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.

I have read through the original description and a lot of the answers, including your suggestion to run the Support and Recovery assistant, however, I think this problem must be something to do with the Outlook app itself. It did not used to have this issue and I am not quite sure when it started to occur, but this was several months ago and may have been following an update. If this is happening on multiple people's systems, then it is very unlikely to be a graphics driver issue, as the graphics on different people's systems are going to be different. The only common denominator is Outlook. I am currently using Outlook 2016 (Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016). One way I have found to solve this, albeit temporarily, is to open the options from the file tab (backstage). One does not need to change anything, just open it and click the 'OK' button. Other than that, restarting it, of course, fixes it. Is it possible that this can be looked into properly and that recent updates be examined to find the root cause of this issue. If there are nearly 200 people on this forum reporting this, then I would imagine it is a much larger group of users that are experiencing this issue. Thank you.

Update from Microsoft: "We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details) Summary of the case: Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground. Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog. Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps) Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE): We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side. This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI. Action Plan: Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. " Have we been able to pinpoint a KB that might have caused this? I am now starting to see this in other clients and given the nature of the world today, that can be a HUGE problem. We are experiencing the same issues (as Frog any many others out here) for some our major clients. Could you update this case Microsoft? Give us the latest status? I know this is busy time for Microsoft regarding the Corona epidemic.

Update from Microsoft: "We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details) Summary of the case: Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground. Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog. Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps) Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE): We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side. This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI. Action Plan: Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. " Have we been able to pinpoint a KB that might have caused this? I am now starting to see this in other clients and given the nature of the world today, that can be a HUGE problem.

Update from Microsoft: "We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details) Summary of the case: Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground. Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog. Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps) Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE): We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side. This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI. Action Plan: Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. "

I have a user experiencing the same issues and applied most of the same fixes with one a that's a little different than what else has been tried here: Registry changes: HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop ForegroundLocoutTimeout data to decimal and set to 0 All Addin registry items found HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins Set those load behaviors to 2 This seemed to increase the interval between failures but is not a concrete fix.

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

Anonymous

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.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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211 answers

Anonymous

2020-04-07T11:02:05+00:00

I have read through the original description and a lot of the answers, including your suggestion to run the Support and Recovery assistant, however, I think this problem must be something to do with the Outlook app itself.

It did not used to have this issue and I am not quite sure when it started to occur, but this was several months ago and may have been following an update.

If this is happening on multiple people's systems, then it is very unlikely to be a graphics driver issue, as the graphics on different people's systems are going to be different. The only common denominator is Outlook.

I am currently using Outlook 2016 (Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016).

One way I have found to solve this, albeit temporarily, is to open the options from the file tab (backstage). One does not need to change anything, just open it and click the 'OK' button. Other than that, restarting it, of course, fixes it.

Is it possible that this can be looked into properly and that recent updates be examined to find the root cause of this issue.

If there are nearly 200 people on this forum reporting this, then I would imagine it is a much larger group of users that are experiencing this issue.

Thank you.
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Anonymous

2020-03-31T06:32:38+00:00

Update from Microsoft:

"We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details)

Summary of the case:

Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground.

Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog.

Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps)

Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE):

We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side.

This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI.

Action Plan:

Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. "

Have we been able to pinpoint a KB that might have caused this?

I am now starting to see this in other clients and given the nature of the world today, that can be a HUGE problem.

We are experiencing the same issues (as Frog any many others out here) for some our major clients. Could you update this case Microsoft? Give us the latest status? I know this is busy time for Microsoft regarding the Corona epidemic.
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2020-03-30T14:50:23+00:00

Update from Microsoft:

"We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details)

Summary of the case:

Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground.

Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog.

Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps)

Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE):

We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side.

This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI.

Action Plan:

Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. "

Have we been able to pinpoint a KB that might have caused this?

I am now starting to see this in other clients and given the nature of the world today, that can be a HUGE problem.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2020-03-13T14:27:39+00:00

Update from Microsoft:

"We currently have two EE's One from Outlook and one from Windows engaged on this. We now have a z-order expert (which is our Windows EE) He is probably the best/only person who knows how to debug this efficiently. We just need to give him the time he needs as this is a super complex debug. (see action plan below for more details)

Summary of the case:

Issue: Users in VDI will have Outlook stuck in the foreground.

Known Workarounds: Close/kill outlook, or Click the file tab in Outlook and click options and cancel that dialog.

Also we now know that the outlook window can by minimized while in this state and users are able to access other windows. (apps)

Initial Debug of dumps (done by our Outlook EE):

We found that we could see that Outlook was not Hung and it looked like we were waiting on something from the OS side.

This caused us to engage the windows team to look at the z-order which is what determines what window has focus in the UI.

Action Plan:

Microsoft: We are working with our Outlook and Windows EE's to review and debug the snapshot from test problem machines. At this point we don't have enough information to go to the Product Group to request a fix and there is no ETA. We will continue to work on this and update you as more information becomes available. "
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Anonymous

2020-03-11T18:08:19+00:00
I have a user experiencing the same issues and applied most of the same fixes with one a that's a little different than what else has been tried here:

Registry changes:
1. HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop ForegroundLocoutTimeout data to decimal and set to 0
2. All Addin registry items found HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins
  
  Set those load behaviors to 2
This seemed to increase the interval between failures but is not a concrete fix.
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