Microsoft has issued a temporary solution for a problem affecting Microsoft 365 users who are unable to reply to encrypted emails via the Outlook Desktop client. This issue has been widely reported by users on Microsoft’s community forums.
Affected Versions and Users
The issue impacts Microsoft 365 customers using the Current Channel Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142) and higher, released on February 28. Specifically, it affects users replying to emails encrypted with Office 365 Message Encryption (OMEv2), now known as Microsoft Purview Message Encryption. Users encountering this problem receive an error message stating, “Microsoft Outlook was not able to create a message with restricted permission.”
The Outlook Team is actively investigating the encrypted email reply issue and will provide updates as more information becomes available. For further assistance, Microsoft offers additional resources, including the Microsoft Purview Message Encryption documentation.
Possible Workarounds
To address the issue, Microsoft has recommended several workarounds. Users can reply to encrypted emails using the new Outlook or Outlook Web Access (OWA). For those who prefer using the Outlook Desktop app, Microsoft advises reverting to the last functional build. This can be done by opening Command Prompt as an administrator and entering the following commands:
cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun
officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17231.20236
Microsoft has also addressed various other issues in recent updates, including a bug causing VPN failures after April Windows updates and an error code 0x800f0982 affecting Windows Server 2019 updates. Users experiencing these problems are encouraged to follow Microsoft’s recommended solutions.
Previous and Related Issues
Last month, Microsoft had to roll back a fix for another Outlook issue caused by December security updates, which triggered incorrect security alerts when opening ICS calendar files. Additionally, the company recently resolved problems causing Outlook desktop clients to stop syncing with email servers via Exchange ActiveSync and a bug that led to connection issues for Outlook.com users on both desktop and mobile clients.
Last Updated on November 7, 2024 8:22 pm CET
