George46227
asked on
Lost password for Outlook 2000 pst file
President of the company has a laptop, his W2K Pro got corrupted. He is now up and going (renamed the old profile folder and got a new profile folder after logging on) for everything except Outlook email. It is internet email (hosted by a 3rd party). He can send and receive email but all old mail is lost. The old mail is on the server in a .pst file in his home directory. When I try to configure Outlook to connect to the original pst file it asks me for a password. The user has no idea and all my best guesses didn't work. I assume the "password protection" option for the pst file was set up by somebody (who is long gone whoever they were). No one has a clue as to what the pwd might be.
Any way around this? or is the user out of luck, all old mail is gone (contacts, inbox, sent items, folders, the whole deal!)
George
Any way around this? or is the user out of luck, all old mail is gone (contacts, inbox, sent items, folders, the whole deal!)
George
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I went to the link and dl the file but didn't use it. There was another link there to something called Outlook Password by Thegrideon Software. I dl the free trial version. Apparently it resets (not recovers) the pwd, then gives you 3 of the characters and the number of characters - you have to guess the rest (full version for about $19? I think it gives the full pwd). Luckily it was a 4-letter pwd, I was able to easily guess the missing letter and open the pst file!!! At this point the user has access to the pst but I am going to have him keep an eye on it for a few days to make sure the pwd reset didn't corrupt the file - I understand that it could happen. The pst file is 780MB! Hopefully this will take care of it and I will close this project at the end of the week.
By the way - what do I do next with this question? Is it up to me to "close out" the thread, notify somebody or what? How do I do it?
Thanks for the help!!! Looks like it is probably fixed although I'll hold off till the end of the week to make sure.
George
By the way - what do I do next with this question? Is it up to me to "close out" the thread, notify somebody or what? How do I do it?
Thanks for the help!!! Looks like it is probably fixed although I'll hold off till the end of the week to make sure.
George
:o)
I'm glad you've got it fixed.
To ensure that you have everything fine, I would recommend doing a backup to another PST file and make certain that the secondary file doesn't have a password or encryption on it. (Just a recommendation)
It is up to you to close out the question.
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Welcome to Experts-Exchange, I hope some of us can help you out.
Hope this helps!
:o)
Bartender_1
I'm glad you've got it fixed.
To ensure that you have everything fine, I would recommend doing a backup to another PST file and make certain that the secondary file doesn't have a password or encryption on it. (Just a recommendation)
It is up to you to close out the question.
Basically, you choose a comment that worked for you, and click on "Accept"
You are then required to "assess" the level of help you have received. (Basically, giving the person who helped you a grade.) A,B,C, and D are the options. (Only Moderators can give a "D" grade") Please consider the grade carefully, as your choice determines the number of "Expert Points" the person gets. (The grade works as a multiplier to the points you've offered) the multiplier works in this fashion:
A grade gets 4x
B grade gets 3X
C grade gets 2x
D grade gets 1x
The things you need to consider when giving a grade are listed here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp#hi73
You can find the "FULL" instructions on closing your questions here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/help.jsp#hs5
Additional thoughts:
If you find an expert that has helped you particularly well, you can let others know about their help by posting a comment on their performance in the "feedback" link beside their name.
Welcome to Experts-Exchange, I hope some of us can help you out.
Hope this helps!
:o)
Bartender_1
:o)
Bartender_1