Outlook cannot add the PST folder errror

[BillE]

I have recently started getting the PST-related error below when opening
Outlook 2007 using Windows XP and Exchange Server 2003. Sometimes clicking
OK causes the error to go away. Other times, it seems to display an infinite
number of error messages after clicking OK and I have to kill Outlook in Task
Manager to get past the error.

"Outlook cannot add the folder because creating a new Personal Folders
(.pst) file isn't allowed on this computer"

We don't use PST files. We do have CommVault restricting the creation of
PST files, but Outlook has never displayed this error until recently. Thanks
in advance for your help.

 

[Lori]

I am having the same error, but it does not happen every time I open Oulook,
seems to be only the first time I log on to my PC. Once I kill via task
manager and restart Outlook, it opens and works fine. Same environment-- XP,
Office 2007 and Exchange 2003. We also do not allow PST files. I checked
Data File Management and nothing is out of the ordinary there. Any help is
appreciated!

 

[BillE]

Lori, after much research, I finally found the solution. There is a registry
key, DisablePST, that when set to 1 prevents new PST files from being
created. It seems that when we installed CommVault, we applied this setting
via GPO, as we didn't want our users to create PST files. Unfortunately, it
also prevents Outlook 2007 from automatically creating a Sharepoint pst file
it uses to cache information from SharePoint 2007.

To fix this, we set DisablePST = 2. This has the effect of preventing users
from creating PSTs, but still allows Outlook 2007 to automatically create the
"SharePoint Lists.pst" file it needs to store information from its
interaction with SharePoint 2007.

If you want to see the pst created, it is located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook

We had to set DisablePST = 2 for each version of Office on the PC from 9.0
to 12.0:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook

Once we did that, the error message went away!

For reference, here is where we found the solution from another forum:
http://www.myitforum.com/articles/30/view.asp?id=10972

Regards,

 

[Lori]

Thanks Bill, I have made the change this morning so will hopefully not
encounter the error anymore. Thanks in advance for the help!
Lori