First off - I apologize for the HTTP-links... Forum won't let me post the links till they verified my account, but give no indication on how to go about that. Changed the dots (.) in the domainnames to commas (,). So manual alteration is needed if you want to see what I'm linking at.
Receiving e-mail with embedded images shows the mail with a red X instead of the images. I've had the problem reported from two users, tested it under my own user account, and tested it when logging in locally on the server with an administrative account (in which case I can review the zone-settings for IE). In all 4 cases the pictures did not show up embedded in the mails. So I'm at present seeing a problem with atleast 4 accounts, and am willing to assume it's a problem that spans all my users. Just that some users either don't care about embedded images, don't receive those kinds of mails, or just neglect to mention it.
Works on my workstation (Windows XP SP3) with Outlook 2003, doesn't work on the server (Windows 2008 R2 64bit running Citrix XenApp 6.5) with Outlook 2003. So it's not a restriction on internet access based on user. I'm using the same account for both. If I access Outlook directly on the server (foregoing Citrix, utilizing Microsoft Remote Desktop instead) it also does not work. On our old Citrix environment (Windows 2003 32bit running Citrix Presentation Server 4.5) we can view the mail normally. So it might be a quirk of Windows 2008 R2 somewhere. Windows and Office have been patched to the fixes released in December 2012.
A note was stated that possibly Citrix Speedscreen was a cause, but we don't use that, and it would be circumvented when I'd connect to the remote desktop. So that does not seem to be the source of the problem.
Tried on a server that has Outlook 2010 installed, and it failed on there too. So the version of Outlook also can't be a cause.
On a user that reported the problem, we cleaned out the profile (i.e. trashed it). The profile is roaming, so it was recreated upon the next logon of the user. Made no difference. So I'm also excluding the profile as the cause.
We had a go with the download settings in Outlook: www,tech-recipes,com/rx/1182/outlook_download_pictures_automatically_without_right_click/- No change. Besides, if the profile was recreated this is set to the default. It's set to the top three ticks enabled. Any changes to this don't result in changes in the display of the e-mail itself.
Forwarding the e-mail might show the pictures in some cases. Not in ours. Pictures remain undownloaded.
Checked the Internet format settings (www,geminimediaproductions,com/outlook2003_cannotviewimages.htm) - No change, no matter what we alter here.
Next there's a pointer that IE doesn't connect to the Internet properly. Not the case. I start IE8 on the server, and connect to the outside world just fine, through the locally installed TMG client. Even when I physically fill in the proxy data it does not make a difference. It can authenticate, for I can access the internet just fine. Even worse, saving the e-mail that doesn't show the pictures to an HTML file somewhere, and opening that in IE shows everything just fine. The proxy doesn't report any blockages on downloads, and when opening the HTML with the same references in it, it works like it's supposed to. Same proxy is used on the workstation and the server. So the proxy doesn't seem to be the cause. We tried a reset for IE too. No difference. IE isn't set to work offline. Checked the proxy for any errors being reported from the client and user trying to open the e-mail. Proxy reports anything requested comes in properly.
Found support,microsoft,com/kb/951982 - a possible hotfix. Tested it. No change. Tried Detect and Repair, which in some cases solved the issue. Also no change.
The OutlookSecureTemp fix was next. I don't see anything saved in there, unless I open attachments which do get saved in here. I can't find any saving of the content done locally. The Temporary Internet Folders remain empty. The folder is local to the server, and is deleted on logoff. The folder is empty by default. Using Process Manager seems to hint at the fact that there can't be anything written to the folder, but then why do attachments get stored there with no trouble? We verified the ACL's on the folder, found them to be okay. Normally the red X would indicate the folder to have 100 images stored, and running into problems because of that. But I can't find any images being saved. Changing the OutlookSecureTemp registry key to a folder I know exists, changes the location of the attachments being stored, so I know that key is working. Just that embedded HTML pictures do not get stored there.
Starting Outlook as an administrative user on the 2008 R2 machine makes no difference. Pictures remain elusive. Rights don't seem to be a cause for this either then.
Next thing I found was www,outlookforums,com/threads/61208-outlook-2003-not-showing-embedded-images/index8 - which hints at a copy-test, and deleting files from a folder. When I copy the red X from the mail and paste it to Word on the server in the same session, the picture is shown properly. Going back to Outlook and changing the preview to a different e-mail and going back makes it even less clear: The picture is now shown! The rest of the pictures isn't tho. If Outlook downloads stuff differently from IE, then it could be that Outlook just doesn't request the pictures for whatever reason. But if that's the case, I'm wondering about this test, in which a copy of the non-displaying image pasted to Word shows up, and then also shows up in Outlook, without any further intervention on my behalf.
When looking in the C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files folder, the only thing in there is an expected desktop.ini. So while this hints at a solution, it isn't one in itself.
About the only thing I can imagine being the cause would be the links to the files. For instance www,computable,nl/pcit/img.db?2223468 instead of a real .jpg file.
Had a go with this solution:
www,msoutlook,info/question/588 and asktechmatthew.blogspot.nl/2012/12/red-x-in-ms-outlook.html
Altered it to version 11.0 for use with Outlook 2003, but unfortunatly, no change in behavior :( Due to us installing the Office 2007 file-import filters (xlsx and docx) I could try version 12.0 aswell, but that's grasping at straws... isn't it?
Didn't really expect it either, since the TMG client already should catch all web traffic and direct it to our TMG proxy server and let that one handle things. We do have it restricted to certain users being allowed to use the internet, so I had a minor bit of hope for this solution. Too bad it didn't seem to work out :(
Again started up Outlook Web Access to see if there was a change in behavior. Mail gives me the option to download external content. Click it, and the pictures display the 'image' pictogram in them as if they're loading. The red X remains absent. Contents of the actual pictures also doesn't show up :( When accessing the properties of any picture in the mail, the protocol, type and URL data all show 'Unavailable'. That may explain why the pictures don't load further.
It might be cause of HTTPS linking, but if I see about the sourcecode of the message, and determine what bit shows the picture (www,computable,nl/pcit/img.db?4141614 of www,computable,nl/media/computable-logo-gr.gif) the link is done through regular HTTP.
Found this: social,technet,microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/3e8a2d62-3b1a-4a29-b47f-c00fcbe45e46/
It refers to support,microsoft,com/kb/980393/en-us as the solution. Not sure if it pertains to my issue.
Had a go. Last night disabled one server to no allow any logons. It flushed, and sat in my environment this morning with 0 sessions.
Step 1: Open desktop as an administrative user, start Outlook and see about the problem - Sadly, still there. I verified I was the only user on the system at that point.
Step 2: Start Outlook as a user through Citrix, and see about the problem. I logged on, found a couple of other users had logged on to that server in the short timeframe I was working, booted them off so I was the only one on the system, logged out the Administrative
user I was logged in as, and saw about the problem. Still the problem persists.
Said hotfix doesn't seem like it will solve the issue for me. :(
At that point I'm logged in locally through remote desktop, and the problem still occurs. At this point XenApp or Citrix isn't part of the equation at all (atleast it doesn't seem to be to me). At that point I'm more or less considering a Windows 2008 R2 vs Outlook 2003 problem, but for the life of me I can't figure out where that issue might be located or where I could look other then the places I've already checked out, or the solutions I've already tried.
Last suggestion given is compatibility problems with Outlook 2003 and Windows 2008 R2. We had issues with Office on 2008 R2, but this lead back to DEP: support,microsoft,com/kb/2028367/
Also there are known problems if Outlook crashes: andrewseeliger,wordpress,com/2011/05/03/outlook-2003-crashes-on-xenapp-6-with-windows-2008-r2-64bit/ and www,experts-exchange,com/Software/Office_Productivity/Groupware/Outlook/Q_24992574.html but these seem not to apply to us (knocks on wood)
Also going with support,microsoft,com/kb/822129, which shows the minimum requirements for Office 2003. I surmise Windows 2008 R2 is higher than Windows 2003, but can't find any definitive answer on the support of Office 2003 on Windows 2008 R2.
That said, I've also tried this on Office 2010 (as you can see in my opening post) with Outlook 2010, and found the problem is in there too... So the problem does seem to be independant of the version of Office.
Me and my colleague have somewhat exhausted our direct ideas to solve this issue. Anyone want to chip with something we can still try?
Posted the question up on the following links:
www,outlookforums,com/threads/89134-outlook-refuses-show-embedded-images-citrix-windows-2008-r2/
social,technet,microsoft,com/Forums/en-US/outlook/thread/0333e97d-bcc1-4f55-b434-88465f87f27f
social,technet,microsoft,com/Forums/en-US/winservergen/thread/9f5e6142-ca06-4480-bc47-273693d5fe98