Cannot open Outlook once program is loaded

[Guest]

Recently our hard drive had to be replaced. After reinstalling all of our
programs, I tried to open Outlook and I received the following message:
"Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The file C:\Documents and
Settings\Nanc\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst
is not a personal folders file." I am able to open Excel and Word (the other
programs on this same disk) with no problem. I have in the meantime been
using Outlook Express, but it is not the same and I prefer using the original
Outlook. What steps do I need to take in order to rectify this situation?
Thanks in advance for your help with this,
Nanc

 

[DL]

Perhaps you recovered the old pst, and however you did this has corrupted
the pst.
Use the mail applet in control panel to create a new pst, designate this as
the default
Also try the repair tool scanpst.exe on the failing pst

 

[Guest]

Thank you for responding DL. I'm not sure how I would have recovered the old
..pst when I am using the MS Office Basic Edition 2003 disc to load the
Outlook program on to our new hard drive. Is that possible? In writing my
first post, I forgot to mention that when I decided to try and do an
Uninstall I first tried the repair option that was available when I went into
Add or Remove Programs. When I did that and did a reboot I got the same
result. It was then that I did an uninstall and reinstalled Outlook again
only to get this same result for the third time. Should I still attempt
these steps you've suggested or are other steps necessary/available?

Thanks again for your help with this,
Nanc

 

[Guest]

Is there anyone out there who can help regarding my original request and
response to DL?

 

[DL]

Uninstalling / Reinstalling OL does not impact on the pst
With OL closed
Control Panel>Mail Applet> Data Files> Remove any existing and Add a new one
Designate this as the default
(Afraid I made an assumption re hd replacement)