PowerPoint 2013: Images in presentation disappear - and are replaced with 'The image part with relationship ID rId2 was not found in the file'

The term "red-x" actually comes from the fact that PPT usually puts a red x or an icon with a red x in place of images that it can't draw for whatever reason.  And the fact that it's somehow removed them is a pretty good reason for not being able to draw them later.  Note that "pretty good" doesn't imply "acceptable". ;-)

Yes.  Anything with 365 in it refers to a subscription version of Office.  But there are variations of that and variations of each of these variations leading to woe, tearing of hair and rending of garments for anyone mad enough to try and sort it all out.  MS peeps included.

You can tell if you have the so-called MSI version (ie, one that installs from a good old low-tech old-fashioned luddite-beloved installer file that ... um .. works) by looking at File | Account.  If you have an option there to turn updates on / off, it's a downloadable/click-to-run non-MSI version.  

I think the patches are intended for the MSI versions only; I've got a question into some people I know at MS about this and whether any hotfixes apply to the downloadable versions at all.

I have had this happen to me three times in the last month, and of course its the night before the presentation. 

The hardware is a Surface 2 Pro (8 GB) w/ factory image and Office Professional Plus 2013 (v15.0.455.1512)

Of course I am aware of the perceived vs. real difficulty of fixing problems in software, I'm a developer/computer scientist myself. I'm just frustrated, because the ratio of how much money they make with this product and how quickly they fix "red-Xs" (I like this description for "deal-breaking" bugs) seems to be way off. But of course, this might just be my personal impression, since I am personally affected and I have no insight into their development process whatsoever.

>> One hint is that the KB article talks about PowerPoint 2013 but makes no mention of Anything 365.  That seems to be MS_BaffleSpeak for "This only applies to the enterprise versions of Office, not the consumer ones". 

Isn't 365 just the name for the subscription type of office? When I download it onto my workstations, it still seems to be named "PowerPoint 2013".

What also confused me, was the description of the hotfix, it didn't seem to match the problem we encountered.

>> Some of them solved it, yes. However, it is unbelievable, that turning off any software that actively watches files is considered a solution over such a long time period.

As others have mentioned, it's a workaround, not a fix.  If your tooth hurts and the dentist can't figure out why, you chew on the other side of your mouth.  Not because it's a great idea, but because it causes you less pain.  

>> I am aware that these are supposed to be temporary fixes, but it's time for a permanent fix, don't you think?

Of course.  So do we all, Microsoft included.  But sometimes what appears to be a simple problem isn't.  Out here in Real World, some people have had this problem regularly.  Others haven't seen it at all.  Without being able to reproduce it reliably at MS, there was nothing to put under the microscope and examine.  

And once they locate the problem, it's not always a simple matter of changing a few lines of code.  There might be major changes needed, and then lots of testing to make sure that a change to fix one problem doesn't cause other problems in a different part of the program, or for different users.

And I'd imagine that since the problem appears to be related to automatic backup software, they probably want to test with all of the different software they can.  It wouldn't make them very popular to release a fix that works with OneDrive but not Dropbox.  ;-)

>> Well, I don't think they are taking the problem serious enough.

We're all entitled to our opinions.

Believe me, I understand the frustration and anger.  I haven't (so far) had the problem bite me, but there are others that I run into constantly - I've been complaining to MS about one since Office 97 was first released.  I have no hope of it ever getting fixed.  This red-x thing though ... I think we'll see a fix, though obviously not as soon as any of us would LIKE to see it.

>>  I also tried the "hotfix" listed and got the same message as someone else on the thread saying "this fix doesn't apply to anything on your machine".... 

Thanks for the URL.  This brings up another continuing frustration:  MS itself doesn't seem to understand the differences between all of the various Office 2013 versions; it certainly hasn't been able to make the differences clear to the public.

One hint is that the KB article talks about PowerPoint 2013 but makes no mention of Anything 365.  That seems to be MS_BaffleSpeak for "This only applies to the enterprise versions of Office, not the consumer ones". 

Normally you'll get updates for Office 365 automatically if updates are turned on, or not at all if they're off.  But this does bring up an interesting question.  ARE there optional hotfixes for O365?  I'll see what I can find out about that.