SharePoint Reported Error (0x8000FFFF)

We were experiencing the error below when trying to Connect to Outlook from SharePoint, via the drop down actions menu.
















In the case of contacts we were trying to sync, sometimes the 1st connection was successful, but subsequent attempts failed. Outlook seemed to recognise that the a sync was trying to be established as the pop up list box was appearring in Outlook. Syncs from Outlook to SharePoint always failed with the same error: SharePoint reported error (0x8000FFFF): An error occurred either in Outlook or SharePoint. Not much help!

After drawing blanks on searching the web for people with the same problem, we performed a packet capture using netmon (Microsoft utility) and performed a Connect to Outlook. From the packet capture we found that SharePoint was trying to sync to the wrong url. We checked in the Alternate Access Mappings in Central Admin and found that we had an old url (one found in packet capture) in there (amongst the correct urls). Once this was removed the sync worked fine. Hope this helps anyone else who has experienced this issue.

Connect to Outlook Action is Missing

Using Outlook 2007, IE7 and SharePoint 2007 (Exchange 2003 backend mail system). The option to Connect to Outlook is missing from the Actions Menu. I have seen numerous posts with similar issuesbut nobody seems to provide a solution that works for me.

I have have Client Integration enabled on the back end:

Central Administration > Application Management > Authentication Providers > Edit Authentication

Some posts discuss how 'Connect to Outlook' works for some users but not others, it seems to affect all our users.

The following ActiveX control that appears as an IE7 add-in - called SharePoint Stssync Handler:



















From Jose Barreto's Blog, I have found that stssync is what is used to display the Connect to Outlook option:

http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2007/03/26/searching-the-visible-moss-2007-code-for-activex-references.aspx

StssyncServer Files: TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\BFORM.JS, TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\INIT.JSClient File: OWSSUPP.DLL Also Known As: SharePoint Stssynch HandlerFunction: Connect to Outlook to synchronize listsReference: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms456225.aspxNon-IE behavior: Option to "Connect to Outlook" will not show. You should be able register a client application to handle the stssync:// protocol.

Properties of the version of owssupp.dll in use.




















I'm not sure at the moment where to go from here, I will check with the Active Directory guys that nothing in Group Policy is stoping this control from running. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.