Outlook 2003 can't find extend.dat - any ideas what this file is?

[RKN Davis]

I recently installed Outlook 2003 replacing Outlook XP. I patched from the
update site to SP2. Now when I open Outlook I get an error "An extension
failed to initialize. Can't open file: extend.dat. ...". when I acknowledge
the error Outlook 2003 appears to behave normally.

How do I find out which extension is failing to initialize? I've searched
my hard drive and don't have a file names "extend.dat" anywhere on it.

When I look in the add-ins, I don't appear to have any.

How can I eleiminate this error?

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Try looking for it under \documents and settings\<userid>\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook. Please keep in mind that
"Local Settings" and "Application Data" are hidden/system directories that
Windows Explorer will not show or search by default.

 

[RKN Davis]

Thanks Neo, the extend.dat file is there. Follow on question: where should
it be so Outlook 2003 will find it at startup?

 

[RKN Davis]

Ok, I've sorted it. Thanks.

The icon was showing translucent. I renamed the file and on doing so,
another extend.dat was created. This one showed non-translucent and now I
not longer have the error when I launch outlook 2003. From the icon and the
date of the file it seemed to be related to Windows media player 10. I
uninstalled WMP10 and reinstalled it for good measure. All seems to be OK
now. Thanks again, Richard.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks Neo, the extend.dat file is there. Follow on question: where
should it be so Outlook 2003 will find it at startup?

You should be able simply to delete it and have Outlook recreate it.