outlook express

Hi,

My OE on my dad's pc works but the inbox is empty as are all the other folders eg sent messages when running OE. The actual data folders exist but don't seem to load up when running OE. I can send messages with OE.

The data folders were found in the recycle bin and i restored them but the inbox fails to show up; even when i do import messages.
I have inbox.dbx of 12mb that I can't open. I delete the the temp inbox(1).dbx so inbox.dbx appears as the only choice. The inbox.dbx is in the correct folder in doc and settings along with a ton of other files that wont appear eg sent messages

I ran virus software to no avail.
The data is a little sensitive so my dad is worried.

 

It sounds like a new profile may have been created.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE!!!!! Back up ALL of those folders that obviously have data in them and TAKE THE BACK UP AWAY from your computer. If you stuff up when trying to put this right, you run a REAL RISK of losing all the emails.

 

Right. Now that you have the warning there, we can proceed.

I would suggest doing two things and reporting back. With OE open, choose "File - Identities - Manage identities". List all the identities found.

Next, we'll look to see how many profiles are on the computer. If using 2000 or XP, look here:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

In Windows 98, I think it's C:\Windows\Application Data\Identities

Note how many folders with strings of numbers and letters you have and post that info here too. AND BACK THESE UP TOO!!

The most important step in all of this is to not lose any emails while getting this problem fixed, so we'll start with that and see where we end up.

OE creates new folders to replace missing ones. Perhaps someone accidentally put them in the recycle or maybe you do have a more serious problem. But if you aren't careful when trying to resolve these problems, you lose everything and then have to go to data recovery which is another headache. And forces you to stop using the disk until the data recovery is done and hope everything gets found.

 

I have made a backup and this is on another pc of the whole identities folder.
I have winxp sp2 and i have run anti-virus and found a trojan on a 1 file but not on doc and settings.

 

I have the 'main identity' as the only identity as before i beleive.

folders with numbers and strings are

inbox(1).dbx
sent items(1).dbx
drafts(1).dbx
deleted items(1).dbx
inbox(1).dbx

inbox(1).bak
sent items(1).bak
drafts(1).bak
deleted items(1).bak
inbox(1).bak

ps i did change the password recently as well, can this stuff it up?

 

We may be talking at cross-purposes here about the folders with numbers. I was meaning how many folders did you find directly under Identities. I've included a screen shot to show you what I mean. There is a highlighted folder and one with the yellow text tag showing the full name of the folder. That's what I was talking about.

I'm curious, though; where are those folders on your computer that have (1) as part of their name?

No, changing the password shouldn't have caused problems.

 

I just found the one folder from the same dir location on my system(definetly)..Do you need a screendump?

 

I just found info on comapct all option the OE has and if it fails it copies all folders with the exr .bak eg inbox.bak and can dump all in recycle bin. That is what i have .

What i need is a way to open .dbx files bcause the .bak isn't read (change .bak to .dbx). All I find on google is commercial apps for this.

 

I've been doing some poking around and one thing I found says that the dbx files can't be set to read only or they can't be imported. Are they read only?

Another thing that might need to be done is to remove the folders.dbx and let OE rebuild it when you next open it. But that follows a couple of other steps, depending on your situation and I don't think I can do better than send you to this link to see if that resolves your problem:

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/faqs/how.htm#importOE5