Outlook "Stuck on top/Foreground". Issue is intermittent, and occurs usually after ~1 hour of use. Can be sooner

Anonymous
2019-08-27T03:07:13+00:00

Hi.

I have been having ongoing issues with Outlook for over 6 months, in which Outlook will become locked to the foreground.

Outlook has no add-ins enabled, and has been repaired, reinstalled, updated and downgraded many times.

The affected OS is a Windows Server 2016, functioning as a terminal server.

The affected users have two screens, and occasionally when a window is dragged to the same screen area as Outlook, Outlook will remain the foreground focus and the application being dragged will be "under/behind" the Outlook window.

This can also happen when the user is using a single screen.

This is not application specific, and even happens with the Outlook "New Email" window if popped-out from the Outlook client.

We have gathered numerous ETL logs and event logs and have come up with absolutely nothing.

Previously, the only known way to resolve the matter was to close and re-open Outlook.

However, strangely enough I have found that opening the options menu and closing it (Not changing any options, hitting either cancel or OK) will also resolve the issue.

From the options menu, we have tried with the following settings both enabled and disabled, with no luck on any setting:

  • Hardware Graphics Acceleration
  • Live Preview
  • Use Animations when expanding conversations and groups

We have tested the Email auto-configuration XML, and the MS partner support rep I was working with has confirmed that it is all okay.

I also provided him with screenshots of the connection status when Outlook is stuck, and we confirmed that all was OK there.

Another potential solution that was tried was unlocking and locking the taskbar. Both when the issue occurs and pro-actively.

We also recreated one of the users Outlook profile. This did not resolve the issue.

The issue is confirmed to not follow the user to other devices.

I'm sure there are more solutions that we have tried, that I have simply forgotten about during the length of this ticket.

At long last, the technician had advised me that I need to rebuild the affected server. This is not an option for us, as the server is used literally every single day inclusive of weekends, and the customer is entirely dependent on the running of this server.

I have now been advised by the technician to log a forum post here.

Please let me know if any other information should be required, but I feel this is quite extensive.

I do have recordings of the issue, and all ETL + Event logs.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-02-20T09:13:07+00:00

    Same issue here. I'm following this thread for some time now. 

    Issue occurs on Server 2016 with Office 2016 on a Citrix VDA. No issues with outlook on previous Server 2012 R2 VDA with same Citrix Version.

    Users are working on multiple monitors (two, sometimes 3).

    Some workarounds:

    • Closing the outlook window and open it again makes the problem dissappear temporariliy
    • Opening the Outlook Options and closing them also works

    More Workarounds to be tested...

    Regards, Cedy

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-02-19T16:17:51+00:00

    Goodday all,

    We still have the same issue. Yesterday we solved another issue, Outlook Template Phrases addin could not be started. We had to enable Protected mode in IE Options for this. It didn't seemed to be the solution for the template issue but is was. (reference:https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/73f1150c-808c-45e5-80a4-c3f071490916/office-2016-addin-error-this-addin-could-not-be-started-close-this-dialog-to-ignore-the?forum=Office2016ITPro). 

    Does anyone have the Enable Protected mode enabled yet, and have this issue?

    Thank you, hoping to find the solution together :-)

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-02-19T15:48:26+00:00

    Agreed on an Office patch. (probably October MSI)  When we first encountered the issue after applying the latest October patches - held back on the Windows Cummulative and Framework update and only applied the Office patches.  The problem began appearing across all servers with and without the Cummulative and Framework patches.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-02-19T15:15:53+00:00

    Guys

    I think you'll find it's an Office patch that is causing it. Not a Windows one. 

    And BTW - if a user has the problem, they can apparently in Outlook click File... Options.... and click CANCEL and it works again.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-02-19T15:06:37+00:00

    For us, the issue started being reported in early to mid October after:

    2019-09 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 for x64-based Systems (KB4522010)

    Release Date: September 23, 2019

    Version: OS Build 14393.3206

    This was an out of band patch for a Remote Code Execution vulnerability with Internet Explorer.

    Does Outlook use IE for rendering HTML emails?

    Prior to that we were on:

    2019-08 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 for x64-based Systems (KB4512495)

    Release Date: 17 August 2019

    Version: OS Build 14393.3181

    Although the first post on here was August 27 but says it had been happening for over 6 months.

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