Outlook won't open :(

Recently we have encountered several trojans, and posted in the malware forum to find help. Timw (one of your experts) tried to help but as we cannot physically delete the email, i'm struggling to regain access to the rest of the inbox. Currently, we are able to receive emails through Outlook Express (that we used previously to Outlook) but since we updated, our contacts have changed so we've lost a lot of addresses

The virus came through 2 emails, and the first action the virus took was to disable Outlook: we are unable to load the program and if we try, the program seems to load, and gets all of the toolbars etc loaded apart from the inbox then crashes. We get the error message 'Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window'. I've tried loading in safemode, but that gives the same result.

We've also had problems with internet access since, and cannot run IE with add-ons if you are able to help with this.

I'm running XP prof, and MS 2007 (so outlook is the 2007 edition).

heres a link to the other thread if you want to take a look http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=218379

 

Looks like you need to reinstall Outlook.

Note: The Outlook program is separate from the files(s) containing all your data (emails, addresses and so on). The program will remove without touching the data file(s). It's a good idea to back them up first though (if you haven't already).To find them, go to (the default location) drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. Drive is probably the C: drive. <user> will be the name of the Admin account you are now in. In that folder, look for your Personal Folders file (Outlook .pst) and possibly an address book file (Outlook.pab) - you may not have this one.

If you can't see Local Settings (or other folders), it may be hidden. Follow these two steps:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folder option.

Do you have the Microsoft Office 2007 CD? You will probably need it to restore Outlook.

Open an account with Admin privileges and close all other accounts.
Go to Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs
When that 'populates', find your Microsoft Office entry (under M, not O), click on it, and click on Change.
Three options should open (I'm going by Office 2003 here, but hopefully 07 will be similar or reasonably self-explanatory).
You could try any of the three options - the first allows you to deselect Outlook, and thus remove it; the second is to Reinstall or Repair Outlook; and the third removes Office altogether.
I would try Reinstall or Repair as a first option. It's fairly self-explanatory once you get that far - you could try the Repair option first, and if that doesn't work, try Reinstall.

If you get Outlook going again, it goes without saying that you would need to avoid opening the problem emails. You may however have a problem if one of these is at the top of the list and opens when you open Outlook. There will probably be a way around that, but let's cross that bridge if we come to it.

I think you said the problem emails might now be in the Deleted Items folder. If so, don't open the folder; just go to Empty "Deleted Items" Folder under Tools in Outlook (sorry, that's 2003 again... it should be there somewhere in 2007). Empty the folder, then follow Timw's advice in that other thread to completely get rid of the stuff.

Hope this helps.

 

:/ hmmm trying to back up the data files, but i can't find the ones you specified. the only files in the drive:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook location are 'outcmd' DAT file, 'Outlook' Office data file, 'Outlook' XML file and 'outlook.srs' should i back the all up or is only the outlook office data file needed (this was the biggest so i guess its the inbox etc).

btw, yes i do have the office cd and reg code. In office '07 i get the options 'change' or 'remove' on the add/remove programs. i clicked change and got the options 'add/remove features', 'repair' or 'remove'. I clicked repair and it said it was going to do the whole of office, i didnt get the chance to do only outlook, so i cancelled it, when i clicked 'add remove features' i could select only outlook, but then i guessed it would remove outlook. can you install only outlook from the disc or will it try to install the whole lot again?

which would you suggest i go for: repair whole of office or reinstall outlook only?

thanks for the swift reply

alice

 

Hi again.
It's likely to be the 'Outlook' Office data file - if you want to be certain, I think you need to go back to:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then uncheck the Hide Extensions for Known File Types option.

That should show you if it's a .pst file.

Before doing anything else, it would pay you to go to the following link and follow the directions there. There is apparently a new feature in Office 2007 which will let you diagnose and fix some problems on Office. This would be worth trying first and this link has very clear instructions:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/micr...repair-applications-in-microsoft-office-2007/

If that didn't work...
It wouldn't hurt to repair the whole of Office. However, try the 'add remove features' option. You should then be able to just replace Outlook when you run the CD. I don't have a CD with me here, but from memory there will be options that let you just repair and/or replace what you want. Again, though, it wouldn't hurt to reinstall the whole thing. Just a reminder that the programs that run things like Outlook, Word and Excel are quite separate from the data files - things like emails, Word documents, etc. When you run something like Word, the program bit runs, then goes off looking for your Word documents, collects what you want and shows it on the screen. There is no connection between the program and the documents other than the extension (.docx in the case of Word 2007), which just tells Word that that file can be read by Word.

 

hi again

bad news or good news first?

bad news:
unfortunately it isn't a .pst document, it is a .NK2 what ever one of them is...and everyone seems to have one. In the user area where the dodgy emails came in there are 2 extra documents :S 'outitems.log', opened this because it was small and a notebook file, just seemed like weird bit of code (attached). Other file was OutlPrnt, no identified file type. this wasn't in my brother's or my area, but was in my sister's, mum's and dad's areas.

I tried running the diagonstic tool, it said nothing was wrong :confused the internet link to 'continue the process online' didnt work.

good news:
I have copied all of the files in the outlook folder for each user to a disc, and in the process i found my sister had an outlook.pst file that the rest of us didnt have. She had 11 files in that folder where everyone else had 4-6. she also had another .log file which noone else had 'offitems.log' (attached)
Also TimW says our pc is malware free :celebrate

I'm just about to run the repair thingy on add/remove programs will post back when that has done its job and i've figured out whether it has worked

alice

 

Good work.
Interesting files. OutlPrnt relates to printing. The other is a log file (keeping track of what has happened usually), though I don't know what that is in it.
.NK2 is a Microsoft data file.
A bit concerned that there is no .pst file for you. It is possible that the file extension has been changed (if so, it can easily be changed back). These file can be quite large - even up to a couple of GB. Any there like that?
We may end up needing a screen print of what's in your Outlook folders.
Let's wait for the next installment.

 

ok, so just finished the repair and have just found to my delight that publisher has returned i knew we didn't have it but thought that was because of the package we had, evidently it just decided not to install the first time around however, it did not mend outlook

uploading the screen prints, see the username in the address bar. one more to go, up in a min

 

other screen print. oh, i didnt realise it did that to jpegs do you need it in another format or are you ok reading these?

 

Ok. Here's some probably good news for you. In all those folders you looked in, except Hannah's, you have left out one of the subfolders in filepath. You have missed the Local Folders step! They do that just to make sure it isn't too easy to find things. And that's good news because you will probably find those missing .pst files when you go to the right folder. Back them up when you find them.

Next, have you tried opening Outlook from any of those other accounts, or an admin account? It would be worth trying. If it works, it's probably not the Outlook program that is the problem. It may be one or more of your profiles. They can be recreated if needed.

You might also try opening Outlook when in SafeMode (tap the F8 key when booting to get to SafeMode), and also try opening Outlook itself in its own SafeMode (hold down the Ctrl key while starting Outlook. Keep holding it down until it asks if you want Safe Mode).

If no users can open Outlook (is it still behaving the same way since the repair?), you should go back to trying to reinstall it. I've had a bit of a look around, and I think you're next best approach (seeing Repair didn't work) will be to completely uninstall Microsoft Office. It doesn't seem to be possible to uninstall just Outlook. You can make Outlook Unavailable, but I don't think that will help.

To do this, go to Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs, etc, as before, but this time use the Remove option. When that's done, reinstall using the CD.

Hopefully this will work. If not, you will probably need to remove Outlook manually, which can be a bit more difficult (things need to be removed from the registry, etc), although there might be a program around that will do it for you.

Even if all else fails, there are still other options for getting your data back, such as taking your .pst files to another computer, or installing another email client, such as Thunderbird, and importing the data from the Outlook files.

Keep posting.

 

wahey!!! found them :celebrate the only reason i looked there in hannahs is because she got some wierd bug a while back that deleted half of her documents, so her other application data folder has nothing in it

outlook opens in the other user areas. Have already tried opening with in safemode, but same result

As to installing another email client, we also have outlook express which mum is using atm, it seems to work

i'm guessing next step is recreating the profile?

alice

 

Hi Alice.
Good work!

Yep. Since the other users are OK, it should be just a matter of recreating the profile that isn't working (yours, I take it). Do you need help with that?

 

yeah help would be useful and btw, of course it not mine where the fault is, its mum

 

Silly me! How could I not have known that!?
Rather than try to put a whole lot of instructions here, have a look at :
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm
It looks pretty clear, so that should get you out of trouble.

Are you still having problems with IE as well? Here's a good site for that:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318378
When you go to it, it might even open a page that offers to fix your problem automatically.

 

thanks for that, i'll have a go

yep, still having problems with ie.
this microsoft fixer program came upwhen i opened the second link and suggested i ran it, so i clicked to and it didnt do anything :confused
how do you find out if you already have XP SP3?

^ignore that i just tried the first solution and it worked :celebrate i now have add ons back :-D how come i can never find the right articles on microsofts website?

 

Typical! Ok, just follow the other directions there.
You can find out if you have SP3 or SP2 or whatever by going to Start>Control Panel>System and look under System (again) in the General tab.
Mine says:
System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 3
Then the next heading is: Registered to
You should have SP3 installed, or at least SP2 with all critical updates. If not, you should install it as soon as everything else is sorted, if not before.

Oops. Just saw your last post.
Good that things are working. Was that IE that is now working (I guess it's this), or Outlook?

It's like that Local Folders thing. They try to make it as hard as possible.
Like the joke about, What is big, grey, has a trunk and 19 legs?

 

yep, were running sp3 its ie thats working, much to the amusement of my fb friends (i'm on chat and i keep having to log off to reset settings/ switch user area lol)

joke: i dunno, not heard that 1 before..

 

An elephant.

 

ok, so all was going swimmingly with the recreate email profile until it asked me for a password... i have no idea what it would be i tried leaving it blank and it wouldnt connect to the server, encrypted or unencrypted :confused

 

Do you (or the administrator) need a password to logon to the computer?
(aren't you going to ask me about the elephant?)

 

they do need a password now that i put one there, but before that, no. We've never needed a password foe emails before, unless dad used one whenhe set it up it the first place which was about 6 + years ago i think

about the elephant, i didnt see your last post before, and i had figured it would be some kind of elephant... go on tell me :confused

 

Hmmm... it could be that it wants your Internet password. The one you use with your ISP.

You're supposed to point out that an elephant doesn't have 19 legs.

 

erm isp password...?? i think we're on virgin media but i didn't know we had a password, then again i don't pay the bills

oh, ok, thats odd. Elephants don't have 19 legs...

 

It's possible that you don't use that password much (if ever). If you want to go into your account with virgin media, you would go to the website and login with a password. Maybe the bill payer knows it.

Said with obvious sincerity:

I just put that in to make it harder.
(well, we got there eventually! And I'm sure you now see it was well worth it!)
(And I did tell you it was like Microsoft)

 

ahhhha lol
i only did what you said...

is that not what i did?

right, i'll try again at lunch time when mum come home to get some lunch

new joke: knock knock

 

You did perfectly! And with hardly ANY prompting! :-D
(And I'll even overlook the fact that you appear to have neglected to congratulate me on this most excellent humour.)
I'll head off home (from work) then. I'll be home in about an hour to see if there's any progress. (7:50 pm here)

 

well done on the humour, it was quite funny you havent answer to my joke!!! i'm just reaching 11 here + as if you're still at work at nearly 8pm :O they work you too hard

 

You're not the first to say that!

Slightly off topic, but who's there? (sorry - didn't see it).

 

you know.

sorry i didnt reply earlier, i've been into town with my mates

 

You realise you've made me wait all night for this! Hardly slept a wink, wondering who was at the door!

You know who?

 

i told you who was at the door!!!!


exactly!! avarda kedavra !! mwahaha


sorry for making you wait, havent properly seen my mates since we stood down and i needed to buy a bday present. Mum says the password is up in the loft with the disc so when i've had my breakfast i'll go have a scout about up there. if theres spiders, i probs wont find it...

sorry about the joke, i am a master of many lame jokes. :-D

 

G'day.
Is that Mr or Mrs Who?
Bon appetit.

 

?? harry potter humour... he who cannot be named and all that..?

anyway, i've found the disc and a sheet with multiple passwords on it i've managed to create a new profile, now what?

 

You should be able to open Outlook from your mum's logon using that new profile.

 

yep :-D we have outlook :-D :celebrate should i import the old pst file to restore all old messages?

 

Excellent.
Yes. You should be able to do it by (in Outlook) going to File>Open>Outlook Data File...
In the panel that opens, browse to your mum's .pst file, select it and click ok. (You DO remember where the .pst file is, don't you! )

 

of course i remember where it is i'm not a complete spoonbrain!!

i started it before i posted back, but thought id better make sure you wanted me to do that

 

Initiative! Commendable!
Now go and tell your mum that you've been poking your tongue out at people again! That'll teach you! :major

 

dammit!! looks like were headed for a crash task manager says outlook is not responding and were running at 100% cpu usage :O do i end task or just wait and see if it clears itself?

 

Might as well wait for a bit, but that doesn't sound good.

 

ok, music off, busted cd on instead fb off time to get out the book i bought yesterday, at this rate, ill have finished it by tonight

 

OK. Shut it down and try this. (There are lots of things that can be tried):
Look for a file called outcmd.dat, which should be in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
(now I KNOW you know where THAT is!). Then rename it something like outcmd.old (Outlook will create a new one), then try restarting Outlook and go to your mum's .pst file.
If that doesn't work, try it in Outlook Safe Mode. I don't think it will help, but it's an easy thing to try.

 

renamed the file then opened outlook = sucess :-D also, it did manage to copy in nearly all of the old emails. I've emptied the 'deleted items' folder as this is was where the problem email was. can i now delete the old profile? because it makes me select the profile every time i open outlook

 

Well done!
Yes, you can delete the old profile.
You can also go to Control Panel>Mail>Show Profiles and, with your mum's profile highlighted (it will probably be the only one there if you get rid of the old one), select Always Use this Profile (at the bottom of the panel).
You can also now delete that file you changed to outcmd.old (if you can still find your way back there!!! :-D)

 

does it matter that there are 2 pst files? one of them is the old one, should i just leave it?

 

You might as well get rid of it (see the second sentence and the first bit in brackets in my last post). It's like tidying up your bedroom... you know .

 

tidying my bedroom? pfft!! that doesnt really happen tbh, its gets to a stage where i cant find the floor, then project major tidy up happens, then it goes back to a bomb site etc... atm i have a random airbed in there...

also, is there a way to move the emails recieved in outlook express into outlook itself as mum used outlook express whilst outlook was down, could i just try to copy and paste or is itnot that easy?

 

How did I guess?! Just like my daughter... except for the "project major tidy up" bit!!!

To move Express data to Outlook...

1. In Outlook, on the File menu, click Import and Export.
2. Click Import Internet Mail and Addresses, and then click Next.
3. Click Outlook Express.
4. Select the Import mail check box.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Finish.
7. To save a copy of the import summary to your Inbox, click Save in Inbox.

 

minor panic over :/ just opened outlook, it didnt like the fact that i'd deleted outlook.pst, i guess i can't delete it (i restored it from the recycling bin).

why oh why did i do that!! i just moved in shedloads of emails from about 2006 and about 50 from 2010, oopsy, oh well, mum can go through and delete some of the rubbish that should have been thrown out years ago

and my inbox is worse than my bedroom tbh, i have 2, one that i actually check, the other that gains rubbish like fb and majorgeeks emails...

 

Delete outlook.pst (your mum's old one) again, then rename the new one to outlook.pst. I think from memory that there has to be a file called that, unless you change a setting somewhere else (the setting that tells it where to look). I'm pretty sure that will work.

Just what are you saying about MG emails???!!!

 

:confused now its saying cannot find outlook1.pst

im saying that in less than 2 weeks i have 700 unread emails, i just checked