Microsoft provides the Inbox Repair Tool for correcting most problems with damaged Personal Folders .pst files. If you do not see the Inbox Repair Tool on the Start menu, under Programs | Accessories | System Tools, use Start | Find or Start | Search (depending on your operating system) to search your system for Scanpst.exe. In Windows 7 and Vista, type scanpst in the Start menu’s Search dialog.
You will need to know the location of the .pst file that you want to repair. If you can open Outlook, you can get the pst location from the File, Data File Management screen. Select the pst file and click the Open Folder button.
Outlook 2010 uses the locations below for IMAP pst files while the default location for POP3 pst files is in My Documents\Outlook Files.
If you use Outlook 2007 or older and the pst file is in the default folder location, you can find it in the following locations:
Windows 7 or Vista:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
Type or paste this shortcut in the scanpst dialog to jump to the location:
%localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook
Windows XP or Windows 2000:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Type or paste this shortcut in the scanpst dialog to jump to the location:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
See Outlook Backup and Dual-Boot for additional information on file locations and ways to determine the location of a .pst file that you can see in Outlook.
See How to use Scanpst.exe to repair Outlook data files if you need Step-by-step instructions for Scanpst.
Advanced Outlook Repair
Usage | Notes | Tools | More Information
Usage
When you run Scanpst.exe, it performs a number of tests. If it finds errors, it asks whether you want to make a backup copy of the original file (always say Yes), then tries to correct the errors.
If you run Scanpst.exe against a .pst file that Outlook 2003 created for a local copy of Windows SharePoint Services events and contacts lists, you will get an error message that you can ignore. See You Receive an Error Message When You Use the Inbox Repair Tool to Scan a .pst File
For seriously corrupted PST files, try running Scandisk.exe (look under Programs | Accessories | System Tools) first, then Scanpst.exe, repeating 3-4 times until neither program returns an error. We’ve known this technique to restore data that the user thought was lost forever.
And if that doesn’t do it, you can try our tips to repair a 2gb Personal Folders file or Offline Folders in Microsoft Outlook.
If the file is on an NTFS volume, you can’t use Scandisk.exe so easily. One approach is to open the drive in My Computer and use the Tools menu commands to scan the disk. You may need to restart Windows for the scan to run.
Notes
While you can use Scanpst.exe on offline folder (.ost) files used for cached or offline access to Exchange Server folders, we recommend deleting the ost file and letting Outlook recreate it. It’s generally faster to resync the data than it is to repair the ost and a new ost file results in fewer problems. If do use try to repair an OST file and it’s corrupted beyond the ability of Scanpst.exe to repair it, delete the ost. When you reopen Outlook it will make a new ost file.
There may be cases where you need to run both ScanPST and PST2GB. See OL2000 Error Message When You Start Outlook 2000 or Try to Open a Personal Folders File.
Another approach is to use a hex editor remove a single byte from the middle of the PST file, then run Scanpst. A hex editor is a tool for editing raw files; every Windows shareware site has several to choose from. Eugene McCarthy of FAO Headquarters in Rome recommends the free iHex editor, which loads only 64kb of the file at a time, making it ideal for tinkering with extremely large PST files. For simple Scanpst repairs, Eugene recommends changing the first byte of the PST file from hex 21 to 00.
There is no comparable program for cleaning up corrupted Personal Address Book (.pab) files. You may be able to view and recover PAB data by opening the file with a hex editor.
Tools in the Spotlight
Advanced Outlook Repair (AOR) is a powerful tool to repair and recover corrupted Outlook PST files. Main features: recover mail messages, folders, posts, appointments, meeting requests, contacts, distribution lists, tasks, task requests, journals and notes in PST files; support to recover attachments; support to recover deleted Outlook items; support to recover oversized 2GB PST files; support to split the output PST file into several small ones; support to recover password protected PST files; support to convert PST file from Outlook 97-2002 format into Outlook 2003/2007 format. Version 3.2 Full support for Outlook 2010. | |
Outlook Recovery locates Microsoft Outlook files and databases automatically no matter what disk or storage device has been used to keep them. If you experienced a hard drive failure or deleted an Outlook database by an accident, Outlook Recovery will perform a full scan of that disk in order to locate and undelete/recover the database. If a database is corrupted, Outlook Recovery will repair it so that it can be used with Microsoft Outlook again. Outlook Recovery can recover Outlook databases in PST and OST formats, saving them for using with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or any email application that supports the EML format. |
Tools
CopyPST repairs Outlook data files by exporting it to a new file, ignoring any error. It requires that the data file can still be opened in Outlook. Exporting a file breaks links, which can be repairs using OLfix program. Free | |
Repair corrupted .pst and .ost files and those exceeding the 2gb limit. Retrieve deleted items from Outlook folders. Can access password-protected .pst files. Can also repair and restore Outlook Express data. | |
Kernel for Outlook PST Repair Tool recovers and restores emails and other items from damaged, corrupted or broken PST files. A demo version is available and shows you exactly that how many emails and other items will be recovered using the full Kernel Repair PST Software. Kernel for Outlook PST Repair supported versions are Outlook 97, 2000, XP, 2003. It successfully recovers all items from the PST file including emails, drafts, calendars, journal, notes, tasks, contacts etc. OST repair tool also available. | |
Outlook Accelerator improves Outlook performance by defragmenting Personal or Offline Folders - the place where Outlook stores all your emails, attachments, contacts, documents, etc. Outlook Folders tend to grow fast and are being constantly changed by Outlook. As a result, the file that keeps your Folders becomes heavily fragmented very quickly. | |
Outlook Recovery Software is designed to repair and restore e-mails, contacts, tasks, notes, journals and calendar items from damaged or corrupted Microsoft outlook .pst file. It allows you to Retrieves data from encrypted files. | |
OutlookFix is an Outlook repair software tool for damaged, erased or large Outlook PST files. Restores Outlook files, will undelete emails and files, and lets you reduce the size of Outlook (Outlook 2gb limit fix) solving the common 2Gb size problem. | |
Recovery for Outlook repairs corrupted Outlook mailboxes (.pst). The program also supports Exchange Offline Storage Files (.ost). Supported Outlook versions: 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000, 98 and 97 | |
Recover data from Outlook pst files. Recover Exchange ost files and/or convert them into Microsoft Outlook pst files. Export data from pst files into eml and vcf files. | |
Email and file recovery tool can restore data deleted from Outlook Personal Folders .pst files. | |
An advanced Outlook PST Repair tool which scans, repairs and restores all the components in Outlook PST file with its advanced algorithm. Stellar Phoenix Outlook pst repair software incorporates several extraordinary features such as deleted email recovery, selected items recovery, encrypted and password protected PST files recovery, repairs PST files which are larger than 2 GB etc. The demo version of the PST repair software provides the preview of the PST objects that could be recovered. Also the software efficiently works with all latest versions of Outlook like 2010, 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000. | |
Raw pst file reader tool to read corrupt Outlook .pst files. Performs complete scan of pst file and restores emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, journals etc. from the damaged Outlook file. |
More Information
- To repair a 2gb Personal Folders file or Offline Folders
- Convert an OST to PST
- Housekeeping and Message Management Tools
- OL2000: How to Find and Run the Inbox Repair Tool
- OL2000 (IMO) How to Use the Inbox Repair Tool to Recover Messages — The article says it’s for IMO mode only, but it’s actually relevant for Corporate/Workgroup mode, too.
- Recovering data from offline folders — The key to recovering an .ost file is not to connect to the Exchange Server.
- OL2002 0×80040119 and Unknown Error Messages When You Try to Read, Send, Receive, or Delete E-mail
- Why .pst Files Are Unsupported Over a LAN or WAN Link
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Last reviewed on Dec 8, 2011
I am retired and have gone to gmail from my old outlook 2000. I have been lazy about transfering all my contacts to gmail. Monday this week my outlook 2000 stopped working. I have gotten a couple of error messages. one says outlook 2000 is obsolete and i should upgrade to newer software. the other says it can’t open because of file PST.PRX.DLL. Do you have any suggestions to revive the outlook 2000 so I can get all my contacts?
Well, outlook is obsolete but Outlook 2000 should work and it shouldn’t be the one telling you its obsolete.
What version of Windows?
What antivirus do you use?
What is the exact error message?
Diane,
I think that message came from Microsoft.
Windows XP professional
AVG
Now I can’t even turn it on from my desktop. The message reads “Unable to display the selected folder or item. Could not complete the operation. One or more parameter values are not valid”. When I open Outlook from “all programs” the message reads. “unable to open your default e-mail folders. An unexpected error has occured. MAPI was unable to load the information dervice PSTPRX.DLL. Be sure the service is correctly installed and configured.”
Diane, I am far from a computer wiz. I know just enough to be dangerous. Any help would be appreciated.
Andy
Did you install Office XPand keep Outlook 2000 installed? That can cause this error.
Thank you!!! Fantastic instructions. “Errors have been detected in the file outlook.PST”. I have tried to repair the SCANPST file but I get a message saying it is read only and cannot be repaired.
Scanpst worked for me! That actually works most of the time. In the event that it doesn’t, that Outlook recovery program has worked for friends of mine.
Diane,
I had to run scanpst.exe and it worked but it brought back a whole bunch of my old e-mails and folders that had either been previously deleted or in an older, different .pst file. Is it possibly when i ran scanpst.exe it merged the two .pst files? Do you know of a way to get my system back to where it was without all of this extra old emails everywhere?
No, it didn’t merge the pst files but I’m guessing the pst didn’t get compacted so the old messages were recovered when you ran scanpst. Unless you have a recent backup of the pst file, getting back to how it was before will take a lot of manual labor.