[PCDavis]

Hello helpful people.

Need Outlook 2002 help here.

Long story short. Complete meltdown after virus attack. Norton did not stop this one. Had to re-install Windows XP Home OS.

Here's the funny bit.. I can still see my programs. When I re-installed MS Office 2002 it immediately recognized all my documents (when I search, but nowhere else)... but I digress.

I need to get some information from the old saved email files from Outlook and don't know where to look to get them. It's not like they're in a .doc file somewhere.

I know this is vague, but I'm not really literate on the computer. I can find things, but have a hard time explaining stuff..

Any help?

[EAFiedler]

Hi PCDavis

You reinstalled Windows XP over itself? You did not do a format and install of Windows XP?

Outlook keeps it messages in .pst files.
Do a Search for: *.pst files. You may need to enable Show Hidden files and folders.

[PCDavis]

Right... reinstallation. No reformat.

I have found the .pst files.. (They were hidden)

I can not open/read them... everytime I try to open the new Outlook installed with the XP Office Standard (2002) I get a "Operation Failed" message.

[EAFiedler]

Try creating a new profile for Outlook 2002 using the steps in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287072/

After creating the new Outlook profile, configure Outlook to start with the new profile, this is also in the above link under: How to Start Outlook With a Specific Profile

If Outlook 2002 opens with the new profile, you can then open the .pst files you located.

In Outlook 2002:
File > Open > Outlook Data File
Browse to the location of the .pst file(s) and select a .pst file.
The Personal Folders (.pst file) should then appear in Outlook.

Repeat the above steps for each additional .pst file you may have.


Let us know what happens.