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ZistrolFlag for United States of America

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Cannot attach PST file to Outlook 2010 - File access is denied

Hello Experts,

I finally give up. I've been on EE and Google all afternoon and have tried every suggestion - twice in most cases. Most of the answers are pretty old and maybe with all the updates in Office 2010 things just don't work they way they used to - anyhow...

I have built a new Windows 7 / Office 2010 machine for a user and I need to reattach his old email archive (can't get around it, he just needs it).

I shut down Outlook, rebooted it and copied the PST to the new machine. When I try to attach it I get the File access is denied. You do not have the permission required to access the file c:\xxxx.pst message.

Here what I've tried.

Taken ownership of the file
Given Full Control to Everyone and the other users/group in the file security tab
Added the domain user to the file with Full Control
Moved it to another folder
Given the domain user local administrator privileges.
Exported the PST on original machine and repeated the steps above (one by one)
Rebooted the machine multiple times in between these steps
Ensured the PST is not read only.
Tested the PST with  Stellar Phoenix's Outlook PST Repair. It didn't seem to find anything wrong. Didn't pay for it yet though to save the file.

The only thing that has worked is when I set Outlook to run as an administrator in the Properties > Compatibility section. I hope this isn't the solution. I don't like apps that need this and it will be a pain for this guy to approve this every time he starts Outlook.

Anyone have anything else I can try?

Thanks
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John
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The root directory of c:\ is a protected area .. put the pst into a subfolder
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ASKER

Hello John,

So I went back to basics and started all over again (3rd time's a charm - right?)

Reconnected the PST to Outlook on the original machine to ensure it could still be mounted.
Disconnected the PST from Outlook and rebooted the original machine.
Copied the file to the C:\Users\username\Documents\Outlook Files folder on the new machine. Before I had copied it to c:\ and a subfolder under c:\.

Started Outlook, connected the PST and voila! It worked. Thanks for the solution. This shouldn't have been this hard.

Note to John. I did move the PST to a subfolder under C: previously and that didn't work. Even giving as much access (Full Control to Everyone) as I could.

I guess you just keep trying and eventually Outlook will show mercy and work for you.
Thanks for the update and I was happy to help. I normally set up Outlook and let it establish the folder it wants to use. Then copy the Archives and they open up .  In any event, I am happy you got it working after several attempts.