Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook

Less than a week after we installed Microsoft Office 2010 on my wife’s new Toshiba laptop it stopped working. Any time you tried to start Outlook and error dialog saying, “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook” would be displayed. No reason, no helpful hint, just cannot start.

After several days and many Google searches here is how I fixed the problem.

If you are having a similar problem, please proceed with caution. I give no guarantee that these steps will work for you. Make sure you have a good back up of your computer before proceeding as your computer may explode.

TL;DR

The short version is this - find the .pst file and remove it. This file contains the profile that Outlook uses and it has somehow become corrupted. Be warned that removing this file will wipe out your email if you are using POP instead of IMAP.

Find the PST file

In my case, finding the location of the PST file used by Outlook was the hardest part of the ordeal. All of the knowledge base articles I found, and forum entries, et cetera, indicated I would find this file in the AppData directory under my wife’s user account. Only it wasn’t there. At first I didn’t even see the AppData directory; it wasn’t until someone at work clued me into Microsoft’s practice of hiding some files and directories from users to protect them from themselves that I was able to find it.

With the AppData directory visible I still couldn’t find the PST file. Nuts.

One forum entry suggested running the Mail applet from the Control Panel, which would allow me to switch to a new profile. Only the Mail applet produced a “Your system needs more memory or system resources. Close some windows and try again.” message. Unfortunately the only window open at the time was the Control Panel. Clearly something was broken.

Searching for that last message lead me to a page the explained how to run the Mail applet from Safe Mode. Once I did that I was able to see the location of the profile that was corrupted. Instead of being in AppData it was in Documents\Outlook Files. Rebooting to leave safe mode I was able move the offending PST file to the desktop and finally start Outlook.

Outlook objected to not having a profile, but once I created a new one (still in Documents\Outlook Files, and still called Outlook.pst) every thing was working again.

There has to be an easier way to make all of this work - especially when it stops working. The average home computer user is going to be utterly defeated by a dialog that only says, “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook.”

Steps

1. Reboot into Safe Mode. Do this by holding the F8 key down while the machine restarts.

2. Open the Run dialog by using the Windows-R keystroke combination.

3. Type “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\MLCFG32.CPL” (without the quotes). It is worth noting that I had to try both Program Files and Program Files (x86) to find the MLCFG32.CPL file.

4. In the resulting Mail control panel applet, look to see where your PST file is located.

5. Reboot to leave Safe Mode

6. Make a copy of the corrupted PST file, this is critical if you are using POP3 to get your mail. The PST locates your mail on your machine. If you delete this file you’ll lose all your mail.

7. Delete the corrupted PST file.

8. Start Outlook and when prompted, create a new profile. If you are using IMAP your account information should be there and your mail should start working again. If you are using POP you’ll have to import mail from the old profile that you copied in step 6.

9. Have a beverage.

I've Got Nothing

Nothing to see here, move along.

Debugging the House

As a software developer I am familiar with the concept of debugging new code. As a new home owner, by which I mean the owner of a brand new house, I am learning that construction has a debugging phase too.

Our house came with a one year warranty and I am now convinced this is so that we can see the house in action during each of the four seasons. So far we’ve tested the house in extreme cold and snow - and discovered that the insulation distribution in the attic isn’t quite correct. In the spring we’ll get to test it during rain storms and run off. Over the summer we’ll endure the 100º days of July and August, and next autumn we’ll see how it holds up against pollen and dust.

Throughout the year we’ll be stressing the stairs, floors, cabinets, lights, plumbing, doors and windows through normal daily use. Unlike software we can’t test it in a beta environment prior to actually using it. Houses go from development (construction) to production (people living in them) overnight. Of course this isn’t the first house ever built, nor is it the first house our builder created, so there is some expectation that it was done correctly. Still there will be a few bugs that need addressing.

It’ll always be a version 1.0.x house. Hopefully we won’t have to increment any more than the maintenance release portion of that number, e.g., 1.0.2 or 1.0.3. (Although if the shower leak is back we might have a minor release update to 1.1.0.)

A Short To Do List

Finish moving boxes from the garage to the basement.

Setup the new document scanner and start scanning untold reams of paper.

Find a better replacement for Microsoft Money than Quicken.

Research and buy shelves for paperback books, DVDs, and CDs.

Sort out wonky email issues with Sibylle’s laptop.

Sort out wonky kernal panic issues with Mark’s laptop (maybe Virtual Box related).

Take Cannondale bike to shop to have headset adjusted.

Exercise more.

Exercise at all.

Find time for ourselves to recharge our batteriers.

Sort through all the boxes in the basement and repack what we want and give away or throw away the rest.

Find the treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Inception

Yesterday, while returning Social Network at the nearby Redbox, I saw that Inception was available so I grabbed a copy of it. Talk about a mind-altering movie. Wow. This has the same kick as The Matrix did when it was brand new. And like The Matrix, this will take a re-watching or three to fully grasp and understand.

I also like that it had a hint of a Sting ending with the spinning top on the table. Did it wobble there at the end? Was it going to fall down, or was it going to keep spinning forever?

Oh, and Social Network was pretty good too. You almost feel sorry for Mark Zuckerburg by the end. Almost.

A Hint of Spring

Today it was warm - nearly 45º and we took advantage of the break from winter to hose out the garage. The car had tracked in a lot of sand and grim from the recent snow, and the garage floor was filthy as a result. With Sibylle manning the hose and me using a large push broom we were able to get most if not all of the gunk out of the garage.

It’s funny how little things like cleaning the garage make you feel like a home owner.

Frosty Explained

The first two days of this week we were caught at the edge of the major winter storm that covered most of the eastern United States. In addition to freezing rain and snow, we had bitterly cold temperatures, perhaps as low as -10º. On Tuesday morning Sibylle discovered frost on the ceilings in both front bedrooms. We immediately contacted our builder as the house has a warranty.

His theory is that the insulation in the attic isn’t properly distributed and that the small areas of frost that we saw are a result of very cold air on one side of the drywall, and considerably warmer and moister air on the other side. He doesn’t think that there is any leak or that snow was blown into the attic space through the soffit vents. His insulation crew was going to stop at the house on Friday to correct things but their previous job took longer than expected. Our builder tells us that they’ll be back in this area next week and will visit then.

His explanation makes sense and is backed up by the pattern of frost we saw. It was primarily in the corners of the room, where it might be harder to insure blown-in insulation was properly deep. The forecast for this week includes more bitter cold air and the potential for more snow. Hopefully this time we won’t have enough temperature difference to generate frost inside the house.

New Iron

The desktop computer I was assigned at work two years ago, was three years old when I inherited it. Even with a recent memory upgrade, it’s getting a little long in the tooth. When I was given a green light to spec out a replacement machine I looked at both another Mac Pro and at a 27" iMac.

The configuration I’ve had on my desk for two years now was three 20" Cinema displays coupled to a Mac Pro sporting 12 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. A new Mac Pro was only going to bump up the processor speed a little, and increase the hard disk size. Looking at an iMac, with its lower initial cost, allowed me to add a solid-state hard drive - something I’ve wanted to experiment with for some time now.

Three 20" displays side-by-side make for a very wide work surface. I tended to work on the center display with odd windows or palettes on the right and left displays. Having a very large primary display and a slightly smaller secondary display seemed like a better idea.

Wednesday at 4 pm the iMac arrived and I’ve spent the time since then transferring my account from the Mac Pro and rearranging my physical desk. I stood the one remaining 20" Cinema screen on end, giving me a tall narrow secondary display. My idea is to use this screen for email, terminal windows, and other ancillary things, while keeping the vast 27" display for my primary tools. After just a short use I think this is going to work beautifully. Eventually I’d like to get a monitor arm and mount for the 20" display so that it isn’t just balanced on it’s edge.

Frosty

Like most of the continental United States we were caught up in the major winter storm system over the past two days. We were right at the western edge of the worst of it, I think, so we didn’t get much snow, but we do have icy conditions as the storm started with freezing rain.

Air temperatures were down to about 2º this morning and are forecast to be -12º tomorrow morning. Thus far our house has weathered the storm fairly well with one exception - there’s frost on the ceiling in both front (north-facing) bedrooms.

We’ve contacted the builder and are waiting to find out what’s covered in the warranty and, perhaps more importantly, what can be done to prevent this from happening in the future. There’s at least one storm like this one every winter - with strong winds, blowing snow, and bitter cold temperatures - and we don’t want this to be a recurring “feature” of the house. Moisture like this left unchecked can develop into far nastier problems like mold.

I have to keep telling myself that it’s a new house, not a perfect house.

Sigh.

Now With Daily Publishing

Starting with the beginning of the new year I have published something to zanshin.net every day. This is not to say that there has been new content everyday, rather there is a new posting published for each day of January. Twice now I’ve not gotten something up in time and had to back date the publish date.

I don’t know how long daily publishing will last but for now it feels good to be devoting some time to my site again. Feel free to reply in the comments to this posting if there is anything in particular you’d like me to write about.