It worked in Outlook 2007, but is not working on Outlook 2010.

I use Outlook 2010 without an Exchange Server. I'm just a single user.

I wish to publish my free/busy data to a host server that possesses a dedicated IP address. This is a hosting solution I use to display a couple of different web sites.

Many of my clients use Outlook. I need to be able to provide them with a contact card for me, which they can use to access my free/busy data, when they are scheduling meetings.

I've tried publishing to two different folders on the server. One named /Freebusy and another named /calendar. Outlook 2007 had no trouble publishing to /calendar.

I have tried publishing to the location using http: and also ftp: I've even tried publishing with ftp using the administrator's login ID and password, on the web server.

Using FTP, I was able to get Outlook 2010 to publish a vfb file, but it was empty. It didn't include any free/busy data. There was no header. It was a completely empty file. Crazy.

Outlook 2007 was running on a Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) PC. Again, I had no trouble publishing using Outlook 2007.

Outlook 2010 is running on Windows 7 Home Premium (also 64-bit). So, in addition to the different Outlook version, I've also changed to a different PC using a different OS.

Outlook 2010 seems to provide no way to force publishing free/busy data. In Outlook 2007, I could use a command in send/receive to send free/busy data. That was very useful in troubleshooting. With Outlook 2010, I have no idea when Outlook is actually supposed to be sending to my server.

Do I need additional software to publish to a web site? Some older web pages have suggested the old Web Publishing Wizard needs to be installed into Vista and Windows 7. That sounds nuts. Plus, I don't know how I would use that wizard in order to periodically update the free/busy data.

What's the best method of publishing to my web site? HTTP or FTP? Can I use either?

What could be the cause of a blank vfb file being created?

Is there a way to manually force Outlook 2010 to publish free/busy data, so I can troubleshoot my setup?

Thanks for any suggestions.

You can try the following article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291621 for Outlook 2010.

Alas, if only it were that easy.

I have found this - and other related support articles - and have not been able to resolve the problem.

It's very odd. I've configured the few fields related to publishing free/busy data exactly as was set in Outlook 2007. The host is the same. And yet, Outlook 2010 appears to now be publishing a blank vfb file.

Weird.

Hello Mark, I have the same behaviour here. I have no Exchange server, and configured different clients to publish IFB on an external FTP.

It works like a charm with Outlook 2007 and Windows 7 but on Outlook 2010, it creates for a while an empty .vfb file and then it disappears.

I've tried to publish IFB on a shared area and it worked, so I thought it was a trust issue, and I have added the FTP location on the IE trusted sites: same problem.

I almost gave up when I came across your post: did you find a solution?

Many thanks!

Hello Mark, I have the same behaviour here. I have no Exchange server, and configured different clients to publish IFB on an external FTP.

It works like a charm with Outlook 2007 and Windows 7 but on Outlook 2010, it creates for a while an empty .vfb file and then it disappears.

I've tried to publish IFB on a shared area and it worked, so I thought it was a trust issue, and I have added the FTP location on the IE trusted sites: same problem.

I almost gave up when I came across your post: did you find a solution?

Many thanks!

I regret to say that I never did find a solution.

Worse, I began to publish to office.com, using the Publish Online function, within Outlook 2010. Then, for reasons unclear to me, Outlook started to publish to a second calendar location and failed to delete the first. So, now folks who have been using my original calendar publish (it's an iCal file they can use, in their Outlook) don't realize my original calendar is no longer being updated.

It's all very frustrating. This used to work, in versions prior to Outlook 2010. Now it doesn't work at all. In fact, it's actually making my life far more complicated, since people think they are seeing my calendar, but they are seeing a version which is now out-of-date and, with each passing day, is getting more and more out-of-date.

... but now I'm just ranting.

Hello Mark, I have the same behaviour here. I have no Exchange server, and configured different clients to publish IFB on an external FTP.

It works like a charm with Outlook 2007 and Windows 7 but on Outlook 2010, it creates for a while an empty .vfb file and then it disappears.

I've tried to publish IFB on a shared area and it worked, so I thought it was a trust issue, and I have added the FTP location on the IE trusted sites: same problem.

I almost gave up when I came across your post: did you find a solution?

Many thanks!

I regret to say that I never did find a solution.

Worse, I began to publish to office.com, using the Publish Online function, within Outlook 2010. Then, for reasons unclear to me, Outlook started to publish to a second calendar location and failed to delete the first. So, now folks who have been using my original calendar publish (it's an iCal file they can use, in their Outlook) don't realize my original calendar is no longer being updated.

It's all very frustrating. This used to work, in versions prior to Outlook 2010. Now it doesn't work at all. In fact, it's actually making my life far more complicated, since people think they are seeing my calendar, but they are seeing a version which is now out-of-date and, with each passing day, is getting more and more out-of-date.

... but now I'm just ranting.

Has anybody found the answer for this?  I am experiencing the same problem and the KB above does not apply to this scenario.

A pox on Microsoft, for not getting this figured out 6 or more years ago.

At the present time, I am running Outlook 2010 and am still unable to create a .vfb file (the free/busy file) on my own hosted web site. I am, however, able to publish an .ics file, on the very same site.

Outlook 2013 cannot do either of these things for me. That's right; it won't even publish an .ics file, using the same site and login credentials being successfully used by Outlook 2010. A step backward.

An additional cruel irony is that I am able to publish a .vfb file to my site, from Outlook 2010, provided that Outlook is running on MS Exchange. Yes, although I would normally have no reason to publish free/busy data to my own site, from within an Exchange system, that solution works flawlessly.

Happily, I find that I can sync my Outlook calendar to a Google Calendar, rather nicely. I am using Fieldston Software's "gSyncit" Outlook add-in, to do that.

It's beginning to look as though the only way I can move to Outlook 2013, which has features I like, is by adopting Google Calendar as my sole means of sharing free/busy information.

. . . hmm. Maybe I'll replace MS Office with Google Docs or maybe even LibreOffice. Microsoft clearly doesn't value me; I'm not an Exchange user.

So, good luck, all of you have searched for a solution and have instead found this thread. I'm afraid my advice to you may be to seek a solution which does not involve Microsoft.

this is actually CB424.  Sorry forgot my login and had to create a new one.
For all of those who are having problems with outlook 2010 not publishing or creating a .vfb file on your ftp site or off site Free/busy calender.  The answer was generated by a brainstorm between myself and microsoft for 2 hours.

Steps:

1. If you have not already loaded Microsoft outlook 2010 Service pack 2.  Then you need to install it.


2. Most important part you need to edit your registry with the following below.  Some may recognize these entries but the smtp part you will not (This is the brainstorm).  The best way to do this is to copy and paste the below information into notepad.  Save the file as freebusy.reg.  Make sure you substitute the read and write entries with the proper location you wish to send information to.  IT can be a URL or someplace on your  C:\ drive if you want to test it.  Find the location where you saved it and then click on the file to load the registry entry.
(always backup your registry before editing this. You will be the only one responsible if there is a problem)

reg entry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar\Internet Free/Busy]
"Publish to Internet"=dword:00000001
"Read URL"="ftp://Username:password@ftpsite.com/%name%.vfb"
"Write URL"="ftp://Username:password@ftpsite.com/Freebusy/
"Have Published to Internet"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\scheduleinformation\freebusysupport ]
"SMTP "="{0006F049-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"