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Resolved Question

Outlook 2007 .pst file disppeared from Windows 7 PC

by Aug 28, 2011 6:31AM PDT

My daugter is running 32 bit Office 2007 Enterprise Edition on her 64 bit Windows 7 Toshiba Satellite R850-IOH PC. It had been running well since installation about five months ago until she recently found that Outlook would not start - instead there was an error message saying "Outlook.pst file cannot be found"
The Outlook icon in her Documents folder firstly multiplied to about six copies and then disappeared completely. The icon is still on the task bar at the bottom of the desktop, but when clicked it comes up with the above error message.
Is this a known problem - could it be a virus? If we reinstall Office 2007, is it likely to happen again?

Discussion is locked

Iwasnotamused has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
8 Posts
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Best Answer

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Yes it does happen to repeat.
by Forum moderator Aug 28, 2011 6:58AM PDT

With all the malware and the fact that Microsoft never resolved the "corrupt profile" problems it means that we must keep backups of what we can't lose as well as be ready to reinstall apps. For the time being "not much" has happened for computers to be things we can use without backups.

First things first. Search for the PST file and copy it to a safe place. Then uninstall and reinstall Office. In a stock install with no malware or infections this will not result in any file loss but given today's malware you only lose what you don't backup.

If Outlook is working again you can exit outlook and copy the old PST to the location outlook is expecting it.
Bob

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Re Enterprise Edition.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 28, 2011 7:01AM PDT

Sadly I'm seeing that on machines that are not associated with a business or someone is installing copies for others. It's always a bad sign when we see that. Let's hope it's legit as the "cracks" folk use tend to break the apps.

I like the idea of creating a new user as this is exactly what Microsoft tells us to do when there is a corrupt profile.

Bob

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Outlook 2007 file Disappeared in Windows 7
by Iwasnotamused Aug 28, 2011 6:14PM PDT

Thanks for your reply. My daughter is a teacher. She is authorised to keep a copy of Office Enterprise Edition on her home PC, so that she can work at home. The copy was created from a duplicate disc supplied by the school's IT department. It seemed to work normally for several months.
There is another symptom that may be related, which is that file locations in her documents folder are changed spontaneously. If this is malware, is there a reliable way of finding and dealing with it? She uses Norton Internet Security 2011. Full system scans have revealed and removed only cookies. The school IT department doesn't provide tech support to home users.
I found the .pst file (21MB) on her backup drive, copied and pasted it into her documents folder and then opened Outlook successfully for the first time since the problem occurred. All folders were empty, so the data doesn't appear to have been copied or pasted. Is 21MB the normal size of the .pst file without data?
Thanks
Andy

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I don't think it's malware.
by Kees_B Forum moderator Aug 28, 2011 6:19PM PDT

But I don't know what to think else either.

Kees

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Disappearance of Outlook 2007 .pst file
by Iwasnotamused Aug 28, 2011 8:44PM PDT

I ran the same search this morning as last night on her backup drive to try to find the backup copy of the .pst file. Last night it came up with three apparently empty 21MB copies of the file. This morning it came up with the same three 21MB copies plus a 157MB copy that I have restored successfully, with the expected data. I guess we didn't give the search long enough to complete its work last night. I believe the occurrence of three copies of the pst file may have been the result of an unwanted default setting on her backup software. The restored data files contained a large number of RSS items from Microsoft to which she had not subscribed -I have deleted them.
So the remaining questions seem to be:
1. Was the disappearance of the .pst file from the documents folder on her C drive the result of a glitch in Windows or Outlook?

2. Is the spontaneous relocation of files another glitch in MS software? It happens only occasionally.
3. Is there any obvious need now to reinstall everything, or were we just being paranoid about malware?
Thanks
Andy

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If there is a glitch.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Aug 30, 2011 9:02AM PDT

Since it's an Enterprise version you head back to those that handed it out to call in the bug.

That's what they paid for. There is a clear path of support for Enterprise versions and you may as well get your money's worth.

As to spontaneous relocation it is offer the case of the corrupt profile. This is another reason why you keep a spare Admin account and backup what you don't want to lose.

As to your questions. MALWARE is something we don't get at the office. But then again we turned off the preview in Outlook and don't open attachments from anybody. We also have other safeguards like WOT and other things but that's off topic.

I'd move to a new user account asap.
Bob

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Disappearance of Outlook 2007
by Iwasnotamused Aug 30, 2011 3:15PM PDT

Thanks Bob, we'll do as you suggest. Sorry I clicked the wrong icon when voting helpful or unhelpful and I couldn't undo it. You've been very helpful.
Regards
Andy

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Answer
That's very strange.
by Forum moderator Aug 28, 2011 6:53AM PDT

But the "Enterprise edition" points to use in or paid for by a company. Normal home users don't have access to the Enterprise edition. So the first step would be to contact the companies help desk. Does there happen to be a roaming profile, as was the case in http://www.outlookforums.com/showthread.php?4345-Outlook-cannot-find-pst-file-following-profile-recreation.

The icon in her Documents folder might be the .pst file, but there should be only one. Orr a shortcut to it (you didn't tell). The icon on the task bar is a shortcut to the program.

It's a rare error. Google doesn't find much about it. http://help.wugnet.com/office/Personal-folders-disappear-ftopict1165932.html is another unsolved case.

Reinstalling Office 2007 most likely doesn't help. A practical way on a home PC for a home user is just switch to a new user name. Then Outlook will create a new empty .pst file as it did the first time when it ran in the old user profile. Then, until you found the cause, she better does a frequent backup to a safe place.

Kees

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