Fix Scanpst.exe Issue - 'Cannot start Outlook 2007 Error'!

MS Outlook is world's most popular and widely used email client application of all time. People like this amazing application because of its features and functionalities that it offers to the users in order to manage and organize their important data. But the issue with this application is the error messages that it throws quite often because of several reasons which make the data stored in Outlook's PST file inaccessible.

To understand the situation in a better manner let's consider a scenario where suppose user is using MS Outlook 2007 in its Windows 7 system which ran pretty well for half a year. But now when s/he attempts to start the application, s/he is continually getting error message like -

• "Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened. Errors have been detected in the file -
  C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\xxx.pst
  Quit Outlook and all mail-enabled applications, and then use the Inbox repair tool (Scanpst.exe) to diagnose and repair errors in the file. For more information about the Inbox Repair tool, see Help."

After this error message MS Outlook 2007 application closes and does not open due to which backing up of PST file could not be done.

In order to fix cannot start Outlook 2007 error, you need to use inbuilt Scanpst.exe utility which is small but efficient utility to backup the PST file and fix the minor corruptions of Outlook. In MS Outlook 2007 this utility is hidden so you need to un-hide it to access it. Just type 'scanpst' in the Windows 7 Search box and you will be able to find this tool. In case after using this tool you fail to access your PST file contents, then the only option to get them back is to use third party Outlook PST Repair software which will surely resolve your issue in seconds and will make the PST file accessible.