why does outlook close immediatley after being opened?

[W.F. Martin]

I am using Office XP Pro and my OS is Win XP Pro. Recently, when I now open
Outlook, it immediately closes after a very brief opening of my inbox. I have
checked the task manager & it does not show the application running. I am
unsure which process shows Outlook, but I could not recognize any of them as
an Outlook process. I have not downloaded any add-ons that I recall. In
addition, I uninstalled Office and re-installed it afterwards. It again did
the same thing, but the funny thing is that I also saw my pst folders in the
brief time it opened? In safe mode, Outlook works perfectly! I surely would
appreciate any help I can get.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

If Outlook is working in safe mode, then there is a strong possibility that
you have a 3rd party program installed that is interfering. This list is
far from inclusive, but you could try the following things...


1) With Outlook closed, you could try deleting the files named outcmd.dat
and extend.dat. These files will be under \documents and
settings\application data\microsoft\outlook and/or \documents and
settings\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook.

2) Try starting Outlook with the /cleanviews command line switch as you
might have a custom view that is corrupt just enough to make Outlook
crash/exit at start. Other useful command line switches that you could try
are /cleanfreebusy and /cleanreminders.

3) Any 3rd party security (antivirus, antispam, firewall) software you have
installed, uninstall it temporary to see if Outlook functionality returns to
normal. (Note: When you do this and if you connect directly to the
internet, please make sure that the Windows Firewall is on since you removed
your trusty 3rd party software and you do want 1 layer of protection between
the PC and the world.)

4) Other 3rd party applications that might interfere is Adobe Acrobat (not
the reader, but the full versions that let you create pdf files),
ActiveSync, Palm's Hotsync, and Fax software.

Can't think of anything else at this point, so hopefully one of the above
will solve your issue.

/neo

PS - the process name it task manager for Outlook is outlook.exe

 

[W.F. Martin]

If Outlook is working in safe mode, then there is a strong possibility that
you have a 3rd party program installed that is interfering. This list is
far from inclusive, but you could try the following things...


1) With Outlook closed, you could try deleting the files named outcmd.dat
and extend.dat. These files will be under \documents and
settings\application data\microsoft\outlook and/or \documents and
settings\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook.

2) Try starting Outlook with the /cleanviews command line switch as you
might have a custom view that is corrupt just enough to make Outlook
crash/exit at start. Other useful command line switches that you could try
are /cleanfreebusy and /cleanreminders.

3) Any 3rd party security (antivirus, antispam, firewall) software you have
installed, uninstall it temporary to see if Outlook functionality returns to
normal. (Note: When you do this and if you connect directly to the
internet, please make sure that the Windows Firewall is on since you removed
your trusty 3rd party software and you do want 1 layer of protection between
the PC and the world.)

4) Other 3rd party applications that might interfere is Adobe Acrobat (not
the reader, but the full versions that let you create pdf files),
ActiveSync, Palm's Hotsync, and Fax software.

Can't think of anything else at this point, so hopefully one of the above
will solve your issue.

/neo

PS - the process name it task manager for Outlook is outlook.exe

 

[W.F. Martin]

If Outlook is working in safe mode, then there is a strong possibility that
you have a 3rd party program installed that is interfering. This list is
far from inclusive, but you could try the following things...


1) With Outlook closed, you could try deleting the files named outcmd.dat
and extend.dat. These files will be under \documents and
settings\application data\microsoft\outlook and/or \documents and
settings\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook.

2) Try starting Outlook with the /cleanviews command line switch as you
might have a custom view that is corrupt just enough to make Outlook
crash/exit at start. Other useful command line switches that you could try
are /cleanfreebusy and /cleanreminders.

3) Any 3rd party security (antivirus, antispam, firewall) software you have
installed, uninstall it temporary to see if Outlook functionality returns to
normal. (Note: When you do this and if you connect directly to the
internet, please make sure that the Windows Firewall is on since you removed
your trusty 3rd party software and you do want 1 layer of protection between
the PC and the world.)

4) Other 3rd party applications that might interfere is Adobe Acrobat (not
the reader, but the full versions that let you create pdf files),
ActiveSync, Palm's Hotsync, and Fax software.

Can't think of anything else at this point, so hopefully one of the above
will solve your issue.

/neo

PS - the process name it task manager for Outlook is outlook.exe




Thank You neo. Problem solved. It was a program (Mobile Tools) for my cell phone that was the culprit!

 

[VanguardLH]

I am using Office XP Pro and my OS is Win XP Pro. Recently, when I now open
Outlook, it immediately closes after a very brief opening of my inbox. I have
checked the task manager & it does not show the application running. I am
unsure which process shows Outlook, but I could not recognize any of them as
an Outlook process. I have not downloaded any add-ons that I recall. In
addition, I uninstalled Office and re-installed it afterwards. It again did
the same thing, but the funny thing is that I also saw my pst folders in the
brief time it opened? In safe mode, Outlook works perfectly! I surely would
appreciate any help I can get.

If Outlook performs okay in its safe mode then you installed an add-on
that is crashing Outlook. When Outlook loads, it also loads all enabled
add-ons. If an add-on crashes or hangs on load, it also crashes or
hangs Outlook. When Outlook exits, it must also unload all the loaded
add-ons. If an add-on crashes or hangs on exit, it also crashes or
hangs Outlook.

Disable all add-ons when running Outlook in its safe mode. Then start
Outlook in its normal mode. Is the problem gone with all add-ons
disabled but running in normal mode or is it still there? If all
add-ons are disabled but the problem remains in normal mode, the problem
is with a COM plug-in and those are tough to troubleshoot. In that
case, you would go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the problematic
COM plug-in.

In Outlook's safe mode, disable all non-Microsoft add-ons (typically it
is one of these that cause the problem). Then enable just one of them.
Restart Outlook in its normal mode. Repeat enabling one add-ons at a
time and reloading Outlook to see when the problem reappears. When it
does, it was the add-on that you just re-enabled.

 

[VanguardLH]

If Outlook performs okay in its safe mode then you installed an add-on
that is crashing Outlook. When Outlook loads, it also loads all enabled
add-ons. If an add-on crashes or hangs on load, it also crashes or
hangs Outlook. When Outlook exits, it must also unload all the loaded
add-ons. If an add-on crashes or hangs on exit, it also crashes or
hangs Outlook.

Disable all add-ons when running Outlook in its safe mode. Then start
Outlook in its normal mode. Is the problem gone with all add-ons
disabled but running in normal mode or is it still there? If all
add-ons are disabled but the problem remains in normal mode, the problem
is with a COM plug-in and those are tough to troubleshoot. In that
case, you would go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the problematic
COM plug-in.

In Outlook's safe mode, disable all non-Microsoft add-ons (typically it
is one of these that cause the problem). Then enable just one of them.
Restart Outlook in its normal mode. Repeat enabling one add-ons at a
time and reloading Outlook to see when the problem reappears. When it
does, it was the add-on that you just re-enabled.

Oops, see in your other reply that you found the culprit add-on.