MAPI problems - all help welcome!

[VanguardLH]

This is strange. I have a password for my pst folder. When I first start
Outlook after booting, it opens without asking for a password, displaying
all the folders. If I close it and re-open later, it asks for the pw. Any
ideas why it behaves like this?

PST password protection is weak. There are many free tools available to
get the password, like Nirsoft's Mail PassView, Atomic PST Password
Recovery, Elcomsoft, and, in some cases, even Microsoft's pst19upg.exe
utility. It was designed more as a nuisance method of protection, like
the wire "lock" on electric meters that is easily cut with a wire snips,
than of really protecting the content of the .pst file.

Since you're talking about a .pst file, you're using POP to access your
e-mail accounts. IMAP, Outlook Hotmail Connector, and EAS use .ost
files and not .pst files. Besides POP accounts, do you have an Exchange
account defined in Outlook? Even with "Always prompt for a password" is
enabled, it only applies when making a connection to the Exchange
server. If you cancel that password prompt, you can still access the
other cached data for Outlook. For an Exchange account, you would have
to enable the "always prompt for password" option AND disable the Cached
Exchange Mode (which will impact the responsiveness of Outlook as to
your view of your Exchange account).

Do you have Windows configured to automatically log you in (i.e., you
don't stop at a login screen when starting Windows) or do you actually
have to enter your login credentials before you can get into your
Windows account?

Do you have more than one .pst file getting opened by Outlook? For
example, if you use its auto-archive feature, you might have opened and
configure Outlook to always open the archive.pst file. You can open
other .pst files which will show as their own tree in the navpane.

Are you using multiple mail profiles with Outlook? Go into Control
Panel and run the Mail applet. Click on "Show profiles". How many are
there? If more than one, is the "Prompt for a profile to be used"
selected or not? I mention this because maybe one of the prompts you
see isn't requesting a password but for you to elect a mail profile
(which then would select which .pst file to load and maybe you have a
mix of .pst files where some are password protected and some are not).

 

[VanguardLH]

Sounds like a credential override on first use with the stored password
tied to and retained for the user logon authentication. A subsequent
Outlook closure/open thus not loading the previously used
credential...which if that makes sense would seem that if the Windows
profile is logged off without restarting (or shutdown/restart) Windows
then the same would occur - no password prompt on first OL use but
thereafter until user logoff or shutdown.

Hmm, maybe he's "shutting down" by using hibernate mode. That means the
first use of Outlook is not the first use but the next use. The prior
load of the password protected .pst file was already validated and
cached, he hibernates, and the reload of the memory image means the .pst
file is still cached so no password is needed. Then he actually unloads
Outlook and later upon loading Outlook again gets the password request.

However he is shutting down and then later starting Windows, the OP
should look in Task Manager's processes tab to see of outlook.exe is
already running. If it wasn't loaded as a startup item (e.g., a
shortcut to outlook.exe in his Startup folder) then next would be to
determine why outlook.exe is already running when he "first" starts
Windows.

 

[Dave Doe]

Thanks. I learned something. But I didn't find Outlook in there anywhere


Jason

Hmm... admitedly my Outlook is connecting to Exchange - and so I have
stored credentials there - what appears to be one per Outlook Profile.

 

[Jason]

PST password protection is weak. There are many free tools available to
get the password, like Nirsoft's Mail PassView, Atomic PST Password
Recovery, Elcomsoft, and, in some cases, even Microsoft's pst19upg.exe
utility. It was designed more as a nuisance method of protection, like
the wire "lock" on electric meters that is easily cut with a wire snips,
than of really protecting the content of the .pst file.

I understand fully. The purpose of the pw is just to keep the "doorknob
rattlers" out if I'm away from my desk.

Since you're talking about a .pst file, you're using POP to access your
e-mail accounts. IMAP, Outlook Hotmail Connector, and EAS use .ost
files and not .pst files. Besides POP accounts, do you have an Exchange
account defined in Outlook? Even with "Always prompt for a password" is
enabled, it only applies when making a connection to the Exchange
server. If you cancel that password prompt, you can still access the
other cached data for Outlook. For an Exchange account, you would have
to enable the "always prompt for password" option AND disable the Cached
Exchange Mode (which will impact the responsiveness of Outlook as to
your view of your Exchange account).

I don't have an Exchange account enabled. (I wish Verizon supported IMAP,
but it doesn't...)

Do you have Windows configured to automatically log you in (i.e., you
don't stop at a login screen when starting Windows) or do you actually
have to enter your login credentials before you can get into your
Windows account?
Nope.


Do you have more than one .pst file getting opened by Outlook? For
example, if you use its auto-archive feature, you might have opened and
configure Outlook to always open the archive.pst file. You can open
other .pst files which will show as their own tree in the navpane.

Just one .pst.

Are you using multiple mail profiles with Outlook? Go into Control
Panel and run the Mail applet. Click on "Show profiles". How many are
there? If more than one, is the "Prompt for a profile to be used"
selected or not? I mention this because maybe one of the prompts you
see isn't requesting a password but for you to elect a mail profile
(which then would select which .pst file to load and maybe you have a
mix of .pst files where some are password protected and some are not).

There is only one mail profile.

Thanks for all your help with this. I'm not particularly enamored of
Outlook. I use it because at another time it was a job requirement so I
got used to it. I've tried Thunderbird and don't like it much.

 

[Jason]

Hmm, maybe he's "shutting down" by using hibernate mode. That means the
first use of Outlook is not the first use but the next use. The prior
load of the password protected .pst file was already validated and
cached, he hibernates, and the reload of the memory image means the .pst
file is still cached so no password is needed. Then he actually unloads
Outlook and later upon loading Outlook again gets the password request.

However he is shutting down and then later starting Windows, the OP
should look in Task Manager's processes tab to see of outlook.exe is
already running. If it wasn't loaded as a startup item (e.g., a
shortcut to outlook.exe in his Startup folder) then next would be to
determine why outlook.exe is already running when he "first" starts
Windows.

I very rarely do anything but a full shutdown. Unlike *ix systems I've
used, I find that Windows seems to gradually rot and slow down if you
don't reboot it frequently, so I start it anew each day.

Jason

 

[Jason]

If it wasn't loaded as a startup item (e.g., a
shortcut to outlook.exe in his Startup folder) then next would be to
determine why outlook.exe is already running when he "first" starts
Windows.

It's definitely not a startup item. Boot's slow enough already! (Although
it's breathtakingly faster now with an SSD system drive.)

 

[Dustin]

Jason <[email protected]>
Thu, 18
Dec 2014 14:58:08 GMT in 24hoursupport.helpdesk, wrote the following
message:

On Wed, 17 Dec 2014 23:14:27 -0500 ". . .winston"


The account is protected and Save Password is not checked (which is
why it sometimes asks for it, just not the first time after
starting Windows).

Hi Jason..

What version of Windows and outlook are you using?

http://www.nirsoft.net/articles/pst_password_bug.html

This describes a bug with the password routine... but, this isn't
directly related to the issue you're having.

Specific OS and outlook version would be helpful here.

In the meantime, you can give this a try and see if it resolves the
issue for you. It's not specific to your issue, per say, but it may
resolve the problem you're having with outlook not asking for the
password when you feel it should be.

IE: it should ask when you first try to open the file.
Be aware though from the first url provided, that the password is weak
as hell at best and can easily be cracked.

You might also want to consider backing up your emails and/or creating
a new pst file and importing your information from the old one into
it. My online searching efforts seem to indicate a possible corruption
issue. Either with your pst file itself, or a possible configuration
issue with Outlook.

 

[Jason]

You might also want to consider backing up your emails and/or creating
a new pst file and importing your information from the old one into
it. My online searching efforts seem to indicate a possible corruption
issue. Either with your pst file itself, or a possible configuration
issue with Outlook.

Thanks, Dustin. I found some posts regarding corruption too. I guess I'll
try rebuilding the .pst and see. It can't hurt! ( <--famous last words! )
I have good backups.

Jason