Where is Outlook.pst in OXP on WinXP (WinXP - Offi

[BobH]

My daughter's hard drive started to fail and was replaced under warranty. When the tech installed the new HD he installed WinXP on it. She got him to leave the old HD behind so she could recover old data. I ran all WinXP updates and installed Office XP and updated it with everything the MS site found she needed. I then installed her old hd as the D: drive as it will still function well enough to read and copy files. The problem is that I can't find the Outlook.pst file with a SEARCH in XP. I'm not that familiar with XP (I still run WinME) so I might be doing something wrong. On my ME system, the .pst file is in the path C:WindowsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook. I also run OXP and am current on updates. Her WinXP system doesn't have an Applications Data folder anywhere that I can find. I KNOW that her contacts, email, et al MUST be somewhere on that old hd, but I can't find the file.

All suggestions greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

[TonyE]

You will need to display hidden files & folders to find this file.

Within Explorer select "Tools>Folder Options..."
The option to show hidden files and folders is on the view tab. Your search for Outlook.pst should now work. I use Office 2003 but I believe the file is stored in the same place which is:
Cocuments and Settings<username>Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook

[BobH]

Hello Tony,

Thank you, very much, for the information leading me to the outlook.pst file. I found it and copied it over to the same directory in the primary hard drive (C, but now I can't open Outlook. I get the message "Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The information store could not be opened." I tried uninstalling and reinstalling office XP but it didn't help. I couldn't find the export/import options in the newly reinstalled Outlook.

Can you help?

Also, what does the Welsh translate as?

TA

[jscher2000]

First, make sure that the copied outlook.pst file is not set to Read-Only. (This can happen if it was burned to and then copied from a CD.)

Second, you can import by creating a new PST (preferably not with an identical file name!) and using File>Import and Export...>Import from another program or file>Personal folder file (then navigate to the old file. Perhaps safest to rename the copied filed to outlook_old.pst before doing any of this.

Third, you can copy from your old PST by opening it as a secondary set of folders (using File>Open>Outlook Data File...). Again, a good idea to first rename the older file outlook_old.pst if you plan to try this.

Hope this helps.

[TonyE]

The Welsh should read "The universe is a song sung by a deaf man". I used one of the translation tools on the internet to generate the quote so can not guarantee the accuracy of the Welsh version.

[BobH]

Thanks for the translation, Tony.

I'm still having trouble getting to the outlook files. I was able to copy the Outlook and Archive .pst files from the old hard drive to the same folder on the new drive, but Outlook doesn't see them. When I click thru File/Open etc. and list All Files, the .pst files don't appear; yet when I display them by navigating from My Computer, they are there. I even checked Properties to be sure they weren't Hidden/System/Archive types.

Next, I deleted those files from the new drive folder location and tried to open the Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, etc folders in the Outlook folder bar (left side of Outlook screen) and get an error msg: "Unable to display the folder. Microsoft Outlook could not address the specified folder location. The information store could not be opened." I was getting the same error message before I deleted the .pst files from that folder.

There are four files (not .pst types) in the path and folder that Outlook should be looking in that I deleted. When I next opened Outlook, the folders for Inbox etc. had disappeared; so I recovered them from the recycle bin and opened OL again and they had reappeared. This convinces me that OL is pointed to the right path. The only thing I can figure now is that those old .pst files are somehow corrupted. What can I do to prove or disprove that theory? What else can I try? I've already uninstalled and reinstalled Office XP to no avail.

As stated before, all suggestions greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

[TonyE]

Hi Bob,

There are 2 folders where Outlook stores data files and the paths for these folders are very similar so it is best to double check to make sure you have the right one.

Cocuments and Settings<username>Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook
This is the default folder for *.pst, *.ost, *.msnpst, *.pab, *.oab, and extend.dat
You may only have outlook.pst, archive.pst and extend.dat in this folder

Cocuments and Settings<username>Application DataMicrosoftOutlook
This folder contains configuration files for Outlook such as outcmd.dat, Outlook.srs, Outlook.NK2 & OutlPrnt (for a full list see Slipstick)

Check this Outlook newsletter from Slipstick for a guide to moving .pst files in Outlook 2002

[BobH]

Hi Tony,

Thanks again for all the help.

We've managed to get her hard drive replaced and recovered the data, as I might have said earlier. Now, after removing the old hard drive, Outlook is pointing to it for its files. We have the old data in the correct folder on her C; drive but OL won't read it. Is there a setting in OL that will tell it to read the C: drive instead of the phantom D: drive it is pointing to?

[TonyE]

Hi Bob

Try the following

1. <LI>Close Outlook
   <LI>Right click the Outlook icon on your desktop and select "Properties>Data Files".
   <LI>Select "Data Files" and then "Add..." and browse to and select the .pst file you want to use. You will now have 2 data files listed, 1 pointing to the D drive.
   <LI>Close this dialog and open Outlook 2002
   <LI>Select "Tools>Email Accounts...", select "Edit an existing account" and click "Next"
   <LI>At the bottom of this dialog is an option "Deliver email to the following Location" - Select the OTHER file. They will probably both be called Personal Folder. Close out of this dialog and click "Yes" to the warning about changing the mail delivery location
   <LI>When you are happy that you have successfully changed to the correct .pst file go back to the Data Files dialog and delete the wrong file.
   <LI>Outlook will probably offer to recreate your Outlook Bar shortcuts, click on YES to complete the process. (see below)
   <LI>Repeat the above for the archive folder if required.

Sometimes you may have to manually recreate the Outlook Bar shortcuts. If you get an error message on a shortcut saying unable to display folder then right-click on the shortcut and select remove. To add the correct shortcut display your folder list, navigate to the folder you you want to add to the Outlook shortcut bar, right-click it and choose Add to Outlook Bar.