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Jacque ScottFlag for United States of America

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Outlook.past

I have been using MSOutlook for long time. All of a sudden, a problem has arised. When I opened Outlook today, following message has appeared " Cannot start the reminder service. Unable to show reminders. The file C:\WINDOWS\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst is in use and could not be accessed. Close any application that is using this file and then try again"  and not able to enter to the Inbox.

I use ActiveSync to sync my Treo but I've been doing that with no problem for 2 years.  I've looked on other posts and I ran SCANPST.exe on my Outlook.pst and it found errors so I repaired them and tried to use Outlook again but I am getting the same error.  I tried running SCANPST.exe again and it didn't find any errors.  I don't know what to do now

Any suggestions?
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war1
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Hello huerita37,

What is the version of your Outlook?  If Outlook 2002 or earlier, you have a PST file that is limited in size to 2 GB.  Right click on the PST and select Properties.  If size is at 2 GB, then PST will get the error you see.

Run PST2GB to repair a 2GB Outlook Personal Folder
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B33B1DFF-6F50-411D-BBDF-82019DDA602E&displaylang=en

If not 2 GB or if you are using Outlook 2003, you need a better repair tool for damaged Outlook PST File.  Try Outlook Recovery Toolbox
http://www.oemailrecovery.com/outlook-recovery.html

Hope this helps!
war1
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I am running Outlook 2003 and my file is only 534 MB.  I will try that other recovery tool.
Nope that still didn't work.
Is the file really outlook.past, as you have in your title?  It should be <profilename>.pst  Outlook cannot open .past files.

Make sure the PST file is not write protected.  Right click on the file and select Properties.  Make sure Read Only is not selected.
That's funny about the title I just noticed it before I read your post.  It was late and I was frustrated when I wrote my post.

I just checked the properties and they are no Read Only.  What would happen if I copied over a Outlook.pst folder from my laptop to my desktop where my problem Outlook is?  Would it erase everything that I had in Outlook?
I am getting another error.  When I try to load Outlook I get an error:

'Business Contact Manager has encountered a problem and needs to close.'

After a couple of seconds the error message that I originally reported shows up.  They both always have shown up.  Also yesterday before these problems started I had my Treo hooked ot my computer and I unconnected them.  I didn't look to see if it was in the middle of a sync.  Could this be the problem?
You asked, "What would happen if I copied over a Outlook.pst folder from my laptop to my desktop where my problem Outlook is?  Would it erase everything that I had in Outlook?"

If you copy the pst to desktop, then import it into Outlook, it will not erase everything. If you replace the existing pst file with new PST file in the PST file folder, then you would earse everything from original pst.

You may want to disable BCM from addin manager and then test.
How do I disable BCM?
I am unable to access anything in Outlook so I am not sure if I can disable BCM.  Also I am only getting the error for the BCM, I am not getting the first error that I reported.

Any ideas?
I don't even use BCM, should I just remove it?  Will any of my data be lost?
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war1
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The steps I took to fix the problem:

I used the Outlook 2003 disk to repair the Outlook.pst file, the other suggestions listed didn't fix it.  Then I removed BCM and now my Outlook works fine.
huerita37, glad the problem is fixed.