Outlook 2003 won't start

[Brian Tillman]

Yes, I've tried re-creating mail accounts, but it always get back to
the same inability to create the default folder.

You'll notice that I did not say "re-creating mail accounts". I said "mail
profile".

I need to somehow
tell the installation that the default folder should be .pst instead
of Business Contact Manger.

http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm

 

[Bill Katz]

You'll notice that I did not say "re-creating mail accounts". I said "mail
profile".


http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/newprofile.htm

And you'll notice that I've already posted that when I try to create a new
mail profile I get the message "There was an error locating one of
the items to complete this operation. It might have been deleted". And as
you asked a previous poster, yes, I've tried both the "repair" and
"reinstall" operations from the "Add/Remove software" task in the control
panel. Still stuck.

 

[Brian Tillman]

And you'll notice that I've already posted that when I try to create
a new mail profile I get the message "There was an error locating one
of the items to complete this operation. It might have been deleted".

I didn't see that post until just now. Did you uninstall BCM?

 

[Bill Katz]

I didn't see that post until just now. Did you uninstall BCM?

Yes I uninstalled BCM. And after I uninstalled BCM I ran the repair (and
when that didn't work, the reinstall) on the Office 2003 installation.

BCM was part of a preinstalled package when I bought the computer, and while
I realized I had to uninstall Office 2007, I missed BCM until it was too late.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Yes I uninstalled BCM. And after I uninstalled BCM I ran the repair
(and when that didn't work, the reinstall) on the Office 2003
installation.

BCM was part of a preinstalled package when I bought the computer,
and while I realized I had to uninstall Office 2007, I missed BCM
until it was too late.

Can you put things back the way they were (i.e., BCM installed) and start
again? I'm afraid that if a new mail profile doens't work, I don't know
what else to suggest. Dod you ask in the BCM newsgroup?
microsoft.public.outlook.bcm

 

[Bill Katz]

Can you put things back the way they were (i.e., BCM installed) and start
again? I'm afraid that if a new mail profile doens't work, I don't know
what else to suggest. Dod you ask in the BCM newsgroup?
microsoft.public.outlook.bcm

No, I can't. BCM was "advertising-ware" that came on the laptop and I don't
have a disk for it. I don't want it. And BCM wasn't working when it was
there.

Will doing a complete uninstall of Office clear everything out?? I really
don't want to install the OS from scratch.

 

[Brian Tillman]

No, I can't. BCM was "advertising-ware" that came on the laptop and
I don't have a disk for it. I don't want it. And BCM wasn't
working when it was there.

Download a trial Office that contains BCM and install that.

Will doing a complete uninstall of Office clear everything out?? I
really don't want to install the OS from scratch.

Beats me. I was under the impression BCM appears as a separate item in
Add/Remove and not a subitem of Office's setup. The Office suite I have
contains BCM but I never installed it, having no need for it. I'd still
recommend asking in microsoft.public.outlook.bcm.

 

[Arnaud Miege]

I tried uninstalling Business Contact Manager, running both repair and
reinstall on Office 2003. When I go to Mail in the Control Panel and try
to
add a data file, the pulldown is blank. It won't let me add a data file.

Just an update on this. I followed pretty much the same workflow, with the
same results, i.e. still unable to launch Outlook. I have finally given up
on this and found an alternative solution.

As an FYI, what I was trying to do is have Outlook on my home laptop so that
my wife could access my (work) Outlook calendar using a PDA to sync between
both laptops:

Outlook on my work laptop -> Active Sync -> PDA -> Active Sync-> Outlook on
my home laptop.

The other solution that we tried (but also didn't work) was (she uses
Microsoft Entourage on her work laptop - a Mac):

Outlook on my work laptop -> Active Sync -> PDA -> PocketMac -> Entourage.

After buying PocketMac, I also couldn't get it work, and eventually asked
for a refund. The solution that we finally adopted was:

Outlook on my work laptop -> Google Sync -> my Google calendar -> share ->
her Google calendar.

Works just fine. Not sure what's wrong with Outlook on my home laptop.

Arnaud

 

[Rob De Medici]

Have you tried a new mail profile? Recreating accounts has no chance of
addressing a problem like this.

Many thanks!

 

[Captain_Eric]

Glad that you found a work around, but I still have the same problem you
described.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

This is a mess. I need to get this up and running. Help!

 

[Jack]

Hi,

I have recently installed Outlook 2003 on my machine (win XP SP2), and every
time I try to start it it gives me the following error message:

"Unable to open your default e-mail folders. Outlook could not start because
a data file to send and receive mail could not be found. To add a data file,
such as a personal folder file, double-click the Mail icon in Windows
Control Panel"

So I go to the Windows Control Panel, double-click the Mail icon, I click on
data files, Add... I only have one choice (Business Contact Manager
Database), so I click OK, and it gives me the following error message:

An exception occurred while trying to run
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL"C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\System\MSMAPI\1033\MLCFG32.CPL",@0"

I did some searching on the internet, but couldn't find any solution to
this. Can anybody help? I should point out that when asked to set up a mail
account the first time I opened up Outlook, I said no (and I don't want to
set up an email account).

Many thanks in advance,

Arnaud

 

[Jack]

I have exactly the same problem. I can't believe there's no solution for
this. What other avenue is there for getting this resolved?

 

[Robert Kennedy]

I had a similar problem where the types of files that can be added is blank
or contains none that related to personal folders or PST files or such.

I found the only solution was to uninstall all Microsoft Office Software via
Add Remove Programs (or similar in Vista). Then reboot - Then reinstall the
microsoft office programs you need. Repairs and other recovery options were
not sufficient.

Note on one HP product I had to install and uninstall 3 times in total to
recover this.

You will also need to delete the mail profile via the mail icon in control
panel and remake it again.

 

[Jack]

Thanks, I thought that was going to be the answer. Oh, well!