Some of you have recently noticed that your install of the Visio Viewer isn’t working – this is by design and can easily be fixed. Microsoft has recently released Security Bulletin MS09-55 through Windows Update which deactivates Visio Viewers 2002, 2003 and 2007 because of a security issue. With this fix we are retiring Visio Viewer 2002 as well as Visio Viewer 2003. To get your viewer installation back into a working state you have 2 options:
- If you can, we recommend that you install the Visio 2010 (Beta) viewer; this version of the viewer has all the functionality of the previous viewers, includes all the required security fixes, and has a product quality that is very close to ship. This build of the viewer can then easily be upgraded to the RTM build of the Viewer when it’s released.
- If you can’t or don’t want to download the Visio 2010 (Beta) viewer, you must update your existing viewer by following the steps in the order described below:
- If you’re using Viewer 2002 or Viewer 2003, uninstall it and install Visio 2007 Viewer.
- Install Visio Viewer 2007 SP1
- Install Visio Viewer 2007 SP2
- Install the security update KB973709
The patching discussed in method #2 can also be done through Windows Update but may involve multiples runs of Windows Updates to download the relevant patches – downloading these patches directly is the most efficient way of getting the Viewer back into action.
If you have more questions about patching your viewer installation, feel free to leave a comment on our blog.