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How to fix this error in outlook 2010 ? The set of folders cannot be opened. the server is not available. Contact your system administer

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Question added by Mohamed Zia Marzook , IT Engineer , Lisec Automation MiddleEast FZE
Date Posted: 2015/03/23
Kareem Mubarak
by Kareem Mubarak , IT Engineer Support , Alef Education

Start outloof with resetfolder and reconnect outlook with the same server 

Syed Amjad Abbas
by Syed Amjad Abbas , IT Support Engineer , The Emirates Group

Start Outlook with /resetfolder and /resetnavpane. To do this, press Windows key + R, type outlook.exe /resetfolder in the Run dialog and press Enter.

Mark Henry
by Mark Henry , Software Devloper , DataInfoTools

For recovering email data from damaged Outlook PST files. Try this Outlook PST repair tool to repair and recover entire data from each and every folder of email and then save into Outlook PST format.Read more: https://www.datainfotools.com/outlook-pst-repair.html

Shiv Gupta
by Shiv Gupta , web master , Software pt

With the help of Scanpst.exe application, one can easily fix Outlook PST error issues. If you are unable to solve PST corruption issues with Scanpst.exe, then you can go for a third party Outlook PST repair software. The software also helps you to recover lost data from corrupted PST file. To know more, visit: http://www.pstrepairtool.corruptpstfile.com/

I think, resetting navigation pane should be enough to resolve this.

Muhammad Anzar
by Muhammad Anzar , DevOps/DevSecOps Architect , Confidential

How to fix "Cannot start Microsoft Outlook" issue - universal solutions

Now that you know what causes problems on Outlook start up, let's see how we can get them fixed. Below you will find the troubleshooting steps for4 most common problems that prevent Outlook from starting correctly, listed in order of frequency and efficiency:

Recover the Navigation Pane configuration file

In most cases it is the corrupted Navigation Pane settings file that prevents Outlook from starting successfully, so the first thing you need to do is to mend it. Here's how you can do this on different operating systems:

1. If you use Vista, Windows7 or Windows8, click the Start button. On Windows XP, click Start > Run.

2. Type the following command in the search field:

outlook.exe /resetnavpane

Note: Be sure to enter a space between outlook.exe and /resetnavpane.

3. Press Enter or click on the file in order to reset the Navigation Pane settings and then open Outlook.Use the outlook.exe /resetnavpane command to reset the Navigation Pane settings and restart Outlook.

If you prefer to work with the Run dialog on Windows7 or Windows8, then follow this way.

1. On the Start menu, click All Programs > Accessories > Run.

2. Type the outlook.exe /resetnavpane command and click OK.Type the outlook.exe /resetnavpane command and click OK.

Note: An automatic fix for "Outlook unable to start" problem is available of Microsoft's site for Windows8, Windows7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Simply click "Fix this problem" link on this page.

Delete the Navigation pane settings fileIf for some reason you were not able to recover the Navigation pane configuration file, nor did theautomatic fix provided by Microsoft work, try to delete the XML file that stores the navigation pane settings. To do this, proceed with the following steps:

1. Enter the below command in the Start > Search field on Windows7 and Windows8 (or Start > Run on Windows XP) and press Enter:

%appdata%\\Microsoft\\Outlook

2. This will open the folder where Microsoft Outlook configuration files are stored. Find and delete theOutlook.xml file.Find and delete the Outlook.xml file.

Warning! Do try to recover the Navigation pane settings file first. Consider deleting as the last resort, if nothing else works.

Repair your Outlook data files (.pst and .ost) using the Inbox Repair tool

If you have reinstalled Outlook recently and something went wrong during uninstallation of the previous version, the default Outlook data file (.pst / .ost) might have been deleted or damaged, which is why Outlook won't open. In this case you are likely to get this error: "Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. The file Outlook.pst is not a personal folders file."

Let's try to repair your outlook.pst file using Scanpst.exe, aka Inbox Repair tool.

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\{Office version}. If you have64-bit Windows with32-bit Office installed, go to C:\\Program Files x86\\Microsoft Office\\{Office version}.

2. Find Scanpst.exe in the list and double click on it.

Alternatively, you can click Start and type scanpst.exe in the Search box.Find Scanpst.exe on your computer and double click on it.

3. Click the Browse button to select your default Outlook.pst file.

In Outlook2010 and Outlook2013, the PST file resides in the Documents\\Outlook Files folder. If you upgraded to Outlook2010 on a computer that already had data files created in previous versions, you will find the outlook.pst file in a hidden folder in these locations:

  • On Windows Vista, Windows7 and Windows8" - C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Outlook
  • On Windows XP, you will find it here C:\\ Documents and Settings\\user\\Local Settings\\Application Data\\Microsoft\\Outlook

Click the Start button to start scanning your PST file for errors.

You can find more details about repairing the Outlook PST file on Microsoft's web-site: Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost).

Try to open Outlook and if it starts without errors, congratulations! You do not need the remainder of this article : ) Or maybe, it's worth to bookmark it for the future.

Turn off Compatibility mode in Outlook

When it comes to using compatibility mode in Outlook, let me quote a wisdom that Outlook's guru Diane Poremsky shared on her blog: "If you enabled compatibility mode, disable it. If you haven't, don't even consider it."

You can turn off compatibility mode in the following way:

1. Click the Start button (or Start > Run on Windows XP) and type outlook.exe in the search field.Click the Start button and type outlook.exe in the search field.

Alternatively, you can find outlook.exe in the default installation folder: C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\{Office version}. Where {Office version} is Office15 if you are using Office2013, Office14 for Office2010 and so on.

2. Right-click on OUTLOOK.EXE, and then click Properties.Right-click outlook.exe, and then click Properties.

3. Switch to the Compatibility tab and be sure to clear the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" check box.Clear the Compatibility mode check box.

4. Click OK and try to start Outlook.

If you still cannot open the Outlook window and the same "Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook" error persists, try to restore the previous version of the PST file. Of course, in this case some of your recent emails and appointments will be lost, but it seems to be a better alternative than no Outlook at all. So, right click on the Outlook.pst file and select Restore Previous Versions.Right click on the Outlook.pst file and select Restore Previous Versions.

Create a new Outlook profile

If neither repairing nor restoring the Outlook.pst file worked, you can create a new mail profile in order to see if it solves the problem. If it does, then you can copy your current Outlook data file (.pst or .ost) from the broken mail profile to the newly created one.

1. Create a new profile by going to Control Panel > Mail > Data Files > Add...Use Control Panel to create a new Outlook profile.

For full details, see Microsoft's step-by-step guidance on creating a new Outlook profile.

2. Set the new profile as the default one. On the "Account Setting" dialog > Data files tab, select the new profile and click the Set as Default button on the toolbar.

After you do this, a tick will appear to the left of the newly created profile, as you see in the screenshot below.Set the new profile as the default one.

3. Try to open Outlook and if it starts normally with the newly created profile, copy the data from your old .pst file as explained in the next step, and continue working with it.

4. Import data from the old Outlook PST file. Hopefully, now you can finally open Outlook but your PST file is new and therefore empty. Don't panic, this is not a problem at all compared to the one you've just solved : ) Perform the following steps to copy emails, calendar appointments and other items from your old .pst file.

  • Go to File > Open > Import.
  • Select "Import from another program of file" and click Next.
  • Choose "Outlook DataFile (.pst)" and click Next.
  • Click the Browse button and select your old .pst file. If you've had just one Outlook profile and never renamed the PST file, then most likely it will be Outlook.pst.

5. Click Next and then Finish to complete the migration process.

Warning! If your old Outlook PST file was severely damaged and the repair procedure was not successful, you may get "Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. The set of folders cannot be opened" error again. If this case, the only way is to create a new profile and use it without importing data from the old .pst file.

If your old .pst file contains very important data that you absolutely cannot live without, you can try some third-part tools to repair your PST file, e.g. described in this article: Five reliable Outlook PST file repair tools. I cannot recommend any particular tool because luckily have never had to use any on my own machine.

Start Outlook in Safe Mode without any extensions

Starting Outlook in Safe Mode actually means that it will be run without any add-ins that are currently installed on your machine. It is the fastest way to determine if the problem on Outlook start up is caused by some of the add-ins.

To open Outlook in safe mode, click on its icon holding the Ctrl key, or click Start and enter outlook /safe in the search line and then press Enter. Outlook will display a message asking you to confirm that you really want to start it in safe mode, click Yes.Starting Outlook in safe mode

An alternative way is to use the outlook.exe /noextensions command, which basically means the same - start Outlook without any extensions.

If Outlook starts fine in safe mode, the problem is definitely with one of your add-ins. Try to disable the add-ins one at a time to detect which one is causing the problem. You can find the detailed information for Outlook2013,2010,2007 and older versions here: How to disable Outlook add-ins.

Fix Outlook hanging on Loading Profile

This problem is most typical for Office365/Office2013 but it may occur in Outlook2010 and lower versions too. The main symptom is Outlook hanging on the Loading Profile screen, and the main cause is a conflict between the operating system and OEM video drivers.

To fix this issue, please do the following two things:

1. Set the display color depth to16-bit.Right click on an empty space on your desktop and then click on Screen Resolution >Advanced settings. Then switch to the Monitor tab and change Colors to 16-bit.Set the display color depth to16-bit.

2. Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration.

In Outlook2010 and2013, go to the File tab > Options > Advanced and select the Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration checkbox under the Display section near the bottom of the dialog.Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

The solutions above address the most frequent reasons of Outlook starting problems and help in99% of cases. If against all expectations your Outlook still won't open, try the troubleshooting steps below. These tips cover other, less frequent scenarios, and more specific errors.

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