Windows update KB3097877 breaks Outlook and Winword

UPDATE 11/12/15 – Microsoft has re-released a superseded KB3097877 update (categorized as important). Installing this update will resolve this issue.

Tuesday 11/10/15 Microsoft released a number of Windows patches/updates for Windows 7. Among the updates is an IMPORTANT security update MS15-115 which supposedly fixes vulnerabilities in windows operating systems related to embedded Fonts on untrusted webpages. This update causes Outlook 2010/2013 and Word 2010/2013 to crash on various Windows systems whenever HTML with certain fonts is rendered in those applications.

[the problem]

Security update KB3097877 causes Outlook 2010/2013 and Word 2010/2013 to crash when rendering HTML with embedded fonts.

[the solution]

Microsoft has not issued a patch to fix the issue, however the company has pulled KB3097877 from windows update, so no further installations will occur. For those machines that received the patch and are now exhibiting the issue, the only resolution is to remove (uninstall) the update.

There are several ways to do this:

1. If you’re a sysadmin and are running WSUS, simply search all updates for KB3097877 and apply Approved for Removal then ask users to reboot their systems.
2. If you’re a sysadmin not running WSUS, you can remove the update in several ways:
   1. using powershell and psexec
Psexec -d -s \\<computername> wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3097877 /quiet /forcerestart
      NOTE: /forcerestart is optional but removal of the update requires a system reboot to complete.
   2. using Group Policy Object and a batch logon script like this:
      @echo off
wusa /uninstall /kb:3097877 /quiet /forcerestart
END
   3. Installing the new re-released KB3097877 patch using Windows Update or a GPO.
3. If you’re just a person wanting to fix Outlook, click and type command to locate and open a command prompt window. Then paste the following command into the black terminal window:
   wusa /uninstall /kb:3097877
   Hit enter and you should be prompted to click “Yes” to uninstall the update and then “Reboot Now” to restart your computer to complete the removal.