Dynamics CRM 2011 UR11 Critical Update: What you need to know

On July 27th, 2013 the Dynamics CRM team released a critical update for CRM 2011 targeted on the Update Rollup 11 codebase. The critical update can be downloaded here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39691 and the KB article for it is found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2855319.  NOTE: Below the “KB2855319 Critical Update” will be referred to as “CU” and “Dynamics CRM 2011 Outlook Client Add-In” will be referred to as “Outlook Client” for consistency and readability.  Please also note, this article discusses both the Server and Outlook Client CU patch files, there are valid scenarios where your client and server versions do not match. As a general rule of thumb the following best practices apply:

• If you are unable to patch your server to UR12 or higher due to compatibility concerns it is recommended to patch to at least UR11, I would strongly encourage you to consider installing this CU instead of UR11 (the CU is essentially UR11 with several updates highlighted at the bottom of the article).  Ultimately, you should have a plan to update your server to the newer update rollups and eventually to UR15 or higher.
• If your server is on UR12, 13, or 14 – it’s encouraged to stay on your current rollup and plan to patch to UR15 when it releases.

Notable points regarding this CU:

• The Server CU can be installed by customers who wish to have the latest server updates without going to UR12 or higher. If your server version is less than UR11 you must first update to UR11 then apply this CU on top of UR11. If your server version is less than UR11 and you apply this CU, it will bring your server build up to the equivalent of UR11 and will include the fixes in this CU.
• The Outlook Client CU can be installed by any customers who wish to have improved stability and performance in the Outlook Client today – these enhancements and others will be included in UR15 for the Outlook Client and this CU offers a stop gap if you’re experiencing problems today.
• The Outlook Client & Server CU cannot be applied on top of Update Rollup 12, 13, or 14, if you attempt to do so a message is displayed that states that this update rollup is not compatible with your installation.
• The Outlook Client & Server CU version number is: 05.00.9690.2903
• If you apply the Outlook Client CU, wait to apply any further update rollups until Update Rollup 15 has been released. This will preserve the existing stability and performance enhancements – from an Outlook Client standpoint you can deploy UR15 on top of this UR11 CU without compatibility concerns.
• If you wish to have your Outlook Clients use this CU, the CRM server may be at UR level: 11*, 12, 13, 14, or CRM Online
  • *If your server is currently patched to Update Rollup 11 – it is highly recommended you install the latest CRM Server update as part of this CU (file name: CRM2011-Server-KB2855319-ENU-amd64.exe)

CU installation considerations and notable post-installation changes:

• The CU patches are based on the Update Rollup 11 codebase, thus when you install the CRM Outlook Client CU your client version *must* be update rollup 11 or less.
• If your outlook client is already past update rollup 11, (greater than or equal to build number 5.0.9690.3233) – you have two options three options:
  1. Uninstall the Outlook Client entirely and re-install with the base UR6 installation (here), once installed you can then apply the CU.
  2. Choose to remain at your current update rollup level and patch your Dynamics CRM 2011 Client with Update Rollup 15 when it releases.
  3. This option is no longer recommended due to issues encountered, please use one of the above two options. Downgrade the Outlook Client by uninstalling any rollups greater than UR11 on the client until it is at UR11 or below, then apply the new CU.
• Once you apply the CU on your Outlook Client, the next patch you should plan to install is Update Rollup 15 – do not apply any rollups prior to the release of UR15 to preserve the improvements and settings.
• *UPDATE* 8/14/2013: As of today UR12, UR13, and UR14 have been removed from being listed as an Automatic Update on Windows Update.  This will prevent your users Outlook clients from inadvertently receiving automatic updates which would supersede the CU.  UR 15 will be live on the Windows Update site a short time after it is made available to the public.
• The SQL Server CE Outlook Client component is automatically upgraded to SQL CE 4.0 as part of the CU installation.  This is pre-packaged and contained within the update.
• Two recommended registry entries are now automatically added/updated as part of the Outlook Client CU: “AddressBookMaterializedViewsEnabled” and “DisableMapiCaching” both are set to a value of 1.
• As part of the Outlook Client CU two recommended registry entries have been removed from the registry and are now automatically defaulted as follows: “AddressBookMaterializedViewsEnabled” set to true and “DisableMapiCaching” set to true (when DisableMapiChaching is set to true pinned views in the Outlook Client will be paged instead of an infinite list after this change).
  • NOTE: If you’ve also installed the Server CU these values can now be overridden using the OrgDBSettings Editor (I will be releasing an update to allow UR11 CU customers to edit the settings in their organization).  Any Outlook Clients with the Client CU installed will then use the OrgDbOrgSettings value instead of the default value. 
• The Outlook Client CU now has process isolation for hosting CRM forms, and the offline Sync process. The processes used for isolation are titled: “Microsoft.Crm.Application.Hoster.exe”, “Microsoft.Crm.Application.Outlook.WebFormsHost.exe”, and “OfflineSyncAgent.exe” and are all launched as child processes of Outlook. If you’re curious what this looks like, here’s a process explorer view of the Outlook.exe process after the CU has been installed and Outlook Client has been configured:

If you’re a premier customer feel free to talk to your TAM about working with a Dynamics CRM PFE (remote or onsite), and if you already have a Dedicated Dynamics PFE make sure to reach out and we can work together to have a plan to get your customizations and system updated.  If you don’t have Premier and are interested in working with us – please reach out and we can set you up to talk with someone about Premier.

Thanks for reading! 
Sean McNellis
Premier Field Engineer