Outlook Inbox Repair Tool

The Inbox Repair Tool is the Microsoft provided utility that is designed to repair corrupted PST files of Microsoft Outlook. The tool resides at a typical location, which is decided by the Outlook version in use. In Outlook 2007, it is <disk drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12. But the application comes with limited repair functionalities and thus, sometimes fails in situations when the degree of PST corruption is high. Such problems make it imperative you to use a third-party PST file repair tool that can act more powerfully than this Microsoft tool.

The tool is associated with a program file called 'Scanpst.exe'. So, to run the utility, you need to locate this file first. At times, when you try to run an Outlook 2007 Inbox Repair Tool in order to repair a corrupted PST, it may prove unsuccessful with the following error on screen:

“An unexpected error prevented access to this file. Use ScanDisk to check the disk for errors, and then try using the Inbox Repair tool again.”

The error suggests that for some reasons, Scanpst could not be accessed.

Cause

Scanpst might fail to be accessed due to disk errors or related problems. It can also happen if PST is severely corrupted and the repair is beyond the capabilities of Scanpst tool.

Solution

To troubleshoot the described problem, you need to apply these solutions:

1. Run chkdsk to determine and correct disk related problems. Try to run the tool again.

2. If this doesn't help, you should recover the PST data as follows:

1. If you can open the PST, create a new data file with Outlook and import all the data to it

2. If you cannot open the PST, restore from a backup or use a third-party PST repair utility

The third-party repair outlook inbox products are empowered by suitable scanning algorithms that can repair a corrupted or damaged Outlook Inbox easily and efficiently. The software are easy to install and can be operated even without any prior knowledge. These are commercial Outlook Inbox Repair Tool with interactive design and competency to work while each level of damage.

Outlook Inbox Repair is a reliable and featured tool to repair a corrupted PST. The software restores the data in a new, Outlook-importable PST. The Inbox Repair Tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. The software has a 3-pane display that includes direct buttons to view e-mails, calendar etc., similar to Outlook.

You might sometimes require to import Outlook PST data to an Exchange Server mailbox. Unlike earlier versions, in Exchange Server 2007, the exmerge is no longer supported for importing data from an Outlook PST. For this to occur, you need to take help of Import-Mailbox cmdlet (pronounced as commandlet). This cmdlet performs administrative task, but won't let you to import PST items if it is corrupted. In such cases, you may receive certain errors suggesting you to run Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe).

The Import-Mailbox command is usually run through Windows PowerShell, which is an extensible automation engine comprising of a command prompt and related scripting language. Consider an instance when you try to run Import-Mailbox command for a PST using Windows PowerShell. At this point, you might observe one or more of the following symptoms:

1. PowerShell reports that it has encountered a problem and needs to close.

2. The application event log reads a .Net Runtime 2.0 error.

3. You receive an error as below:

“Faulting application powershell.exe, version 6.0.5430.0, stamp 451acab4, faulting module olmapi32.dll, version 12.0.4518.1014, stamp 45428191, debug? 0, fault address 0×0024a22f.”

Cause

The PST being imported is corrupt.

Solution

You should implement these suggestions to solve the existing issue:

1. You can run Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to repair the corrupted PST. This utility is a part of MS Outlook installation and is a hidden file. So, make sure Outlook is installed before locating the tool and you include all hidden and system files in your search.

2. Check if a backup is available. If yes, you can delete the corrupt PST and restore from the backup.

3. If you can open the affected PST, create a new PST and try to import data from the old PST.

4. In case you cannot open PST while no backup exists, you are suggested to use a third-party PST file repair utility. These are commercial Outlook Inbox Repair Tool designed exclusively for repairing and restoring corrupted PST. These Inbox Repair Tool are available with an easy installation procedure and also, can be run with an interactive user interface.

This Outlook Inbox Repair Software is an advanced PST repair tool that fixes corruption of Outlook PST and restore it as a new, Outlook-usable PST. The Inbox Repair Tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. The software has a 3-pane view to display the message. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000.

Microsoft Outlook personal folders file (.pst) is often get damaged due to certain ailments that can prevent it from accessing. To correct most of such issues, Microsoft provides a tool called Inbox Repair Tool that repairs the corrupted PST. You can access this tool through the associated program file- Scanpst.exe. Since the tool comes with limited repair functionalities, it can fail too. In such cases, you need to opt for a complete backup or a third-party file repair utility.

Consider an instance when you observe that your personal folder file is corrupt. As the recommended solution, you try to use Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) to scan the file. But the tool results in the following error message:

“Internal errors were found in this file. They must be repaired for this file to work correctly.”

You run repair to fix the issues it found. The tool may report that it has successfully corrected them, but the next time, when you scan the file, it results the same error.

Cause

The Outlook repair tool, Scanpst, checks the file for all standard folders. The above error can occur if it doesn't find the Deleted Items folder, which is generally not found in Microsoft SharePoint Team Services folder. If the folder is synchronized with your default PST, the above error can occur upon being scanned.

If this is not the case, your Outlook PST might be corrupted beyond repair possibilities of Outlook repair tool.

Solution

Make sure that the folder being scanned by Scanpst is not of Microsoft SharePoint Team Services. In other cases, you can implement the following suggestions:

• If you can open the affected PST, create a new personal folder and move the objects of the troubled PST to this one.

• If you cannot open the PST, then:

• 1) Restore from the last backup

Or

• 2) Use a third-party tool

The third-party tools are suitably designed to repair a corrupted PST using powerful scanning algorithms. These utilities are known as commercial Inbox Repair Tool that can repair a corrupted PST in any set of problems. Also, these applications are safe and easy to use.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is an advanced and secure Outlook Inbox Repair tool that repairs a corrupted PST. The tool restores the repaired file as a new PST that can be further imported in Outlook. The powerful Inbox Repair Tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000.

Pst Repair

An Outlook PST is designed to store local copies of all your email messages, notes, contacts etc. for Microsoft Outlook. But the file can get corrupt due to several factors. To repair it, Microsoft provides Scanpst.exe also known as inbox repair tool that is automatically installed with all MS Outlook installation options depending on the operating system. It can fix several corruption issues of PST, but not all. If the file is oversized or the internal data is corrupt, the Scanpst tool will not repair. Additionally, the tool cannot serve as a workaround if the nature of corruption is severe. For these reasons, third-party tools are available that can repair a corrupted PST in all scenarios of corruption.

To exemplify Scanpst failure scenarios, consider a situation when your Outlook PST file is damaged. As suggested, when you try to run Scanpst tool, it fails and results an error as below:

“Fatal Error: 80040900”

The tool crashes and the corrupted PST remains unaffected.

Cause

The most likely reason for 80040900 error to occur is that PST is oversized, larger than 2 GB. The Scanpst.exe Tool cannot fix an ANSI formatted PST that is corrupted due to 2 GB file size limitation.

Solution

You can apply following solutions to repair the corrupted PST:

1. Since the file is oversized, you can use Microsoft PST Crop Tool (Pst2gb.exe) to truncate the file under 2 GB and then run Scanpst.exe utility to repair it. The PST Crop Tool truncates the file by a user-defined value and thus, some of your email messages may find missing from the resultant copy. Thus, it is suggested to backup the PST before using it.

2. You can use a third-party PST file repair utility that applies powerful scanning algorithms repair the file. The applications can fix PST corruption in all logical scenarios, when Microsoft utility cannot do so. These are specialized Inbox Repair Tool with graphically rich interface and options. Such software use safe repair techniques, basically because they are designed read-only. Thus, running the utilities causes no harm to the original emails' integrity and file structure.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is a powerful tool for all PST corruption issues. This advanced Inbox Repair Tool supports Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. It is a comprehensive repair tool that provides rich graphical features and risk-free scanning. The tool can restore all Outlook items from a corrupted .pst file and is competent to extract deleted items as well.

Microsoft Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) is a .pst file repair utility. The tool can fix PST corruption related issues, mostly when the file header is affected. It performs item-wise recovery, but can delete the damaged data, what it finds unable to understand. If you use Windows 7 run computer system, the chances are that you may fail to find the tool in an attempt of repairing a corrupted PST. The causes could be that you don't search it at the correct location or the file is not visible because of its hidden attribute.

For instance, consider a condition when you PST gets damaged for reasons, like unexpected shutdown, virus attack, network sharing, version upgrade or application bugs. The file is stored on a Windows 7 system. As suggested, you try to run Scanpst tool, but fail to locate it.

Cause

The most probable reasons for this behavior are:

1. You are not looking at the default location of Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe)

2. The Scanpst.exe file has been moved from its original location

3. The Scanpst.exe is a hidden file by default. The above behavior can occur if you don't enable the view of hidden files and folders.

Solution

You should try these fixes to resolve the issue:

1. You should search for Scanpst.exe file at the correct default location, which is

2. C:\users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

3. If the file has been moved, you need to run tool from there

4. You need to enable the view of hidden files and folders before searching for the tool. For this, click Start | Start Search and right-click the Control Folders. Type 'Run as administrator' and double-click the Folder Options. Next, click on View tab and select Show hidden files and folders option under Hidden files and folders. Click Ok to save the settings.

Run Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) and check if the tool works for repairing the corrupted PST. If not, you need more powerful solutions for fixing the corruption. The third-party repair utilities for PST have high-end scanning methods and graphically-rich interface to allow for complete and easy file repair.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is an advanced and reliable Outlook Inbox Repair utility that repairs corrupted PST created with Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. This non-destructive Inbox Repair Tool uses suitable scanning algorithms to repair the PST in each instance of corruption. The tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.

The PST is where your Outlook keeps all your data. Since the file is limited to a size value and emails keep on piling, you should move your emails to another .pst file. The process is known as PST archiving. It generally involves moving old emails. But if you continue to use the same archive.pst file for a long time, the file may corrupt. Other reasons for corruption are unexpected shutdown, software bugs, network sharing etc. So, you must keep the backup of your archive.pst file in order to avoid any post-consequences of file corruption. However, if archive.pst gets corrupt when no suitable backup is present, you should use Outlook Inbox Repair Tool to fix corruption issues related with PST. In case of tool failure, you should opt for third-party solutions.

For instance, suppose you create an archive.pst file. When you try to import this file in Outlook, the operation may fail giving the below error:

“Properties for this information service must be defined prior to use”

When you click 'OK' to this error, you receive another error message:

“Errors have been detected in the file <file_path>\archive.pst. Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox repair tool(Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file.”

Cause

The archive.pst file is corrupt and cannot be restored.

Solution

You need to repair the corrupted archive.pst file. For this, you should run Scanpst.exe tool, which is a built-in tool of Outlook to repair a corrupted .pst file. Make sure you backup the file, prior running the tool as it can cause irrecoverable damages. To run the tool, you should run these steps:

1. Click Start and point to Search

2. Type Scanpst.exe in the named box for files and folders

3. Open Inbox Repair Tool by double-clicking the located file

4. Specify the file name and path (directly or by browsing to the location)

5. Click Start for repair

In most cases, Scanpst.exe fails to repair the corrupted PST file. You should then use third-party PST file repair products. These are automated Outlook Inbox Repair Toolbuilt with suitable scanning algorithms to result repair in each instance.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is a high-end and safe Inbox Repair Tool to repair and restore a corrupted PST file. The Outlook Inbox Repair Software is a graphically rich product with a 3-pane structure to view messages. It supports Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. The software restores all email messages, notes, contacts, calendars, contacts and other PST items.

Microsoft Outlook Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) allows you to recover emails, folders and other email items from a damaged Personal Folders file. Scanpst.exe is a hidden file that comes with Windows installation. The tool validates and fixes corruption errors that are associated with a .pst file. It corrects errors that exist in internal data structures of Outlook data file, but can fail if the corruption is severe. The tool also has a limitation that it cannot repair a file of more than 2 GB in size in Outlook 2002 or earlier versions. To deal with problems when the tool cannot repair your damaged .pst file, it is recommended to use third-party Outlook Inbox Repair tools that can repair the file using more powerful scanning procedures.

To illustrate the scenarios when the Scanpst.exe tool can fail, consider a situation when your .pst file gets corrupt:

1.You receive an error suggesting that the message interface has returned an unknown error.

2.You try to repair the file using Scanpst.exe tool. 3.The scanning process results that there are errors in the file. But when you click to repair them, the application hangs and you cannot repair the file.

Cause

The probable causes are that PST file is oversized, larger than 2 GB. This occurs when you use Outlook 2002 or an earlier version file. The Scanpst.exe tool can also fail to repair if corruption extent is beyond its repair capabilities.

Solution

Following solutions can help you recovering from such problems:

1.To repair an oversized file using Scanpst.exe tool, you can first crop it by using PST crop tool. This will reduce the size of the file by truncating it. It is highly suggested to backup the file prior truncating it. Some of your important emails might get deleted.

2.If you can open the file, you can reduce the file size by deleting the unwanted emails and items

3.If the problem persists, you should use commercial Inbox Repair Tool for your damaged .pst file. These software provide you graphically rich interface plus efficient Inbox Repair Tool capabilities to repair even a highly damaged file. Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is an advanced and fast utility that scans and repairs a corrupted .pst file using high-end scanning procedures.

The Stellar's Inbox Repair Tool is compatible with Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. It is a safe .pst file repair product giving 3-pane structure to view the email messages. The software can restore all file items at a safe location.

Outlook Scanpst.exe is a utility to allow recovering folders and other items from a corrupted PST file. The Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) examines the file directory structure and individual item headers and tries to repair what it can. But there can be instances when the tool might fail to work. This usually occurs when the corruption is severe or if the file size is more than 2 GB. If this occurs, you need an appropriate backup that could restore the lost data or a powerful third-party Outlook Inbox Repair utility that could apply suitable repair algorithms. For example, consider a situation when you try to start Microsoft Outlook 2000. You can fail to start and receive the below error message: “The file :\ .pst could not be found.” Where is the drive letter of your primary drive, denotes the full path to .pst file and is the name of your Outlook PST file. Since Outlook cannot find the file it requires, it shows 'Create/Open Personal Folders File' dialog box to create a new file.

Cause

The .pst file is currently not available for Outlook, because either it is located on an unavailable server or the file is corrupted. Outlook fails to open a corrupted personal folder.

Solution

1. If the Outlook PST file doesn't contain important email items, you can simply recreate a new Outlook Personal Folder by following steps as prompted by dialog box appearing after the above error message.

2. If the file is located on a server that is not available at the moment, you should contact your network administrator. However, you are not suggested to store PST on a server link. The chances are that the file can get corrupt

3. For repairing the corrupted .pst file, you can use Scanpst.exe. To run the tool, you first need to locate Scanpst.exe file and start the tool after specifying corrupted file path and name. In case, if Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) fails to fix corruption with the file, you are suggested to use more powerful commercial Outlook PST repair tools. These utilities run exclusive repair algorithms for a corrupted .pst file. For best repair results, you are recommended to use Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair software. It is a high-end Inbox Repair Tool that incorporates powerful scanning algorithms to repair the damaged Outlook personal folder. It supports Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000 and can repair even when the (Scanpst.exe) has failed.

A corrupted PST file is often attempted to repair using Inbox Repair Tool(scanpst.exe). The tool is included in all the installation options of Microsoft Office Outlook. But if it fails to fix the corruption, you are suggested to look for powerful commercial applications to repair the file.

For example, consider a situation when you send an email in Microsoft Outlook. You notice that the mail is not moved to Sent Items folder, as expected, but instead gets stuck in Outbox folder. This might happen with each email that you send.

Cause

Some typical reasons causing this issue are:

1.You open and close the email message when it is still in Outbox folder. Outlook attempts to deliver the message after establishing a proper connection with mail server. If you open and close before it actually has been sent, you change its status.
2.You are running Outlook in offline mode
3.You have installed an outdated or incompatibile add-in
4.You used an old account to reply a message. It particularly occurs when you have an old email and have changed the email accounts after receiving that email. By default, Outlook will try to send the reply using the same previous non-existing account and not the current account.
5.The Outlook Personal Folder or Personal Address Book file is damaged

Solution

You can use these solutions to fix the current issue:

1. To correct the changed mail status, you should open the email message and click on its toolbar to Send
2. Clear the Work Offline check box listed in File menu. Use Send/Receive option to send the email message
3. Use Add-In Manager to deactivate the add-in
4. Move the email message from Outbox to Inbox and send a new message to the recipient.
5. Repair the corrupted .pst file using Inbox Repair Tool for MS outlook. Locate the tool with name ’scanpst.exe’ using Windows Serach option and browse to the affected .pst file. Start the repair process and restart Outlook. Try to duplicate the above behavior. If it is still an issue, you need a third-party PST repair tool. These software can work even when the Inbox Repair Tool(scanpst.exe) cannot do so.

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is an unmatched Outlook Inbox Repair utility to repair and restore corrupted Outlook PST file. It is a safe repair product that works in each instance of PST file corruption. This Inbox Repair Tool is compatible with Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. It can restore all file contents including emails, notes, journals, appointments, contacts and others. You can use it securely for cases of Inbox Repair Tool(Scanpst.exe) failure.

The Inbox Repair tool also named as Scanpst.exe is designed to recover folders and items from a corrupted Personal Folders (.pst) file in Microsoft Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2007. Depending upon your operating system the tool is automatically installed with all English-language Microsoft Outlook installation options.

Location of inbox Repair Tool:

For Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\NT
For Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\95

You don't need to install Inbox Repair Tool in Microsoft Outlook 2002 and Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 setup. Microsoft Office 2000 does not place the Inbox Repair tool on a menu as compared to Microsoft Office 97 version.

Process to run Inbox Repair Tool:

1.Click Start, and then point to Find or to Search, depending upon your operating system.
2.Type scanpst.exe in the search for files or folders named box
3.Double click the Scanpst.exe file to open the Inbox Repair Tool.
4.Type the path and the file name of the personal folders (.pst) file or browse to locate the file by using the Windows file system.
5. Click Start.

How Inbox repair Tool Operate:

1. Directory structure and item headers of .pst file is analyzed to try to recover all folders and items.
2. Recovery of the Personal Folders (.pst) file means that the tool found problems, and repaired what it could.
3. The Inbox Repair Tool tries to turn any file into a Personal Folders (.pst) file. For example, if you rename an executable file to "Something.pst" (without quotation marks), the tool changes the file to a mountable .pst file.
4. Before trying to repair the file the tool makes a backup copy of the .pst file..

Validation and error correction process of Inbox Repair Tool:

The .pst file is a database file and the inbox repair toll validates and corrects errors in internal data structure such as B-Tree and reference counts. There is abstraction between low level objects and upper level structures which includes messages, calendar items, and so on. During Validation an item associated with a block will be removed which is either unreadable or corrupted. Folder and Messages reflects visible changes at higher level.

Limitations of Inbox Repair Tool:

Inbox Repair Tool mainly works to repair the file in case of file header corruption due to version upgrade like situations. The tool repairs the header of PST file and then remove everything in the file which it did not understand in case if the contents of file are damaged.
Check the size of pst file in earlier versions of outlook to avoid hindrance to repair process. Inbox Repair Tool might not work properly if the size of the pst file exceeded its 2GB size limt in case of Microsoft Outlook 2002 or earlier versions.

Backup is very necessary before you proceed for any repair process to recover additional information and missing items. If you can not open the original PST file before you run the Inbox Repair Tool, you can not backup the PST file and you may lose your critical data.

To handle such cases, you need PST recovery software.!

Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair software is an effective Outlook Inbox Repair Tool to scan, repair, and restore corrupted PSTs (Personal Storage Files). Designed for Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 (XP) and 2000, the inbox repair tool can recover all PST components including e-mails, notes, contacts, calendar entries, journals and more.