Outlook 2010: WTH is causing this stupidness? Frustrated

[Matt_Stevens]

So I had to reinstall my Windows 7 and of course, Office as a result. I imported the pst backup file, but it just used it from the backup directory I had it in, rather than creating a new one. I don't know why. I'm not Bill Gates.

Anyways, my wife accidentally deleted that directory. Poof, Outlook is broken.

I found the pst file in the recycle bin and returned it, but Outlook is still broken. It cannot send or receive email. It just doesn't work now.

So what can I do? #1, I'd like the pst file to be located somewhere proper. It doesn't need to be on my C drive (which is an SSD).

Do I need to uinstall Outlook 2010 and start over, losing the past two days of email?

Help, please. I really hate how Outlook 2010 works compared to 2003.

 

[Dulanic]

Outlook 2010 is leaps and bounds above 2003. The removal of a .pst file isn't what caused the problem as that just removes those folder from your outlook. There are a few things you can try...

First, to try and get outlook loading, try running outlook.exe /safe and see if it runs. Also, instead of reinstalling you can run outlook.exe /firstrun to get back to the start.

There are many things that "could" be wrong so I can't be specific but I would check the .pst file and also the exchange cache file using the scanpst.exe file in the outlook directory.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Well, I am no closer to having this work. About eight hours of time spent on it now, including an uninstall and re-install, but it just reinstalled EXACTLY as it was before. Screwed up.

Why is uninstall NOT really uninstall?

I am at my whits end and have no email. I need help here. How can I get Office 2010 completely totally 100% eradicated so I can start 100% fresh?

 

[Cal166]

I had a similar issue a few months ago and I can't understand why Microsoft designed it this way.

When I first configured my outlook, my PST was stored in my documents on the network drive, great, so I moved it to my local drive and reconfigured where the PST is located. That all worked, was able to open my mail and view my inbox but I'm not able to SEND or RECEIVE! Moved the PST file back to my network location and worked fine....

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I'm having trouble because even after uninstalling twice it seems that when I reinstall, it remembers the prior install and doesn't work.

How in the hell can I truly absolutely wipe this stupid thing from existence so I can truly start fresh? Anyone?

 

[paul878]

go to control panel, mail, delete the old profile and make a new one.

 

[sm625]

email should be contained in individual .eml files. You wont lose anything as long as you find those files and preserve them.

I would never delete your backups because outlook has a way of "losing" emails. It knows there is a message, and it knows the correct subject line and sender, but when you actually open the email it is a different email entirely. Very stupid and very frustrating. But since I still have backups I was able to get what I needed.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Paul, I do not see MAIL listed anywhere in thee Control Panel.

It now seems that my entire Office install is so corrupted I cannot use it or uninstall it. I am absolutely insanely out of my mind at this point. I need this thing removed and I cannot. It's ruined my entire new Windows 7 install, which was hell to do.

WTF is this? We do not have an actual CD/DVD to use. It's a downloadable file from my wife's university.

 

[paul878]

click "View by: Category" on the top right in Control Panel and change it to "small icons"

 

[Matt_Stevens]

That isn't the issue right now. The issue is now Office 2010 is hopelessly corrupted and needs to be removed, but can't be removed by Windows because of some unknown error.

Also, I use Classic Shell so my Control Panel doesn't look like the Win7 Control panel.

 

[paul878]

Matt this might help you to remove office.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Been there. Done that. I am trying a complicated manual uninstall I found elsewhere. FIngers crossed.

And I likely will have to do as you advise about the email settings, though I don't know how to get there since my Control Panel looks like WIndows XP Classic.

 

[paul878]

type in "mail" in the windows 7 search box and it will pop up

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I was forced to call Microsoft. Two hours later, I am fixed. Took two techies to make it happen. But what a relief!

 

[paul878]

what was the solutions Matt?

 

[GrumpyMan]

Care to share?

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Okay, some guy named Rahul remotely took over my PC and used Revo Uninstaller Pro to remove Office. he then went into my registry and did some stuff that was beyond me. At that point he transferred me to the Office expert, who installed Office and had a hell of a time getting it to run with my PST file. He played around with a lot of settings and it was kind of way too fast for me to follow but in the end, it works. properly. And I am happy.

Were my Windows 7 not new and therefore covered by phone support, I'd still be dead in the water.

 

[jhansman]

Now, back up your C: partition! Use whatever you have, but I recommend Acronis True Image Home if you have nothing. You can use Windows Backup, but generally speaking, third party tools for tasks like this offer more options and flexibility. Glad to hear you (or MS) got Outlook back on track.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

lol, man oh man, that is exactly what i have been thinking about. My C drive is 120GB with 80GB used and I have two little 110 GB hard drives sitting here, not used, so I need to slap one in an e-sata case and back that drive up. But how is the question. I've never done it before.

Acronis looks interesting, though reviews are really bad from some, especially for the 2012 version. 2011 looks like a safer bet.

What I want to do is pretty much clone or ghost my drive. Just have an exact copy of it as it is right now, which I can use to recover from if my system goes to sh*t.

 

[sm625]

Yes, just make a bootable clone of the drive. What types of drives are these spares? Usually you can get the cloning software right from their website. ie, for western digital, download "Data Lifeguard". For seagate, download "DiscWizard". These tools run right inside windows and are easy to use.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

The drive I use for my C drive is an Intel SSD. The two spare drives i have, both 111GB (usable) were pulled from a laptop. I don't re4call who makes them as they are each in cases. I'll have to take a look. Cloning is new to me. I have not done it in the past.

 

[country2]

lol, man oh man, that is exactly what i have been thinking about. My C drive is 120GB with 80GB used and I have two little 110 GB hard drives sitting here, not used, so I need to slap one in an e-sata case and back that drive up. But how is the question. I've never done it before.

Acronis looks interesting, though reviews are really bad from some, especially for the 2012 version. 2011 looks like a safer bet.

What I want to do is pretty much clone or ghost my drive. Just have an exact copy of it as it is right now, which I can use to recover from if my system goes to sh*t.

Try Paragon Backup and recovery 2012 free

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/