New Zoom Workplace

I will suggest that there are a number of improvements due for Zoom’s update/installation procedures (Windows) for installing 64-bit – specifically when having to install Zoom Workplace for the first time or after a complete uninstall (CleanZoom).

I’ve created this document from stream of consciousness so there are a number of redundancies in this description – however this represents the experience of having to repeat the installation procedure many times and getting the same result – until I abstracted the problem, tried different things in a different order and achieved success.

I believe that some simple changes and corrections to the Zoom installation procedures would relieve the Zoom community of many frustrations, misunderstandings and misdirections in installing Zoom Workplace (Windows).

• We have Zoom Workplace running on 3 HP notebooks  1xWin10 – 2xWin11
• Laptop #3 (Win11) had problems and we had to uninstall/reinstall Zoom Workplace (64-Bit)
• Upon reinstalling Workplace it would only launch using Run as Admin and then would not connect to any Zoom meeting, either as a leader or participant
• Invested MANY hours attempting to formulate a statement that might render a result from a google search (powered by AI) or a search on the Zoom help pages (powered by AI).  Neither option was able to produce a result that identified the problem
  • Only abstract thinking about the problem was able to connect the dots that provided the solution to the problem
    
    
• Repeated uninstall/reinstall procedures multiple times (at least 6x), trying different ways
  • Also tried uninstalling with REVO with same result (and I suspect that REVO does not deal with firewall settings properly)
  • Also tried rebooting, running CCleaner (general clean & registry clean) installing latest 64-bit, multiple times still no Zoom Workplace launch
  • Also on the Desktop Shortcut properties Comment always read Zoom DMX instead of Zoom Workplace
    • this was a hint because on the other machines where Zoom Workplace was working properly, the comment read Zoom Workplace instead of Zoom DMX
  • Newly installed Zoom (64-bit) would only launch using Run as Admin and would not connect to any Zoom meeting, either as a leader or participant
• Read multiple threads of documentation including those wondering when Zoom was going to fix 64-bit version – for unclear reasons saying that it did not work
  
  
• Problem #1 – 64-bit version installation procedure is buggy and also puts “Zoom DMX” in desktop comment tab of shortcut properties – while the comment tab of shortcut properties on computers where 64-bit was working read “Zoom Workplace”.
  • No search of any kind revealed why “Zoom DMX” appears in the comment field and searches/references found for “what is Zoom DMX” were outdated and misleading
    
    
• Finally in abstraction and desperation, I uninstalled 64-bit and then installed the 32-Bit version
• Zoom Workplace finally launched successfully! – But, then gave warning to install 64-bit version because 32-bit would be phased out in December 2025
  • Had discovered several posts complaining that installing 64-bit did not work and recommending that one should install 32-bit until Zoom got 64-bit working
    • While informative, this was not a solution because the life-span of 32-bit was ending in a few months
      
      
  • Problem #2 – desktop shortcut properties Comment identifies a difference
  • Clicked link to update to 64-bit (implicit), but 32-bit version was re-installed on top of itself
    • Installing from this link, just re-installed 32-bit over the existing 32-bit just installed while the implication of clicking this link after seeing the warning about 32-bit’s life-span was misleading – as the link did not install 64-bit
  • Again in desperation/abstraction finally decided to try to install 64-bit version over the 32-bit version (not using the link)
    • instead, used an earlier 64-bit download – and then finally got Zoom Workplace installed/launched (as it was installed on other computers)
    • Now on the new Desktop Shortcut properties, Comment read “Zoom Workplace” instead of “Zoom DMX”
      • This was different from all previous installs of 64-bit (after uninstall) without installing 32-bit first
        
        
    • Conclusions
      • Under the following conditions, you can simply download/install to the newest Workplace version 64-bit (upgrade in place)
        • If you don’t have to uninstall current Zoom Workplace version
        • If you are not having problems with Workplace launching
        • If the Workplace shortcut properties Comment already says Zoom Workplace
          
          
      • Only way to get a fresh install of Zoom Workplace (64-bit) to work properly is to:
        • Run CleanZoom (not REVO) as CleanZoom and then Zoominstaller correctly deal with firewall settings
        • Run CCleaner or some other registry cleaner program to get rid of leftover Zoom registry keys
        • Reboot computer (recommended)
        • Download/Install latest 32-bit version
        • Download/Install latest 64-bit version manually over 32-bit version – (not from 32-bit screen link recommending the upgrade because that link reinstalls 32-bit instead of 64-bit)