Microsoft Issues Fix for Outlook Bug Causing Crashes on Startup

Outlook – 5

Microsoft has recently released a fix to address a bug in Outlook for Windows, which was previously causing the app to crash or become unresponsive on startup. The company announced that the update is currently rolling out to all users in the current and semi-annual enterprise channels.

Microsoft first acknowledged the Outlook freezing issues in a support document published back in August 2022. The company detailed that the particular problem was caused by a blank Registry setting. In this case, the Outlook desktop app was unable to assign email address values in the registry key.

“When you start Outlook Desktop, it gets past loading profile and processing, briefly opens, and then stops responding. You can confirm if this is the issue when Outlook stops by looking at the Windows Event Viewer Application Log for Event 1000 or Event 1001,” Microsoft explained. “This issue occurs when the EmailAddress string data value under the Office identity is blank.”

Microsoft Issues Fix for Outlook Bug Causing Crashes on Startup
Outlook closes

Microsoft has since updated the support document to mention that the Outlook crashing issue has been fixed. However, the rollout process will take place in a staggered manner, and all users will receive the fix in the near future.

“This issue is fixed in Current Channel Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156) and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) Version 2208 (Build 15601.20158). As these builds get to the other channels the fixes will follow,” Microsoft added.

Microsoft suggests workarounds to fix Outlook crashes

In the meantime, Microsoft has suggested a couple of temporary workarounds to help Outlook users mitigate the problem. Users who want to avoid the bug can sign out and sign back into the Office app to automatically re-populate the identity registry settings. Microsoft also recommends manually setting the email address value or making a Registry change to turn off Support Diagnostics.

In other Outlook-related news, Microsoft is also working to fix a bug that causes the Outlook app to become unresponsive when opening emails with tables such as Uber receipts. You can find more details in our previous post.