Error on contact folder, cannot open win mail anymore

[Guillermo Lovato]

User accidentally did something moving a contact folder from "my documents"
or something(he doesn't know exactly) to a pendrive which failed thus
deleting it, after that, windows mail does not open anymore, it says "cannot
open contacts folder" then returns error 0x800fffff and after clicking OK to
that it returns MSOE.dll error.

how can i fix this?, there's no backup, no system restore, nothing.

i've even installed windows live mail, after more than an hour upgrading, it
resturns the same contacts error and crashes.

OS is Vista SP2

regards

 

[Gary VanderMolen \(MS MVP\)]

The Windows Contacts folder normally resides at
C:\Users\username\Contacts.
Have you checked to see if it is still there? If yes, try renaming it,
then reboot Vista. It should create a new (empty) contacts folder.
If the problem continues, right-click on the Contacts folder, select
Properties, Location, and verify that the location entry is correct.

Windows Live Mail is probably trying to import Windows Mail contacts
from that same corrupted folder when it too crashes.

No parts of Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail should reside on an
external drive.

 

[Guillermo Lovato]

Gary,
the contacts folder is not there, and vista isn't recreating it at all.
I created it manually to try and see what happens(localized version so in
doubt i created both contacts and "contactos"), rebooted, nothing happens.


The Windows Contacts folder normally resides at
C:\Users\username\Contacts.
Have you checked to see if it is still there? If yes, try renaming it,
then reboot Vista. It should create a new (empty) contacts folder.
If the problem continues, right-click on the Contacts folder, select
Properties, Location, and verify that the location entry is correct.

Windows Live Mail is probably trying to import Windows Mail contacts
from that same corrupted folder when it too crashes.

No parts of Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail should reside on an
external drive.

 

[Gary VanderMolen \(MS MVP\)]

Did you check the Location tab of the folder properties after
recreating the Contacts folder? Also try Windows Live Mail again.
If still no go, try running System File Checker, see
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html
for instructions.

 

[Guillermo Lovato]

i created another user to try it out, it generated the contacts folder, so i
copied THAT folder to the problem user, logged in and then when i try to
generate a contact or open the default contact i get "error attempting to
open the windows address book file"


The Windows Contacts folder normally resides at
C:\Users\username\Contacts.
Have you checked to see if it is still there? If yes, try renaming it,
then reboot Vista. It should create a new (empty) contacts folder.
If the problem continues, right-click on the Contacts folder, select
Properties, Location, and verify that the location entry is correct.

Windows Live Mail is probably trying to import Windows Mail contacts
from that same corrupted folder when it too crashes.

No parts of Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail should reside on an
external drive.

 

[Guillermo Lovato]

i've already ran SFC before posting, also chkdsk.

WLM still doesn't works,

what about the location?, it's in users/[username]/ folder "contacts", but
it's a yellow folder it doesn't has the special icon
Did you check the Location tab of the folder properties after
recreating the Contacts folder? Also try Windows Live Mail again.
If still no go, try running System File Checker, see
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html
for instructions.

 

[Gary VanderMolen \(MS MVP\)]

When you copied the folder from another user, it retained the
permission rights of the other user. You probably need to change
the ownership of the folder.

 

[Gary VanderMolen \(MS MVP\)]

I'm fresh out of ideas. You may have to do a repair install of Vista.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen

i've already ran SFC before posting, also chkdsk.

WLM still doesn't works,

what about the location?, it's in users/[username]/ folder "contacts", but
it's a yellow folder it doesn't has the special icon
Did you check the Location tab of the folder properties after
recreating the Contacts folder? Also try Windows Live Mail again.
If still no go, try running System File Checker, see
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html
for instructions.

 

[Guillermo Lovato]

not a chance i'm reinstalling vista here, if i create another user, it
works.

is there a way to "rename" or backup/restore the user whilst repairing all
folders

PS: i hate this broken joke of an OS, i never had these problems with XP and
usually they where fixable, i'm already 3 days trying to fix this horrid
thing now...

I'm fresh out of ideas. You may have to do a repair install of Vista.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen

i've already ran SFC before posting, also chkdsk.

WLM still doesn't works,

what about the location?, it's in users/[username]/ folder "contacts", but
it's a yellow folder it doesn't has the special icon
Did you check the Location tab of the folder properties after
recreating the Contacts folder? Also try Windows Live Mail again.
If still no go, try running System File Checker, see
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html
for instructions.

 

[Gary VanderMolen \(MS MVP\)]

I'm not that familiar with backup/restore a user, and it is beyond
the scope of this newsgroup. Seems like a simple copy of that user's
profile ( C:\Users\username\ ) should do the job.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen

not a chance i'm reinstalling vista here, if i create another user, it
works.

is there a way to "rename" or backup/restore the user whilst repairing all
folders

PS: i hate this broken joke of an OS, i never had these problems with XP and
usually they where fixable, i'm already 3 days trying to fix this horrid
thing now...

I'm fresh out of ideas. You may have to do a repair install of Vista.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen

i've already ran SFC before posting, also chkdsk.

WLM still doesn't works,

what about the location?, it's in users/[username]/ folder "contacts", but
it's a yellow folder it doesn't has the special icon
Did you check the Location tab of the folder properties after
recreating the Contacts folder? Also try Windows Live Mail again.
If still no go, try running System File Checker, see
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_system_file_checker_and_how_do_i_run_it.html
for instructions.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen

Gary,
the contacts folder is not there, and vista isn't recreating it at all.
I created it manually to try and see what happens(localized version so in
doubt i created both contacts and "contactos"), rebooted, nothing
happens.


The Windows Contacts folder normally resides at
C:\Users\username\Contacts.
Have you checked to see if it is still there? If yes, try renaming it,
then reboot Vista. It should create a new (empty) contacts folder.
If the problem continues, right-click on the Contacts folder, select
Properties, Location, and verify that the location entry is correct.

Windows Live Mail is probably trying to import Windows Mail contacts
from that same corrupted folder when it too crashes.

No parts of Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail should reside on an
external drive.

--
Gary VanderMolen, Microsoft MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/vandermolen


User accidentally did something moving a contact folder from "my
documents"
or something(he doesn't know exactly) to a pendrive which failed thus
deleting it, after that, windows mail does not open anymore, it says
"cannot
open contacts folder" then returns error 0x800fffff and after clicking
OK
to
that it returns MSOE.dll error.

how can i fix this?, there's no backup, no system restore, nothing.

i've even installed windows live mail, after more than an hour
upgrading,
it
resturns the same contacts error and crashes.

OS is Vista SP2

regards