How To Stop The New Outlook From Automatically Installing

Hiya Chris, sorry for the delay in responding - I have tried to delete the olk folder but it says I need permission, it also said I cannot change the name, so Im giving up. How can something be so impossible to get rid of! Grrrrr...

Thank you again for your message

Take care

Rach

Rachl, you need to delete the file "olk.exe". From your screenshot, I suspect its the one called "olk" with the hidden extension. Alternatively you, can just right click and rename it "Old_olk.exe".

If that fails, you might try solution 4 below. Just run the "bat" script and it does everything for you. .

Kind regards

Chris

PS Here is a summary of possible solutions in found in this thread no particular order:

A big thank you to all those who have shared solutions.

1- Deleting the new Outlook's executable ("olk.exe") from "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.OutlookForWindows".

(See The Man James's post on page 2- marked "Answer")

2- Deleting the Json files: C:\Users[Your computer's username]\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Migration\settings.json

and then later changing the permissions of the Migration Folder.

(See Jimmy W's post on page 1 and also Mark Freedman's post on page 3)

3- Use Python script to automatically uninstall the New Outlook.

(See Dominic Brooks post page 2)

4- Use a BAT script to install a dummy version of the new outlook. This will stop the new Outlook from taking over the old Mail app. You can download it here: https://github.com/matej137/OutlookRemover

(See Federico Roviralta's post on page 3)

5- Change the data in the callback folder

Users/(you)/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook/NewOutlookMigration/

open 'callback' with notepad; change the last two toggles from 'true' to 'false'. close and save.

Then lock down the 'NewOutlookMigration' folder using the same 'deny' write access as before.

(See Nick Haddock's post on page 2)

I hope I didn't miss any of the solutions!

I am quite happy deleting the .exe - but I have no idea which one of these I am suppose to delete? Also as I am not very technically minded, what does it all mean regarding changing ownership?

For anyone struggling to change ownership, a better solution is to use the "everything" search utility and iobit unlocker, you can find the exe on the search tool with the directory and forcefully remove it with iobit unlocker. Worked like a charm for me and it was way easier than having to deal with the ownership headache. Now the previous mail app works perfectly without the new outlook opening.

What worked for me was deleting the new Outlook's executable ("olk.exe") from "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.OutlookForWindows".

Once it's gone, it can't forcibly launch anymore when you open Windows Mail.

You first need to take ownership of the "WindowsApps" folder, then after deleting/renaming the .exe, restore the ownership back to "TrustedInstaller" (to prevent any potential issue down the line).

Useful Links:

Credit for original solution (deleting olk.exe):

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1g1ffst/block_the_windows_11_outlook_app/

Detailed instructions on changing ownership:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/restore-windowsapps-permissionss-to/464e65c1-6690-493b-8cf6-c85a5ac5468a