Software

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Unable to open your default e-mail folde

0 helpful
9 replies

by obiswill

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
Hi! I'm using MS Outlook 2003 Professional and yesterday when I double clicked the icon I received this error message: 'Unable to open your default e-mail folders. Outlook could not start because a data file to send and receive mail could not be found. To add a data file, such as a personal folder file, doubleclick the mail icon in Windows Control Panel.' There is nothing I can do when this comes up because if I hit OK it shuts down, and iI hit the X it closes also. What's worse is when I go to the control panel there is no mail icon. Can someone help me please? Thanks!

9 replies

by skidoggeruk

You need to check your email profile through your control panel, as there is something gone wrong with it. IE Mail Service or personal folders or etc. (Do you login into a Domain? Could be a drive map problem.)

If you cannot see the mail icon in your control panel you do not have enough rights to alter this through the login you are currently using. This could be down to a group policy or local rights of this user account. Please seek advise from your local IT support. If you are a home user, try logging in with an account that has admin rights.

Good Luck

by skidoggeruk

check that you don't have any other pst files on you drive, as I can't imagine how your email has disappeared, unless the pst itself has become corrupted. I am hoping that you find another one that has all your stuff.

It might be possible that you were using an ost file for offline storage. Have a dig for those as well

Good luck

by obiswill

I was able to go in through the mail icon and add the personal folder .pst. Aft I did that I was able to login, except all my e-mails are gone. Is there anyway I could recover them??

by kevin.square

I suspect a simple answer. Have you done any cleanup or moving around of files on the drive where the .pst file used to be. You could simply have moved it to another directory where OL can't find it.

Just do a quick search for *.pst and see what happens.

by johngreer

I agree with answer #2. That's happened to me before. Once I moved the PST by accident, once Outlook lost its pointer to my PST (the PST was still there but Outlook didn't know it) and most often I see that while my backups are running (If Outlook is down and backups are running, the backups take exclusive us of the file so Outlook cannot open it).

by parthiv_13

Only Four reasons I can see for your problem. It may happen that your OutLook is currupted. Second your Network drive mapping is having problem. Third You may have accidently deleted your PSTs or have moved to other folders. Fourth some problem with rights or policies to use OL.

by dotcommie

Once the emails went to the local pst file, are they still prevented from going back to the server? I'm having a similar problem. A user cannot access his account via Outlook, but can via OWA. Admins can access the account in Outlook by adding it to their account folders.

by gscampbell2003

Here is how I solved this problem for Outlook 2003:
Go to the Start button
Right click over Microsoft Office Outlook
Select: Properties
Look for Setup email accounts and directories
Select: Email Accounts
Select: View or Change Existing E-mail Accounts
Click Next
Look for Deliver New E-mails to the following location and check to see if "Personal Folders" is already there (if not)
Click on the New Outlook Data File button?
Choose Ofice Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)
Following remaining prompts...

by trs16b

Make sure that you did not have a evaluation copy of Office 2007 installed (60 day crap that comes on most new systems). If so, remove EVERYTHING that refers to it including business contact manager. Re-install Office 2003. That should cure it.

This discussion is closed to new replies.