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Monday 10 June 2013
6/10/2013 04:25:00 am 0

How to resolve Outlook error: “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window”?


Outlook users may have to face several types of errors while daily use. The errors might occur due to file corruption, virus attack, hardware failure etc. 

In Outlook 2007, you can get the following error when you start Outlook application:
Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.

Cause of the Error:

The above error can occur due to various reasons for this to occur, the most common error causing factors are:
  • This error occurs due to the configuration file profilename.xml (profile name is your Outlook profile name) gets corrupted. 
Whenever this file gets corrupted it show the file size as 0KB.This file stores the Navigation Pane settings, when this gets corrupted Outlook causes troubles while starting and shows the above error message 
  • If your office suite is outdated then also this error occurs.
In such case get the post Office 2007 Service Pack 2 updates to resolve the issue.
  • Anti-Virus programs or some other third party program can also cause this error.
  • Corrupt Outlook profile.
Location of  profilename.xml file:
  • Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
  • Windows Vista, Windows 7
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Resolution:

There can be two ways to solve this problem:
  • Either you resolve this problem by automatically by going to "Fix it for me" section.
  • Or you choose to fix it your self by going to the "Let me fix it myself" section. 
Steps to automatically resolve the problem by going to "Fix it for me" section:
  • Go to "Fix it for me" section.
  • From the File Download dialog box, click Run.
  • Then, follow the step by step procedure in this wizard.
For Windows 8 you need to get the Microsoft Fix it 20100, 

For Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP you need to get the Microsoft Fix it 50511,

Additional info:
  • You can use this automatic fix wizard for English as well as other language versions of Windows.
  • If you are on a system other than the one that is causing problem then, you can download and save this fix to some storage device (CD, flash drive etc). And then, it can be run on the system that has the above issue.
Steps to manually resolve the problem by going to “Let me fix it myself” section:

To resolve this problem, use the following steps.

1. Go to Start>Run.
 (For windows Vista or Windows 7, Go to Start > All Programs >Accessories then, Click Run)
2. After clicking Run, the “Run dialog box” opens. Then, run the command Outlook.exe /resetnavpane (with a space between "Outlook.exe" and "/resetnavpane")
3. Click OK.

The above error can also be caused due to profilename.xml file corruption

If the profilename.xml file is shown as 0 KB then, install “Office Outlook 2007 hotfix package (Outlook-x-none.msp): June 29, 2010” to correct the profilename.xml file corruption issue and resolve this problem.

Here, the profile name in the file name is the name of your Outlook profile. Do you know what your Outlook profile name is?

Follow the given steps to determine your Outlook profile name (for Windows XP):

1. Go to Control Panel. 
2. Switch to Classic View. 
3. Double-click Mail tab and then Click Show Profiles to list all profiles. 
4. Go to the general tab and note down your Outlook profile name. 
5. It is also possible that you may found multiple outlook profile listed on the General tab. In such case check the default profile from the drop-down control under “When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile”. 
6. Now, close the Mail control pane by Clicking OK 

Follow the given steps to determine your Outlook profile name (for Windows Vista, Windows 7):

1. Go to Control Panel and type Mail in the Search Control box.
2. Click Mail then, Click Show Profiles to view the lost of all Outlook profiles
3. Go to the General tab and note down your Outlook profile name.
4. If you find multiple profiles under the General tab, then note down the default profile name from the drop-down control under “When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile”. 
5. Now, close the Mail control pane by Clicking OK.
I hope the above method will help you to resolve your problem.

Before performing the above method, it is advisable to follow the given below steps to narrow down the problem.

Step 1: If you are using some third party program (Anti-Virus, firewalls, spy, Anti-Spam programs) with Outlook then, temporarily disable it to solve the issue

Step 2: Start Outlook in Safe Mode

1. Close Outlook application.  
2. Go to Start> Run
3. In the Run dialog box, Type the command "Outlook.exe /safe" and click OK.  Restart the Outlook application and check if the problem still persists or not.

If the problem still persists then, try step 3.

Step 3:  Corrupt Outlook profile can also be causing this error. So creating a new profile would help you to overcome this issue.

Follow the given steps to create a new profile:

1. First exit Outlook application if it’s running.
2. Go to Start>Control Panel and then click the Mail icon. 
3. Now, Click Show Profiles to list the names of all profiles
4. Now, select "Prompt for a profile to be used" from the "When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile:" option.
5. To add a new profile, Click Add it will prompt a Profile name box.
Type your desired new profile name in the Profile name box. 
6. Select "Add a new e-mail account" option and click Next.
7. Now, fill the required email account information such as email type and other necessary information. (You can gain information of the email account from the ISP).
8. Click Next.
9. Click Finish.
10. Restart Outlook and choose the new profile in the profile list 
11. Finally, click OK.

Now, check if the problem is resolved or not. If the new profile isn’t causing any problem then, you can import your data from the original profile. Read my upcoming article if you want to know more about Outlook mail profile creation and data import process.

If these troubleshooting tips don’t help you then, you may require repairing your Outlook data files with the help of ScanPST.exe and ScanOST.exe. If these tools fail to recover your Outlook data files then, you need to search some alternative OST and PST repair solution.

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