I cannot open emails in Outlook Express and my address book has disappeared. Can anyone help?

Question

When I try to open my address book I get an error message that says that it may not be installed properly but I can't find out how to correct this. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Answer 1

From Microsoft Help and Support (HTH)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917288





Error message when you open the Windows Address Book or you open Outlook Express after you install cumulative security update 911567 (MS06-016)

View products that this article applies to.

Article ID : 917288

Last Review : February 9, 2007

Revision : 2.2

SUMMARY

You may receive an error message when you try to open Microsoft Outlook Express or you try to open the Windows Address Book after you install cumulative security update 911567 that is described in security bulletin MS06-016.

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SYMPTOMS

After you install cumulative security update 911567 for Outlook Express that is described in security bulletin MS06-016, you may experience the following symptoms when you try to open Outlook Express or the Windows Address Book:• You may receive an error message that resembles the following:

unable to open address book. Address book may not be installed correctly

• You may receive an error message that states that you must reinstall Outlook Express or reinstall the Windows Address Book.

• When you open Outlook Express, you may be able to receive e-mail, but you cannot send e-mail or reply to e-mail.



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CAUSE

Most of the time, these symptoms are caused by a corruption in the Address Book. Frequently, the corruption occurs over time in address books that were created in older versions of Outlook Express. Earlier versions of Outlook Express did not detect this corruption, and the address book functionality was not affected. After you install cumulative security update 911567, Outlook Express examines each address book file for corruption. If Outlook Express detects corruption, you receive an error message.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:1. Uninstall cumulative security update 911567. To remove this update, use the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel. System administrators can also use the Spuninst.exe utility to remove this security update.



For more information about how to uninstall software updates, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371212.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371212.aspx)

2. Copy the .wab file that is located in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\

Paste a copy of this file in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Desktop\backup.wab

Note In this step, is your Microsoft Windows user name. Make sure there is no .wab file on your Desktop.

3. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

4. At the command prompt, type the following:

Del "C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\.*"

Note By using the asterisk (*), any file that starts with your user name is deleted.

5. Start Outlook Express.

6. On the Tools menu, click Address Book. Notice that the Address Book does not contain any contacts.

7. On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Address Book.

8. Import the backup.wab file that is located in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Desktop

9. Reinstall security update 911567.

911567 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911567/) MS06-016: Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express

Note If you find more than one .wab file, rename the user name with which you are currently logged in. If the user name is the default user name, the file name is Default.wab.



After you apply these changes, import all contacts that are contained in the old .wab file to the new profile that you have created. All contacts that are contained in the.wab file are imported to the new profile. During importing, folders are not recognized. Therefore, all contacts are imported to the profile. If you have shared groups, these groups are imported to the profile.



Note This resolution does not apply to Outlook Express 5.5 Service Pack 2 (SP2) on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4). Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

I would not use outlook express anyway, download Thunderbird from:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

and this will (probably) find and install you Outlook setting and address book. If you are using webmail but reading it in Outlook then you should be able to go to their webpage and read your mail there.



You should also be able to find your address book in the Outlook folder in your main Windows directory but I really would try Thunderbird first (don't forget to turn on the spam filter (a life saver)).



You can remove Outlook via "add/remove" programs in your control panel and look to the right you will see "windows components", you can then reinstall it if you have your Windows disk but this may delete your address book so beware. It shouldn't but we are talking Windows here.



The address book is a simple text file so if you do a windows search for "WAB" and it exists you should be able to find it but if it has been overwritten or corrupted it may not be that easy to put back together again.