Go to Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs and select Microsoft Office (version) 2003. Click on Change. On the next screen, select repair. Ensure you have your Office 2003 disk handy.

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Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

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After furious head scratching, The Inquirer asked:

| OS: Windows XP Pro
| App: Microsoft Outlook 2003
|
| Problem: My Outlook suddenly stopped functioning. When I try to
| launch it, I receive an error message that says "preparing to
| install" then I get a message that says, "Operation failed due to
| installation problem. Restart Outlook and try again." I tried to
| start the "OSE" service in the Administrative Tools / Services /
| Office Source Engine. I configured the startup type to "automatic"
| and the the "service status" to start, but to no avail. Outlook
| still wont install and repair. What am I doing wrong? How did it
| just suddenly stop functioning?
|
| Any advice or help will be appreciated. Thank you