What to Do When Outlook Crashes Due to Corrupt Outlook Data File

Outlook data file corruption or corruption of Outlook PST file is not an unknown issue for many Microsoft Outlook users. Various users face such situations and use the appropriate remedy provided by Microsoft to troubleshoot their problem. However, there can be times when a resolution provided by Microsoft to overcome an error message may not work. For those cases use of efficient PST repair software is recommended.

Let us instantiate this situation. Suppose you are using MS Outlook 2010 and another day when you launch your Outlook it crashes unexpectedly with the following error message:

AppName: Outlook.exe
AppVer: 14.0.4760.1000
ModName: Kernelbase.dll
ModVer: 6.1.7600.16385
Offset: 0003194b

how to repair corrupted PST file when Outlook error causing application crash

MS Outlook stores all your email messages, contact information and other objects in a single file known as Personal Folders File (PST). This file is stored on your local hard disk and carries the name 'Outlook.pst'. As this PST file grows in size gradually, it becomes susceptible to corruption. Corruption takes place if the file exceeds a predefined size limit of 2 GB (For MS Outlook 2002). Other potential causes behind PST File corruption include, virus infection, application errors, hardware errors, etc. As a consequence, all your vital email messages, personal contacts, calendars, notes, and other items in the PST file would become inaccessible. To effectively overcome this problem, you need to repair outlook with reliable mechanism.

For instance, when you start MS Outlook and try to access a mailbox folder, you may receive any of the following errors on your screen:

“OUTLOOK caused an invalid page fault in module Emalscan.dll at 0137:10004d3a”

How to move Outlook .pst file from one computer to another computer?

You may need to transfer or move your Outlook data or .pst file in case you have bought a new computer or just want to use a different system other than the one on which you are working currently or for some other reason. However, Synchronization and sharing of .pst file between one and other computer cannot be done automatically. So to transfer the Outlook data file or .pst file from one computer to another require certain steps to be followed which are explained as below.

• Create a backup of your .pst file -

Repair corrupt .pst file when Scanpst.exe utility fails

Generally it is recommended to use the Scanpst.exe utility when Outlook .pst file get corrupted. But Scanpst utility has some specific limitations, like it is not able to repair the files which have the size larger than 2 GB. Also there are possibilities that once the scanpst.exe is used to scan and repair the corrupt pst file then it may further make changes in file because of its repair process. Hence, scanpst.exe does not completely ensure you the recovery of pst file and might also shows some error while repairing the file.

To exemplify the above issue, consider a practical case. Suppose, your Outlook.pst file got corrupted due to unexpected shutdown and when you run Scanpst.exe tool to repair the corrupt Outlook PST file, you received an error message as below:

“An error has occurred which caused the scan to be stopped. No changes have been made to the scanned file.”

This error message indicates that Scanpst.exe utility is not able to scan and repair the corrupt pst file.

One of the reason could be that Scanpst is not properly installed. In that case reinstall the Microsoft Outlook properly. Scanpst.exe also fails to work when the size of .pst file get increased more than 2 GB and start showing the above mentioned error.

One solution to deal with this situation is to use the backup of .pst file. During the scanpst.exe repair process, it creates a backup of original .pst file with name .bak. This .bak file is created in the same folder in which original .pst file is located. This .bak file recover items that scanpst.exe failed to recover. Make a copy of .bak file and rename it with .pst extension. Import the bak.pst file and move other items in it that you have created.

However, if you are still unable to repair damaged .pst file during scanpst.exe repair process then it is better to repair Outlook PST file with the help of a PST repair tool which helps you to recover all Outlook objects.

How do Outlook Repair tool helps you in PST Repair?

Even repair of Outlook PST file by Inbox repair tool leaves corrupt Outlook PST file in a same state. Data of Outlook e-mail objects, such as e-mail messages, contacts, attachments, appointments, journal, tasks, events, remains inaccessible. Inbox repair tool is provided by Microsoft to repair corrupt PST file. But due to its limited functionality, Outlook PST file can not be made corruption free. Well, inaccessible data can be restored back from a pst backup file. If backup is unavailable, then the only and last option left for you is to use a third party Outlook PST Repair products.