Category: MsOffice

Cool, shame it wasn’t out a bit earlier!

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Source: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=03D4251D-370F-486D-BB2F-64FF14C546AD&displaylang=en

The Exchange Calendar Update Tool enables administrators to update, using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft® Office Outlook®, multiple user mailboxes, thereby avoiding the challenges involved with broadly deploying the Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool to all end-users.

Shame the download link doesn’t work ! so I can’t tell you what the virtual machine has in it

Do you know what, some time it plays to read a KB!  I am sure you have checked out http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667.  Under “Why the Time Zone Data Update Tool is required”  It says …

“Calendar items are created in Outlook by using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format. UTC is an international standard 24-hour timekeeping system. Time zone information for Outlook is obtained from the Windows operating system in which the calendar items are created and is obtained at the time that the calendar items are created.

For example, an 8:00 A.M. appointment on March 1, 2007 in Redmond, Washington is stored in Outlook as UTC 4:00 P.M. In this case, DST has not yet started, and Redmond time is eight hours behind UTC.

When an update is applied to the Windows operating system to accommodate the new DST definitions, the computer’s local time is changed to the extended DST time. However, the UTC is not adjusted when the local time on the computer is adjusted. Therefore, calendar items that are added to Outlook during the extended DST period are off by one hour. “

So by the sounds of it, you only need to use the tool on server that are in the affected time zone

Okay so I have an Exchange 2003 Virtual Server image and I thought I would see what the deal was.

So I created a reoccuring meeting request over the time change period.  Then Installed the Windows 2003 Patch with no problem. Next was the Exchange 2003 Patch.  That wanted me to close down w3wp.exe, MMC and MOMHost.  Interesting as the MMC wasn’t running :-|  I chose continue and the patch installed and wanted a reboot!

So next was the outlook tool.  It’s a mere 8.27mb in size, and you see how large the installed files are below.  It looks like a universal binary file that contains both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the tool in one package. Once you install the exe it drops two files into the folder below:

It will then run tzmove.exe and you get this:

 

If you click on the Icon in the bar on the top left you can select the about screen:

Choose the options you want and then click OK.  You will see the progress screen:

In my case it didn’t make any changes.  Don’t know why? and you get this dialog

It does have a command line too,  KB 931667 was updated on the 28th Jan 2007.  About 3/4 of the way down you see: Command-line parameter options.

On the downloadable package you have 3 switches

/extract, /quite and /?.  I suspect /quite will be the most used one.  It will do a silent install and run, and drops a log file in to %temp%.  It actually looks like it always generates a log file, even if you use the GUI!  The /extract switch extract the file to an MSI

Once you have installed the update, you have two switches to use.  /ONLYRECURRING and /MAXAPPTS.  Check KB 931667  for what they do, but it seems that the initiate the GUI.

Have a play and let me know how you get on