Excel macro, triggered via task scheduler, running on a virtual machine crashes Outlook

Question

The code's main job is to copy paste a section from Excel into a email body in Outlook 2016 and send it to the list of distributers which are pre defined.

The issue is Outlook "not responding" and closing or the code printing "error message" and not allowing the code to run until I manually close and reopen Outlook and resume the code.

The code runs on a virtual machine (VM) which is on 24/7. This problem only occurs when I'm not logged into the VM.

The code starts automatically when the bot is triggered via task scheduler.

Sub EmailReply()
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Call OpeningDuties
    
    Dim OutApp As Outlook.Application
    Dim OutMail As Outlook.MailItem
    Dim OutNameSpace As Outlook.Namespace
    Dim OutOwner As Outlook.Recipient
    Dim EmailAddress As Object
    Dim i As Long

    ' The error usually happens at this part of the code:
  
    Set OutApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
    Set OutMail = OutApp.CreateItem(olMailItem)
    Set OutNameSpace = OutApp.GetNamespace("mapi")
    Set OutOwner = OutNameSpace.CreateRecipient("company@company.com")
    OutOwner.Resolve

    ' the rest of the code:    
    
    Dim CopyRange As Range
    Set wdDoc = OutMail.GetInspector.WordEditor
    'Assign email title
    SubjectText = "COMPANY RMA Results"
    'Retrieve email address
    Set EmailAddress = Range("Email_Address")
    If EmailAddress = 0 Then
        RMAStatus = "Non valid email address"
        Application.ScreenUpdating = True
        Exit Sub
    End If
    'Determining if the email should be responded in English or French
    If Range("email_language") = "En" Then
        FirstRow = 3
        FirstColumn = 3
        LastRow = 246
        LastColumn = 9
    ElseIf Range("email_language") = "Fr" Then
        FirstRow = 3
        FirstColumn = 11
        LastRow = 246
        LastColumn = 16
    End If
    'Filter template for correct email response
    Sheets("Email Template").Select
    Sheets("Email Template").Range(Cells(FirstRow, FirstColumn), Cells(LastRow, LastColumn)).AutoFilter Field:=1, Criteria1:="Show"
    'Defines Range for  Range
    Sheets("Email Template").Select
    Set CopyRange = Sheets("Email Template").Range(Cells(FirstRow, FirstColumn), Cells(LastRow, LastColumn)).SpecialCells(xlCellTypeVisible)
    With OutMail
        .To = EmailAddress
        .CC = "RMA@company.com"
        .SentOnBehalfOfName = "RMA@company.com"
        .Subject = SubjectText
        .Display
        'Creating Email Summary Report
        Workbooks(BOT_Filename).Activate
        CopyRange.CopywdDoc.Application.Selection.PasteAndFormat Type:=wdFormatOriginalFormatting  
        'pastes the Text range
        .Send
    End With

    On Error GoTo ExitSendEmail
ExitSendEmail:
    Set CopyRange = Nothing
    Set OutApp = Nothing
    Set OutMail = Nothing
    Set OutNameSpace = Nothing
    Set OutOwner = Nothing
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

Answer 1

You can automate Outlook under the users accounts only, i.e. under the attended context (after logging in). Here is what MS states for that:

Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.

If you are building a solution that runs in a server-side context, you should try to use components that have been made safe for unattended execution. Or, you should try to find alternatives that allow at least part of the code to run client-side. If you use an Office application from a server-side solution, the application will lack many of the necessary capabilities to run successfully. Additionally, you will be taking risks with the stability of your overall solution.

Read more about that in the Considerations for server-side Automation of Office article.

As a possible workaround you may consider using EWS or Graph API. See Explore the EWS Managed API, EWS, and web services in Exchange for more information.