I have a client with a Windows 11 Home 24H2 machine with Office 365 and Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO) version 4.3.73.0, but on opening Outlook it crashes seconds afterwards.

I believe I’ve narrowed it down to GWSMO, which has received a new update today. I have:

  • Reinstalled GWSMO
  • Fully repaired Office 365
  • Recreated the Outlook profile
  • Repaired the PST
  • And Outlook still crashes, even in Safe Mode

The last time GWSMO received an update Microsoft had to roll back a security patch because the same issue occurred.

Anyone else having this issue?

8 Spice ups

Experiencing the same exact issue on 23H2 and then updated to 24H2. We even rebuilt the profile and same behavior is occurring. Going to open a ticket with Google support and see what they say.

Update:
Looks to only be impacting users on Windows 11. We had two users on Win 10 pro, but re-authing the accounts fixed the issue and email started working again.

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Have you tried removing the Google sync?

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Removed and reinstalled. Issue still occurring.

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Any other add-on’s in Outlook? Have you tried the “new” Outlook to see if it also hangs? What about Webmail, to rule out account issues?

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Crashes in safe mode. Using a stand alone version of Office 2016. Gmail works fine. No account issues.

Update: Google Support is horrible and I’m still chatting with them after an hour.

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Good luck with Google support, please let us know if they come up with a solution!

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Here is what we have found. Google releases an update on 5/28 and per the release notes there was a change in the backend and Google is now using the People API to sync contacts instead of the Contacts API (Legacy) - GWSMO release notes - Google Workspace Admin Help

This change looks to impact users that are on Windows 11. Windows 10 users no issues.

You can disable the contact sync if you are quick enough to get to the Sync settings before it crashes or you can add the following reg keys found in this Google Support article - Configure options through the registry - Google Workspace Admin Help

We ended up testing and confirmed Outlook no longer crashes after disabling the contact sync. While this is not ideal it at least got the user up and running. We are going to reach back out to support next week regarding this issue.

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Oh good! Glad you were able to find something helpful! Hopefully a real fix is forthcoming!

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Amazing. Thanks for the info. Same issue here. New Win 11 & Outlook install. I chatted with Google support and they said they are aware and working on the issue. I tried to get the last version that worked of GWSMO v4.3.68.0 from them as a temp workaround. They said they will try, but not available now. I edited the registry as you suggested and got it working (w/o contacts) in the mean time. Thanks again for posting. Much appreciated!!!

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Has anyone heard back from tech support on it? It’s starting to update computers that were working fine. The registry changes makes it work, but not having contacts update is rough. I have a ticket with Google, but they haven’t been responding.

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The post by @danhartman2440 directly before yours suggested they had been in contact with Google Support, who is aware of, and working on, the issue.

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I have just had a call from Google Support, they say that we can either use the registry hack (mentioned above) to turn off the Contact Sync, or roll back to an earlier version. They said they would email me with how to roll back to the earlier version but I haven’t seen an email yet. They also said a new version will be coming out soon to fix the issue.

//Edit: I have confirmed that the registry fix above works. Eight hours later Google Support still haven’t emailed me the roll back instructions.

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If you use “Work Offline” or turn off your internet connection it won’t crash and you should be able to change the sync settings.

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Thanks for the link L3NK!

I used the information from it and pushed out the following red add commands on all of our workstations using PDQ deploy (running it as the logged on user);

reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Apps Sync” /v SyncFlagsEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Apps Sync\ContactsSync” /v DownloadEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000000

reg add “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Apps Sync\ContactsSync” /v UploadEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000000

Once Google has resolved the issue I can modify DownloadEnabled & UploadEnabled to 0x00000001 and push it out again to enable the contact sync again.

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Thanks for this. Just as an fyi - I had a Windows 10 22H2 have the same issue, so it doesn’t appear to only affect Windows 11.

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Just Talked to Google they have no answer. I’ve been going around and un-checking contact sync. Please keep this thread going

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I had 2 users in different companies affected by this today. I opened 2 support chats at the same type. Typing in one, copy paste to the other.

One agent tried fobbing me off with “third party systems”. I pushed back and was passed to 2nd line who acknowledged an issue, but with no ETA on a fix.

Painful business providing IT support…

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I am having the same issue described above with Windows 11. Can someone please explain where the Outlook Sync settings are located where I need to turn off the contact sync to make it work until Google puts out a fix? I don’t think I have the requisite knowledge of the Windows operating system to change the settings through the Registry per the instructions above, so I want to try the option of turning off the contact sync through Outlook first. Thanks.

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This workaround is for those using GWSMO. if you put Outlook in work offline mode. right click the sync tool in the system tray and choose turn sync modules on / off. uncheck contacts. I have verified this works.

*This is a setting in the sync tool, not Outlook.

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