Windows 10: Win10 Cumulative Update KB3124200 Breaks Down Office 2016 Settings

Cluster Head · Dec 22, 2015

Microsoft has already acknowledged the issue, fix on its way

The latest Windows 10 cumulative update is resetting the configuration of a number of Office 2016 installs and is breaking down macros and templates.

Posts on Microsoft’s Community forums reveal that, after installing cumulative update KB3124200, macros, autocorrect settings, and templates are no longer available, and Word 2016 only loads the default settings.

“I use Word 2016, running on Windows 10. I use vast numbers of Macros, autocorrects and autotext, all saved in the Normal template. The template has just been wiped without my intervention and reset to a factory default, losing all my settings, macros etc. This has happened before (I saved a spare ‘Normal’ after that, which seems to have vanished.),” one of the impacted users explains.
Click to expand...

More: http://news.softpedia.com/news/windo...s-498022.shtml

I use Word 2016, running on Windows 10. I use vast numbers of Macros, autocorrects and autotext, all saved in the Normal template. The template has just been wiped without my intervention and reset to a factory default, losing all my settings, macros etc. This has happened before (I saved a spare 'Normal' after that, which seems to have vanished.)
Why is this happening and how can I stop it? Is there a keypress perhaps which I inadvertently used? (Erm, it has changed the keyboard to an American one too!)
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Please note that the following applies to both Word the application as well as Word when used as the email editor in Outlook. Whenever “Word” and “Normal.dotm” is referenced, it also applies to “Word in Outlook” and “NormalEmail.dotm” respectively.

We (the product team) have identified a problem that occurs after the latest update (version 16.0.6366.nnnn) to Office is applied. After the update, Word will rename the existing Normal.dotm to “Normal.dotm.old” during startup (or NormalEmail.dotm in the case of Word as the email editor for Outlook).

This means that all of the content in that original Normal.dotm (macros, autotext entries, styles, etc.) will no longer be loaded by Word, and when Word shuts down, a new “clean” Normal.dotm will be created.

All of the original customizations/content that was present in Normal.dotm are preserved, but they are now in a different file in your Templates directory. To recover this content, you need to restore the Normal template. Here’s a walkthrough on how to restore your Normal.dotm in your templates directory.

1. Close Microsoft Word.

2. Press Windows + R and type in %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates and press Enter.

You are now looking at the Templates that Word (and other Office apps) use. (Note that if you “file extensions” turned on, then you may see slightly different names). You should see a file named “Normal” of type “Microsoft Word Macro Enabled Template”. This is your current Normal template (which is missing the data you want).
Let’s save a backup of this normal template just in case.

3. Rename the "Normal.dotm" file to "NormalBeforeRestore.dotm". You can rename the file by right-clicking it, selecting "Rename," and typing in the new name.

Now we have to determine which file to restore. The issue we identified typically results in a file called “Normal.dotm.old”, but under some circumstances, there could be other saved versions of your Normal template in that directory as well.

You should see at least one of the following: “Normal.dotm.old”, “NormalPre”, “NormalPre15”, “NormalOld”, or “OldNormal”. If you see more than one of these files, then you will need to choose the correct file to restore; this is likely the file with the most recent “Date modified” value, which should be “Normal.dotm.old”. Don’t worry if you choose the wrong one, you can repeat steps 4-6 as many times as necessary to find the right file.

4. Select the file you want to restore. Right click and select “Copy”.

5. Now create the copy of the file by clicking the Home tab and choosing “Paste”. (or press Ctrl + V)

6. Now select the new file you just created and rename it. Right-Click and select “Rename”.

◦If you have file extensions turned on, or if the file you are renaming is called “Normal.dotm.old” or “Copy of Normal.dotm.old”, then you will need to rename the file to “normal.dotm”. You may be warned about changing the file extension – this is OK.

◦If you do not have file extensions turned on and the file is not called “Normal.dotm.old” or “Copy of normal.dotm.old”, then rename the file to “Normal”.

7. Close File Explorer and launch Word. Your AutoText blocks, Styles, Macros, etc. will now be available for use in your documents.

8. If you still cannot find your content, and there were other templates in your Templates folder to choose from, then shut down Word, go back to your templates folder, delete Normal and go back to step 4. (we are only making copies in step 5, so you won’t be losing anything when you delete Normal here.)
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Source: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/o...f1bcca7?auth=1

Knowledge Base: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3129969

:)

RichardClements_381 · Dec 22, 2015

Lost MS Office and other programs after mid January Update

Same thing happened to me when I installed Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3124262).

This is the second time it has happened to me. The previous time was when I installed Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3124200).

Only Office 2016 has been affected: all Office 2016 apps have disappeared and shortcuts are broken.

Complete reinstall of Office 2016 suite solved the problem previously. Am now attempting the same this morning.

sam_technet · Dec 22, 2015

Latest Windows 10 (cumulative) updates causing problems to Office?

Hi ... thanks for the reply and info.

I'm running Office 2013 (install from my Office 365 subscription) and with the recent cumulative updates, the various programs refuse to start after the cumulative update has been installed.

Ok on the "sfc /scannow" command.... I seem to remember that when I contacted support when I first had this problem with Office, this was one of the things they ran as part of fixing the problem.

On one of my systems, I've installed the Office 2016 Preview (again, from my Office 365 sub) and that doesn't seem to get hit with the cumulative update issues so maybe it's time to put the 2016 version on all my machines?

Cumulative updates seem to be coming out at a pretty fast rate so if this issue with Office continues, I may well just be tempted to install the 2016 Office Preview to get away from the issue. Maybe the next update will NOT break things... fingers crossed

Cheers

larc919 · Dec 22, 2015

So... numerous hoops for computer laymen to jump through to clean up a mess Microsoft "experts" made. That's not exactly an unfamiliar situation.

DavidY · Apr 4, 2018

Apparently it's not the Windows 10 update, but an update to Office 2016, which causes this problem. It's still not a good thing though.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microso...-its-not-true/

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