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Outlook problem (what the?!?!?)

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Project86

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2002
I run XP with SP@, and Office/Outlook 2003. It's all been running fine, no new installs. So today When I try to open Outlook it says
"an extension failed to initialize. Cant open file:extend.dat. the file may not exist, you may not have permission to open it,or it may be open in another program. Right click the folder that contains the file, the click proprties to check permissions for the folder. You dont have appropriate permission to perform this operation"

WTF?!?!?!

I find the file, and eveything seems fine with it, so... What to do?
 
Try renaming the extend.dat file to extend.old...a new one will be created the next time you open Outlook. You can find the file in the following location...

C:\Documents and Settings | <Username> | Local Settings | Application Data | Microsoft | Outlook

I believe the file is hidden, so you'll need to "Show hidden files and folders" (open Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | "View" tab | Check the "Show hidden files and folders" radio button".)

You may only be able to rename the file by running Outlook in Safe mode. Start | Run | Type...

"C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook" /SAFE
 
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Well, that helped, but now it says
"unable to open default mail folders. File access denied. You do not have permission to access the file outlook.pst"
this file and extend.dat are the only 2 files in the folder, I don't see how I ended up not having permissions... I am the only user on my computer. Any other ideas?

Thanks again!!!!
 
UPDATE-one problem solved... Somehow Outlook.pst was made read only. Unchecked that box, now it opens. NEW PROBLEM- it then says it has an error and has to be shut down...I just did a reinstall to try to fix the other problem, should I do another one? this crap started happening when I installed McAfee personal firewall/virusscan/spamkiller, so maybe that has something to do with it?
 
Ok, I figured out what the REAL problem is. I changed from Office 2003 to Office XP (just to see if one was any different than the other) and according to Microsoft, you can't install one one top of the other. It will screw up Outlook. So I have to completely uninstall, and then reinstall whichever one I want (I can't tell the difference!) So for anyone else thinking of switching, be careful to do it this way or it won't work!
 
I prefer 2003 over xp. More feratures, however access really pisses me off. If you get a chance try to open an old database with 2003 and see if it gives you a macro warning. I have tried to get rid of it but it won't stop doing it. Ohh well, it is from microsucks so i expect problems from time to time. (end of rant) I had a kinda similar problem with outlook 2003 last week, when i'd do a send recieve cycle, outlook would say that it wass doing it, but in fact wasn't. I had to uninstall and reinstall to correct the problem, which later turned out to be a problem with a firefox plug-in.
 
With Outlook XP the data file is limited to 2GB... with 2003 it is a different format and has a new size limit of something like 37GB or so, they are NOT interchangeable.
 
I finaly=ly get a chance to reinstall, and now it runs fine until I go to send/receive. It tells me I don't have appropriate permission for that operation. I'm pretty much pissed at this point and don't know what else to do... any ideas? Once again, I DONT have any other user accounts or anything, just mine... This shouldn't happen.
 
Do you happen to be using McAfee Firewall? If so, check your firewall settings to see if Outlook 'access' has been changed from "Full Access" to "Blocked". Otherwise, I'm thinking it might be a DCOM security issue...possibly caused by the installation of a particular program (afa setting permissions). Start | Run | Type comexp.msc, and click OK...to open Component Services | Highlight "Component Services" | Computers | My Computer | Expand "DCOM Config" | Right click each application, and select "Properties" | "Security" tab, and check "Access Permissions".
 
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Thanks for the reply, I already checked McAfee, it wasn't that. I'm now doing a complete reinstall after backing up my outlook stuff and completely removing it. We'll see how that works.
 
Ok, I'm back to square one. Got a full uninstall, then fully re-installed Office XP. Still same issue with not having permission. When I try to run comexp.msc it says it can't be found... Any other ideas?
 
Sorry, the path to Component Services should have been...Start | Run | Type:

"C:\WINDOWS\system32\Com\comexp.msc"

I forgot that it's located in the %systemroot%\System32\Com sub-directory.
 
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Ok, I got it. Simple as going in and making extend.dat and the other files in that directory NOT read-only anymore, which I had already done a few times, but whatever. I'm back to using Office XP cuz I think I like the Outlook on there more. Thanks for all the help though!
 
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