PSTDisableGrow

[PD001]

I have EV 9.02 and we had an issue opening archives in Outlook, I found article ID howto57214 to Override PSTDisableGrow. Is PSTDisableGrow in by default? we are running XP SP3 with Office, 2003,2007 and 2010. I'm trying to figure out the default settings for PSTDisableGrow and what I would need to do to change all my workstation in my domain to be able to open archives.

thanks

Pat

[JesusWept3]

OK by default PSTDisableGrow is not set by Microsoft or outlook, it's typically an optional thing that can be pushed out to users via GPO inorder to stop people from using PST's altogether

Rob Wilcox did a blog post few months back where the location of PSTDisableGrow was what was causing the Enterprise Vault override not to kick in

So a couple of things first

1. You must have the relevant hotfix for your version of outlook

For Outlook 2003 SP2 you should use
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=953925&kbln=en-us

For Outlook 2007 SP1 you should use
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=953925&kbln=en-us

If you have Outlook 2003 SP3 or Outlook 2007 SP2 or any version of Outlook 2010, you will be fine


2. The PSTDisableGrow DWORD should be located in one of the following locations

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\PST (Outlook 2003)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\PST (Outlook 2007)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST (Outlook 2010)

3. In the same location you must have a DWORD called PSTDisableGrowAllowAuthenticodeOverrides set to 1

Once these changes are made, items should then be able to open.

To read more about this on rob wilcox's blog post:
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/pstdisablegrow-and-enterprise-vault-outlook-addin-901

[PD001]

Do I need PSTDisableGrow at all for EV to open Archives. If it is not on a workstaion, EV Archives will work?

[JesusWept3 · Accepted solution]

Well it depends what you mean by opening archives?

If you use Outlook Web Access then the item is actually restored to the users Deleted Items as a hidden message and OWA opens up that hidden message

If you use Archive Explorer or Search with No Outlook Dependency set then you will see the item through View.asp and see it rendered as an html page in a browser window.

If you use Archive Explorer or Search and choose to view the original item, it will download the item as an MSG file which normally will open up within Outlook itself, but is downloaded to the Temporary Internet Files area..... this would be the same if you were using linux or a ma, it would just open the msg file in a different email reader.

If you use shortcuts to retrieve an item, then it will create a temporary PST file to store the item in.
As Rob pointed out in the blog post, to display an item using OOM (Outlook Object Model) it needs to be in a Store of some kind (it could be a mailbox or a PST), but the way that EV does it, is it stores it in a temporary PST file.

If you have PSTDisableGrow involved, what will happen is EV will create the temporary pst file at 256k, but due to the fact it can't grow, it will fail when attempting to add the item to it.

If you were to use Vault Cache and Virtual Vault, the MetaData Cache file would fail to synchronize as the MDC file is in fact a PST File and is built on the end users work station, so when items attempt to download to the meta data, it will fail, again because the PST File can't grow.

The Vault Caches "Content Cache" (The DB Files) are built on the Enterprise Vault server which contain full message files contained with in your archive and then downloaded to the client machine via BITS, so if the EV Server is not part of the GPO to set "PSTDisableGrow" then in theory the user could download their DB Files for vault cache.

However when Enterprise Vault Client then does a "pre-emptive cache" it would fail.
Pre-emptive caching is when the client knows the policy is set to archive anything older than 30 days, sees that there are items in the mailbox that will be archived that night so it adds them to the DB/Cache files (otherwise if it archived, it would then have to download it from EV, so this is quicker)

But with PSTDisableGrow the pre-emptive cache would also fail.

So to recap

 - Open items via Archive Explorer and Browser Search - Yes
 - Open items via Outlook Web Access - Yes
 - Open items on a Mac based client - Yes
 - Open items via shortcuts - No
 - Synchronize your Vault Cache - No
 - Ability to pre-emptively archive - No
 - Build Vault Cache Files on an EV Server - No (If PSTDisableGrow is set on the server)

So the fix is either
1) Get rid of PSTDisableGrow altogether
or 2) Ensure the PSTDisableGrow registry key is in the correct place and enable the PSTDisableGrowAllowAuthenticodeOverrides registry key

[PD001]

Thank you for your response's

Pat

[PD001]

In # 2 above, do those registry keys get created by office?

[JosephRodgers]

I want to stress the \POLICIES subkey.  I have seen multiple clients use the wrong key.

WRONG:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST

RIGHT:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST

-Joe

[Rob_Wilcox1]

Good point Joe.

[tsingh]

What about if we want to enable the DisablePST key, are there are precautions we should be taking...

Or this no longer even supported if we want to enable Vault Cache/Virutal Vault and allow users to use shortcuts to open archived items...

To force people from using PSTs, would like to take this step further and completely disable PSTs in our enviornment.

Thanks

Rocky

[JesusWept3]

DisablePST won't have an impact on virtual vault as DisablePST only stops Outlook itself from opening and using PST files, but programatically through Outlooks API's, you can still create them and open them and read them, so you will be ok

[tsingh]

Thank you so much... I tested it as well and as you mentioned it did not have any affect.

Rocky

[Rob_Wilcox1]

Just to add that a month or two ago I tested DisablePST, and that doesn't have any effects on Enterprise Vault.

[PD001]

I'm on Win7 64 Bit, I have Office 2010, I don't see the Office key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\,

[Rob_Wilcox1]

So, we need to backup a little, I think.

Do you have a problem in your configuration for opening Archived Items?

Do you have PSTDisableGrow set in 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\PST

or for Outlook 2010 -

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST

[PD001]

No problem opeing Archives, Trying to figure out how registry entries are created

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST  -Is this by GPO?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST  -How is this created?