Unable to open Outlook

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nik2

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My Microsoft Outlook file (not Outlook Express) was set up to send/receive messages through one of my ISP’s. I made some minor changes to my Tasks folder on 3/10/08. I then went to Disc Cleanup and compressed my files. Prior to this day I had never checked “Compress Old Files“ for cleanup. I then shut down the computer. When I restarted, I was unable to access Microsoft Outlook at all.

If I right clicked on Outlook Icon on the toolbar a box would open asking me to create a new profile with a new profile name. When I hit “cancel” I received this Error Message “No profiles have been created. To create new profile, use the Mail Icon in the Control Panel. When I pressed OK I received another Error Message saying “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. The server is not available. Contact your administrator if this condition persists.” When I went to the Control Panel and pressed the Mail Icon, there was a box that said “These are the profiles that are set up on this computer.” Inside the box is “empty” showing no profiles at all.

I then did a search and located my Outlook file. I attempted to open it to no avail. It had 44,256KB Office Data File.

When I attempted to open it I receive this Error Message: Cannot start Microsoft Outlook the command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using.

On 3/12/08 I ran Outlook in Safe Mode. I was able to create another file, Outlook 1, which I can use in the future. Of course, I still have the problem of opening my original Outlook file with years of data in it.

I hope someone on this site can help me. This is my first posting.
 
Backup your 44,256KB file (just make a copy)

ReInstall Office and select repair option (you may be able to single out Outlook only)
You will need your original Office CD and key
 
On 3/18/08 I performed another search for the Outlook files. This is what I found:
Outlook - 44,256KB - created 1/21/04 - Office Data File -modified 3/18/08 at 1:21 PM
(This is the file I’ve lost.)
Outlook 1 - 240KB - created 3/12/08 - Office Data File -modified 3/18/08 at 1:21 PM
the modification timestamps(TS) are worthless; Outlook will modify them in the act of
attempting to open the archive; it doesn't complete and fails, but has modified the TS regardless :(
 
Question for Kimsland

I'm not sure what backing up my original Outlook file and reinstalling Outlook would do to alleviate my problem? As I stated previously, I was able to set up a new file - Outlook 1 - which I'm presently using. My problem is that I need the data from my original Outlook file. I need to know how to open it.
 
just double clicking on it should open it; are you suggesting it doesn't?
 
Kimsland

If I'm able to follow your instructions and reinstall Outlook, will I then have two Outlook files.......an Outlook and an Outlook 1?
 
Could there be a correlation between me losing my original Outlook file and "system restore" not working properly? It seems doubtful to me, however, I thought I should at least ask. I do so because immediately after losing access to the Outlook file (which I have previously described), I attempted to do a system restore. Ironically, none of the "specified dates" I tried worked. Prior to that date, I had never experienced a problem using system restore.
 
there might be a date upon which major 'things happened' but
  1. MS will run w/o outlook
  2. outlook has nothing to do with the OS itself
Whatever 'ate your homework' caused multiple issues and is just coincident.
 
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