Can't Open Outlook

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ralph
  • Start date Start date
R

Ralph

I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using Outlook 2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders. The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
 
What we need to know is what information store you are using and how you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps that
created this behavior.
 
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by "information store"
I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you meant. Could
you be more specific.

Thanks for youre reply

Ralph
Russ Valentine said:
What we need to know is what information store you are using and how you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps that
created this behavior.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using Outlook 2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders. The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
"Information store" is the data file that Outlook uses. Since you posted in
an Outlook group, I naturally assumed you were using one of the native
transports and data files that Outlook supports. Turns out, you are using a
third party transport with its own proprietary data file. Accordingly, you
question should be directed to AOL, not Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by "information
store"
I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you meant.
Could
you be more specific.

Thanks for youre reply

Ralph
Russ Valentine said:
What we need to know is what information store you are using and how you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps that
created this behavior.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using Outlook
2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders. The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Russ,

I have access to both an AOL account and a Road Runer Account. The Road
Runer account is a POP3 account. When I deleted my AOL profile and put in my
Road Runner Profile I got the same error message that I wrote above. I'm
using the same Outlook 2003 program and it'[s working fine on my desktop
computer(XP).I've even tried copying the .pst file from one computer to
another, alas still won't open.

Do you know of any way I can uninstall Office 2003 from where I got the
Outlook, as a clean fresh uninstall and than start over i.e, removing all
Registry entries etc.
I do have back ups of all my data files.

Thanks for any sugestions

Russ Valentine said:
"Information store" is the data file that Outlook uses. Since you posted in
an Outlook group, I naturally assumed you were using one of the native
transports and data files that Outlook supports. Turns out, you are using a
third party transport with its own proprietary data file. Accordingly, you
question should be directed to AOL, not Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by "information
store"
I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you meant.
Could
you be more specific.

Thanks for youre reply

Ralph
Russ Valentine said:
What we need to know is what information store you are using and how you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps that
created this behavior.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using Outlook
2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders. The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook won't help a thing. All your profiles'
registry settings will remain.
Creating a new profile correctly and connecting it correctly to an intact
PST file will fix this issue. You must not be doing that. We still have no
idea what you are doing or how you disrupted the connection between your
Outlook profile and your data file.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
Russ,

I have access to both an AOL account and a Road Runer Account. The Road
Runer account is a POP3 account. When I deleted my AOL profile and put in
my
Road Runner Profile I got the same error message that I wrote above. I'm
using the same Outlook 2003 program and it'[s working fine on my desktop
computer(XP).I've even tried copying the .pst file from one computer to
another, alas still won't open.

Do you know of any way I can uninstall Office 2003 from where I got the
Outlook, as a clean fresh uninstall and than start over i.e, removing all
Registry entries etc.
I do have back ups of all my data files.

Thanks for any sugestions

Russ Valentine said:
"Information store" is the data file that Outlook uses. Since you posted
in
an Outlook group, I naturally assumed you were using one of the native
transports and data files that Outlook supports. Turns out, you are using
a
third party transport with its own proprietary data file. Accordingly,
you
question should be directed to AOL, not Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by "information
store"
I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you meant.
Could
you be more specific.

Thanks for youre reply

Ralph
:

What we need to know is what information store you are using and how
you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps
that
created this behavior.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using
Outlook
2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders.
The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
It sounds like the road runner mail was being stored in the AOL IMAP
folder - when you removed AOL, it removed the folder and you need to go to
File, New, Outlook data file.

AS an FYI, AOL does not use any proprietary gunk - its pure IMAP now, which
outlook supports as well it does any other IMAP account.











Ralph said:
Russ,

I have access to both an AOL account and a Road Runer Account. The Road
Runer account is a POP3 account. When I deleted my AOL profile and put in
my
Road Runner Profile I got the same error message that I wrote above. I'm
using the same Outlook 2003 program and it'[s working fine on my desktop
computer(XP).I've even tried copying the .pst file from one computer to
another, alas still won't open.

Do you know of any way I can uninstall Office 2003 from where I got the
Outlook, as a clean fresh uninstall and than start over i.e, removing all
Registry entries etc.
I do have back ups of all my data files.

Thanks for any sugestions

Russ Valentine said:
"Information store" is the data file that Outlook uses. Since you posted
in
an Outlook group, I naturally assumed you were using one of the native
transports and data files that Outlook supports. Turns out, you are using
a
third party transport with its own proprietary data file. Accordingly,
you
question should be directed to AOL, not Outlook.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Ralph said:
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by "information
store"
I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you meant.
Could
you be more specific.

Thanks for youre reply

Ralph
:

What we need to know is what information store you are using and how
you
configured Outlook to connect to it. We also need to know the steps
that
created this behavior.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I have tried so many "fixes", nothing seems to work. I'm using
Outlook
2003
on a Vista laptop.

Here's the error message"Unable to open your default email folders.
The
information store store could not be opened"

I've tried, new profiles, uinstalling, safe mode etc.

Any sugestions
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
(which isn't saying much.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

- its pure IMAP now, which > outlook supports as well it does any other IMAP
account.
 
Yeah, its not very good as an IMAP client. :)











Russ Valentine said:
(which isn't saying much.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

- its pure IMAP now, which > outlook supports as well it does any other
IMAP account.
Click to expand...
 
Diane,

Thanks for getting back. This problem of mine has been frustrating beyond
belief.

I even used some command switches and got back the same error message cannot
open default folders.Information store will not open. When setting up an IMAP
the "Testing Connection" doesn't seem to appear.

This entire problem started when I attempted to add a connection to an
exixting profile. At that point the program seemed to freeze and than I
started on this round.

My main account is through AOL and I've used IMAP settings. This works fine
on my desktop computer. I can't understand why this problem on my laptop.

Do I understand you to mean that Outlook cannot be cleanly reinstalled at
any time?


Diane Poremsky {MVP} said:
Yeah, its not very good as an IMAP client. :)











Russ Valentine said:
(which isn't saying much.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

- its pure IMAP now, which > outlook supports as well it does any other
IMAP account.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
uninstalling /reinstalling won't fix anything that Help, Detect and Repair
(or Office Diagnostics) won't fix. There are files left behind under your
windows under acct folder that won't be removed in an uninstall.

have you tried making a new profile? go to control panel, mail and add a new
profile. (leave the existing one in place for now.)











Ralph said:
Diane,

Thanks for getting back. This problem of mine has been frustrating beyond
belief.

I even used some command switches and got back the same error message
cannot
open default folders.Information store will not open. When setting up an
IMAP
the "Testing Connection" doesn't seem to appear.

This entire problem started when I attempted to add a connection to an
exixting profile. At that point the program seemed to freeze and than I
started on this round.

My main account is through AOL and I've used IMAP settings. This works
fine
on my desktop computer. I can't understand why this problem on my laptop.

Do I understand you to mean that Outlook cannot be cleanly reinstalled at
any time?


Diane Poremsky {MVP} said:
Yeah, its not very good as an IMAP client. :)











Russ Valentine said:
(which isn't saying much.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

- its pure IMAP now, which > outlook supports as well it does any other
IMAP account.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
....as posted yesterday.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Diane Poremsky {MVP} said:
uninstalling /reinstalling won't fix anything that Help, Detect and Repair
(or Office Diagnostics) won't fix. There are files left behind under your
windows under acct folder that won't be removed in an uninstall.

have you tried making a new profile? go to control panel, mail and add a
new profile. (leave the existing one in place for now.)











Ralph said:
Diane,

Thanks for getting back. This problem of mine has been frustrating beyond
belief.

I even used some command switches and got back the same error message
cannot
open default folders.Information store will not open. When setting up an
IMAP
the "Testing Connection" doesn't seem to appear.

This entire problem started when I attempted to add a connection to an
exixting profile. At that point the program seemed to freeze and than I
started on this round.

My main account is through AOL and I've used IMAP settings. This works
fine
on my desktop computer. I can't understand why this problem on my laptop.

Do I understand you to mean that Outlook cannot be cleanly reinstalled at
any time?


Diane Poremsky {MVP} said:
Yeah, its not very good as an IMAP client. :)











(which isn't saying much.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

- its pure IMAP now, which > outlook supports as well it does any
other
IMAP account.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Ralph said:
I'm really a novice at this. I don't know what is meant by
"information store" I only know what the eror message said

I set up AOL using an IMAP type to connect, if this is what you
meant. Could you be more specific.
Click to expand...

If you're using an IMAP account, then Outlook is probably complaining that
you haven't created a default folder set. IMAP folders can never be the
default folders, so Outlook needs a PST (Personal Folders file) that can be
the default. In Control Panel, run the Mail applet and click the Data Files
button. What do you see?
 
Brian,

I'm a little confused. I do run Outlook on my main desktop computer using
AOL as my default mail. I use the same exact settings and still can't open
the program.

Nevertheless, on this computer(laptop running Vista) I did set up another
account using POP3 through Road Runner.
And still won't open However I did what you suggested and checked the data
file and this is what it showed:

Personal Folder C:\User\Ralph\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook4.pst

Is there anyway I can open the Outlook program without email accounts just
to get to my address book?
 
Ralph said:
I'm a little confused. I do run Outlook on my main desktop computer
using AOL as my default mail. I use the same exact settings and still
can't open the program.
Click to expand...

I never said the IMAP account could be the default account. I said the IMAP
folders can't be the delivery location folders.
Nevertheless, on this computer(laptop running Vista) I did set up
another account using POP3 through Road Runner.
And still won't open However I did what you suggested and checked the
data file and this is what it showed:

Personal Folder
C:\User\Ralph\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook4.pst
Click to expand...

And is that PST the one used for the delivery location?
Is there anyway I can open the Outlook program without email accounts
just to get to my address book?
Click to expand...

A new mail profile with no email accounts should work.
 
I had a little more success. I deleted all my mail profiles. The program than
openned with a Welcome screen saying "Welcome to Outlook? would you like to
open an email account. I filled in "no" the next screen showed and than this
error message appeared " Unable to open email folder. Outlook could not start
because a data file to send and receive emails could not be found.To add a
data, double click on the mail folder icon in Window control panel.

I did that and than the same old message came on saying unable to open
default folders. Information store could not be found"

At this point I'm more than willing to just have my address book and have
the account open. Any more suggestions?

Thanks,

Ralph
 
Ralph said:
I had a little more success. I deleted all my mail profiles. The
program than openned with a Welcome screen saying "Welcome to
Outlook? would you like to open an email account. I filled in "no"
the next screen showed and than this error message appeared " Unable
to open email folder. Outlook could not start because a data file to
send and receive emails could not be found.To add a data, double
click on the mail folder icon in Window control panel.
Click to expand...

With Outlook closed, go into Control Panel, run the Mail applet, click Show
Profiles, then Add to add a new profile whose name is different from any
existing profile, then click the Data Files button to add a PST (since you
need one even if you have no mail account). Select the option to always
choose this new profile so that it always opens. Do all this prep before
starting Outlook. Close out of the Mail applet and start Outlook. You may
be asked if you want to create a mail account. Answer No. Outlook should
open with a full set of folders but no account. You'll get the choice to
continue with the no mail configuration. If you have an existing PST with
contacts in it, use File>Open>Outlook Data File to open it. Open its
Contacts folder, select all the items in that folder with Ctrl-A, then click
Edit>Copy to Folder, specifying the default Contacts folder as the
destintion. Do this with any folder in the old PST that contains data you
want to keep, like the Calendar (although you'll need to display it in a
table view before Ctrl-A will work). When you have all the data you wish,
right-click the old PST's root and choose Close.

I tried all this myself, so I know it works.
 
Brian,

I did everything you said, I went to mail applet ect. I did not create a
mail account.

I got back the original error message "Unable to open your default email"
"The information store could not be openned"
 
Ralph said:
I did everything you said, I went to mail applet ect. I did not
create a mail account.

I got back the original error message "Unable to open your default
email" "The information store could not be openned"
Click to expand...

I'd say you have something outside of Outlook incorrectly configured on your
system; possible Windows user profile issues or file ownership problems.
 
He should create a mail account first. Outlook may require that before it
can create a data file.
 
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