries later versions of some of the files.

The suggested approach would be to install outlook-xx-xx.msp for the language version updates and the outlook-x-none.msp via the updates folder to achieve the latest updates installation for Outlook 2007.


Note that if both outlook-x-none.msp files are renamed and copied to the update folder, then only the later one is applied because the installer scans the folder first to determine which are the latest updates to apply.

WMP 12 Custom Album Art

A significant number of CDs, particularly compilations, do not automatically obtain correct information from the Internet.  Album artwork can be missing or wrong if this happens.

To create the artwork for a CD ripped into Windows Media Player (WMP) 12, scan or screen capture the album artwork and create a 200x200 size jpg file.  Create the following files from this file

filename    size
folder.jpg 200x200
AlbumArtLarge.jpg 200x200
AlbumArtSmall.jpg 75x75

Restart WMP with these files in the album folder and the artwork should be displayed in WMP.

Image files are Artist\Album folder and marked as system files.  If incorrect artwork is displayed delete all the existing jpg files and copy the new versions described above.  You will need to turn off the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) in windows explorer to see the system jpg files.

Disable Browser Choice

HKLM\Software\BrowserChoice

Value Enable Type REGDWORD Data 0

WMP on Server 2012

Windows Media Player is not available by default on Windows 2012.  It can be enabled through the features management.

User Interfaces and Infrastructure> Desktop Experience

Windows 8 update scheduling

In Windows 7 is was possible to schedule a day and time when updates would automatically install.

In Windows 8 automatic updates are attempted during automatic maintenance.  Automatic maintenance can be configured to start at a particular time every day.  Tasks will start at that time unless the computer is in use, in which case, the tasks are postponed until the computer is not being used.

It is possible to override the Windows Update settings using GPOs.  To configure a particular day and time to carry out Windows Updates do the following:

Launch mmc.exe and load the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in.

Configure the Automatic Updates setting under
Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update - Configure Automatic Updates

Option 4 allows a day and time to be configured for automatic updates, however these settings are not reflected in the control panel, which will simply report that it has been set by the administrator.