Top 10 Ways To Fix Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook Error

Summary:

Waiting to send or receive mails for a long time but cannot start Microsoft Outlook or cannot open the Outlook window?

Don’t know how to deal with such specific instances. Well not worry…!

As in the tutorial you will find out the best solutions for this type can’t start MS Outlook error and some more unfamiliar ones also.

What Are The Reasons For “Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook” Error?

This cannot Start Microsoft Outlook problem generally arises when you click Outlook’s icon and it starts hanging. Very soon you will start getting cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook error.

The main cause of this issue is the corruption of the Navigation Pane settings file – profilename.xml, where “profilename” is the name of your Outlook profile. A good indication that the file is corrupted is when its size is 0 KB. No one can tell you what is the exact reason for the problem, but all versions of Microsoft Outlook from 2003 to the newest Outlook 2013 may get affected by this.

If you are running Outlook in the compatibility mode or if the Outlook data file was deleted or damaged due to incorrect uninstallation or reinstallation of Outlook or if you are using a profile created in an older Outlook version, all these can make your Outlook file corrupted.

Whatever the reason may be the result is that you cannot start Microsoft outlook or cannot open the Outlook window because of this error.

Different Outlook version users start getting this cannot start Microsoft Outlook error message in different forms, so have a look over it:

Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Unable to open the Outlook window. Invalid XML, the view cannot be loaded.

Cannot open your default e-mail folders. The information store could not be opened.

“Microsoft Outlook has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Microsoft Outlook The set of folders cannot be opened

How To Fix Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook Error?

After knowing the causes problems on Outlook startup, try to fix Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook problem as soon as possible. To do this you can follow these steps:

Fix 1: Turn Off Compatibility Mode In Outlook

Fix 2: Restore Previous Outlook Version

Fix 3: Outlook Stuck On The Loading Profile

Fix 4: Reset The Navigation Pane

Fix 5: Identify Defective Add-Ins In Safe Mode

Fix 6: Repairing A Faulty Outlook Profile

Fix 7: Repair Or Reinstall Outlook

Fix 8: Finish Outlook Program From Task Manager

Fix 9: Cannot Start Outlook. MAPI32.DLL Is Corrupt Error

Fix 10: Outlook Won’t Open Issue

Let’s take complete detail on how to perform each of these fixes…..!

Fix 1: Turn Off Compatibility Mode In Outlook

If your Outlook is running in the Compatibility mode then you may face problems like Outlook won’t open or cannot open the Outlook window. So at that time, it will be better to turn off Outlook Compatibility mode. Here are steps that should be followed to perform this operation:

• Tap to the starts button and in the search box type outlook.exe.

• Make a right-click on the OUTLOOK.EXE icon. After then hit the Properties.

• In the opened window of outlook.exe properties go to the Compatibility In the compatibility mode, uncheck the option “Run this program in compatibility mode for“.

• Tap to the OK button and starts your Outlook application.

Fix 2: Restore Previous Outlook Version

The second trick which you can try to fix “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook” error is restoring the previous version of the PST file.

Note: sometimes restoring the previous Outlook version method leads to loss of your recent appointments and emails. But it’s a better option than Outlook won’t open…. isn’t it?

• Tap to the starts button and in the search box type Outlook.
• Make a right-click on the Outlook folder and choose the option “Restore previous versions” from the list of appearing options.

• In the window of Outlook file properties switch to the “Previous versions” Here you can see all the listed recent versions of this Outlook folder.

• Just make a double-tap on the recent folder to check whether the file which you needed is there or not.
• After getting your missing Outlook file in theses folders tap to the restore.

• If you don’t that your previous version data to be replaced with the current one then you can click to the COPY option. This will restore your previous version Outlook data to some other location on your PC.

Fix 3: Outlook Stuck On The Loading Profile

Users also found complaining about Outlook won’t open or Outlook stuck on the loading profile issue. Well, the main reason behind this is the conflict between OEM video drivers and the operating system.

 Here is the fix that you must try to resolve it.

1. Set the display color depth to 16-bit.

• Make a right-click on the empty space of your PC.
• After that make a tap on the Screen Resolution option and then hit the Advanced settings.
• Now go to the monitor tab after that change the Colors to 16-bit.

2: Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

• In your Outlook application tap to the File tab > Options > Advanced
• After that from the Display section choose the Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

Above mentioned solutions address the most common reason behind “can’t start Microsoft outlook” and it worked in many such cases.

Fix 4: Reset The Navigation Pane 

The navigation pane of the Outlook is generally present on the left side of the application window.

As we all know it contains the menu items like E-Mail, Calendar, “Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and folder lists. According to your preference, you can adjust this navigation pane but sometimes this leads to server issues like Outlook won’t open. 

So to fix this, all you need to do is reverting the Outlook navigation pane to the default setting:

• Press Windows + R key and this will open the dialog box of “Run”.
• In the text field of the Run dialog box, type the outlook.exe /resetnavpane. Press on the OK button.

• Now start your Outlook application.

Fix 5: Identify Defective Add-Ins In Safe Mode

If still after trying the above fixes problem of cannot open the Outlook window persists. In that case, the culprit can be the add-ins that come integrated with the Outlook application.

Chances are high that your Outlook add-ins is either got damaged or maybe it gets outdated. Thus this, preventing your Outlook application to start normally.

Diagnosis of the actual problem causing add-in of Outlook is possible by running the Outlook in safe mode.

• Press Window + R and in the opened “Run” dialog box type command outlook.exe /safe. Press “OK” to make confirmation.

Note: in the safe mode, Outlook starts without any add-ins.

Now it’s time to look for the main problem causing Outlook add-in.

• In your Outlook window tap to the “File” tab after then hit the “Options” button.
• From Outlook left side windows pane, select the “Add-Ins” and hit the “Go” option present at the very bottom section of the add-ins window.

• Uncheck one add-in at a time from the opened list. This will deactivate that specific add-in.
• Restart your Outlook application just like normal as you do.
• If Outlook starts without any issue then it means the problem causing add-in is now removed.
• But the problem persists then again open the Outlook in safe mode perform the same step for another add-in.

Fix 6: Repairing A Faulty Outlook Profile

If you are getting, cannot start Microsoft Outlook or can’t open the Outlook window like problems even after opening your Outlook application in the safe mode. In such cases, more specifically the problem is in the “personal folders file”(.pst file).

So you need to repair the problem causing Outlook profile. Here are the steps which you need to apply.

• Open the control panel on your PC.
• Now in the control panel, you will see the mail icon. Or if you won’t get then in the search box type mail. Once you get the mail icon make a tap to open it.

• This will open the dialog box of “Mail Setup – Outlook”. Here you have to click on the “Show Profiles”.

• Just follow down the instruction carefully which are needed to create a new profile after then click to the “Finish” button.
• Within the option of “When starting Microsoft Outlook, use this profile,” select the “Prompt for a profile to be used” and tap to the “Ok” button.

• Start the Outlook application.

Fix 7: Repair Or Reinstall Outlook

You can also try the Microsoft Office inbuilt repair option:

• Open your system “Control Panel” and then tap to the “Programs and Features” option.

• In the list search for the “Microsoft Office” and tap to the “Change” button.

• Now follow the coming up instructions. Mostly it is found that the best result is acquired using the option “Online Repair”.

• This Outlook application comes under the Office package. So you need to click the Microsoft Office from the program list for repairing up the Outlook application.
• If all the above-mentioned methods fail to work, try reinstalling the Outlook application.

Fix 8: Finish Outlook Program From Task Manager

Sometime Outlook experiences problems as soon as you start the application. Outlook stops responding even if you click the Outlook icon several times. At that situation, end the Outlook program manually.

• Open the task manager by pressing the [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete]
• Switch on the “Processes” tab.
• From the list of processes, search for the OUTLOOK.EXE task. At the bottom left corner, there is an option “End Process”.

• Restart the Outlook application.

Fix 9: Cannot Start Outlook. MAPI32.DLL Is Corrupt Error

Sometimes users also encounter “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL”.

This issue generally arises when your MAPI32.DLL installed in your PC got corrupted or out-dated.

Mainly this kind of thing happens when you had already installed the latest version of MS Office. After sometime installed an older version of MS Office.

You will receive an error message: “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging software. Please reinstall Outlook.“

Here are the following steps to fix cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook MAPI32.DLL is corrupt:

• Open the C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemMsmapi1033
• Delete the DLL
• Rename the DLL to MAPI32.DLL

Start your Outlook application and hopefully this time cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook error must have gone.

How To Fix Outlook Won’t Open Issue?

As we have already discussed that among various reasons, corruption of Outlook PST file also leads to generate Outlook won’t open like issues.

If spite of following all precautions your Outlook file got corrupted then the only option left to access and restore data is to use some reliable repair software.

Though MS Outlook has some inbuilt Scanpst.exe Tool using which you can fix minor PST file corruption. BUT if still, you are unable to fix cannot open Outlook window error. In that case, you can take the help of a third-party repair tool like Outlook PST Repair software.

Outlook PST Repair tool is best suited and most trusted repair programs to fix severely corrupt / damaged PST file due to any reason. During this task of repairing the PST file, it automatically recovers all the deleted emails, contacts, and other elements from it. This is specially designed to repair and restore any kind of broken or damaged PST and OST files.

It completely scans your corrupt PST file thoroughly and repairs it like a new healthy PST file from which you can easily restore all your important items like appointments, notes, calendar items, emails, attachments, contact details,  etc. with this you can also repair highly encrypted and password protected PST files.

Steps For Using Outlook Repair Tool:

Step 1: You need to download, install and run outlook PST repair tool. Then click on ‘select outlook file’ to choose the PST file where you want to work or you may find the specific PST file also.

Step 2: Press “start” to begin scanning, once you have selected the PST file.

Step 3: After completion of scanning, all recovered mailbox folders and other data appear on the left side of the window. You can select the files of your choice from those.

Step 4: After selecting items of your choice you can press “save recovered file” to recover the files on your PC.

Step 5: When your files are saved, a dialogue box appears that confirms that files are saved and also shows the “recovered file size” and “destination path”.

Conclusion:

Now you don’t need to look here and there for the fixes to resolve cannot start Microsoft Outlook error. As have outlined all the best solutions to fix unable to open Outlook window issue. So try them one by one.

Don’t forget to share which solution worked in your case. keep commenting guys…!

Jeff Tecson is a senior technical writer at filerepairtool.net having over 5 years of experience. He has provided solutions related EDB file, OLM, PST Repair & many other email clients. Jeff holds a degree of Master’s in Computer Science from University of California, CA. Besides writing, he loves to play games, passionate about troubleshooting different technical problems and also wants to help people by providing best solutions in the industry.