# cannot open outlook express



## bam17au (Dec 22, 2004)

i am having trouble opening outlook express when i try to open it it gives me a message ( outlook express could not be started. The application was unable to open the outlook express message store. Your computer maybe out of memory or disk is full.Contact Microsoft support for further assistance. (0x800C012E,5) ) then i click on OK and i get another message saying outlook express could not be started because MSOE>DLL could not be intialized . Outlook express may not be installed correctly. I am running windows XP PRO



can anyone help me please bam17au


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## ComicBookGuy (Dec 21, 2004)

bam17au said:


> i am having trouble opening outlook express when i try to open it it gives me a message ( outlook express could not be started. The application was unable to open the outlook express message store. Your computer maybe out of memory or disk is full.Contact Microsoft support for further assistance. (0x800C012E,5) ) then i click on OK and i get another message saying outlook express could not be started because MSOE>DLL could not be installed . Outlook express may not be installed correctly.
> 
> can anyone help me please bam17au


which version of windows are you running???

you can also ditch oe and try thunderbird from mozilla.
looks and works alot like oe but better :up:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/


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## dugq (Jul 16, 2004)

Hi, can you please double-check that error message, I don't think

MSOE.DLL could not be installed

is correct, its either

MSOE.DLL could not be initialised (easy to fix)

or

MSOE.DLL could not be loaded (not so easy)


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## bam17au (Dec 22, 2004)

the message i got is (outlook express could not be started because of MSOE.DLL could not be intialized. outlook express may not be installed corectly.) and i am running windows XP PRO OEM


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## ComicBookGuy (Dec 21, 2004)

bam17au said:


> the message i got is (outlook express could not be started because of MSOE.DLL could not be intialized. outlook express may not be installed corectly.) and i am running windows XP PRO OEM


try this

1.	Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.
2.	In the Named box, type *.dbx, in the Look in box, click Local hard drives (C, and then click Find Now.
3.	For each *.dbx file that is found, right-click the file, click Properties, and then clear the Read-only check box.
4.	Click Apply, and then click Close.


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## EAFiedler (Apr 25, 2000)

Hi bam17au
Welcome to Tech Support Guy Forums!

In addition to ComicBookGuy suggestions,
when you do the search for your *.dbx* files,
verifying they are not Read-Only...

Locate the *Folders.dbx* file and rename it *Folders.dbx.old*
attempt to open Outlook Express, if it opens it will recreate the *Folders.dbx* file.

Let us know what happens.


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## r46 (Jan 3, 2005)

I had MSOE could not be started and I reloaded IE 6- solved problem


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## Lahawk (Jan 18, 2005)

:up: Comic Book Guy,

I had the exact same problem as bam17au , only I have XPSP2 Home edition.
I cleared all the "read only" from all the .dbx files .

Wow.. it worked, outlook express opened !!

Thanks for supplying the answer. Microsoft wanted me to reinstall IE and OE SP2....you saved me a lot of time and work and I thank you very much for that. I wonder why / how this happened in the first place?

EAFiedler,

I didn't rename the Folders .dbx file. That was my next step, but it wasn't needed because Outlook Express now opens fine for me after completing the above step. I thank you too for your help.

Appreciate it !  
Larry


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## VanHalen2007 (Feb 9, 2007)

Thanks, this method worked, you guys ROCK! :up:


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

I had the same problem and fixed it fine from the advice above. However, all of my OE email files are gone. I'm sure they are still on my hard drive though. How can I repair this new problem? 

By the way, when changing all the *.dbx files from "read only", that can be done in one stroke by Edit/Select All, and then uncheck the read only box once.


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## EAFiedler (Apr 25, 2000)

Hi *[email protected]*

With Outlook Express closed, did you rename the *Folders.dbx* file, as well?


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

Hi EdFiedler, well, I am certain I did rename folders.dbx to folders.dbx.old, however I'm not sure that I did it when OE was closed. Now that I think about it, I couldn't open OE at that stage anyway, so I must have done it when it was closed. Also on reflection, aren't those .dbx files, data files and may they not be the lost archives I am seeking? I know that my archives were very large and the .dbx list was very long too, so many as to make me think twice about having to change each one's permissions individually, which moved me to look for an easier way to change them.


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## EAFiedler (Apr 25, 2000)

Yes, the .dbx files contain the information for your messages. All of the .dbx files were marked read-only?
Which operating system are you using? Windows 98 or Windows XP?


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

I just went to search and looked for .dbx files again, and that very long list still showed up, seemingly unchanged. Also, a few spot checks showed that the "read only" permissions were unchecked.


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

My OS is Windows XP SP2 up-to-date;


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

Uh oh. Didn't mention it's Home Edition.


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## EAFiedler (Apr 25, 2000)

OK, how many *Folders.dbx* files appeared?


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## [email protected] (May 21, 2005)

OK, a search of my hard drive indicated that there is one "folders.dbx" and one "folders.dbx.old".


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## EAFiedler (Apr 25, 2000)

Let's try it one more time, with Outlook Express closed, rename the *Folders.dbx* file to: *Folders.bak*

Start Outlook Express, a new folders.dbx file will be created which will reindex all the .dbx files in that message store.
If you have many .dbx files it may take a few minutes for Outlook Express to start while the indexing completes.
Once Outlook Express starts, check for the missing folders and messages, if they still do not appear try this next step:

Create a new Identity in Outlook Express:
File > Identities > Add New Identity
Name the Identity and select *Yes* when asked if you want to switch over to the new Identity.
If prompted, *Cancel* out of the option to use a previous e-mail address.
You may receive a second window with the option to import messages from your previous Identity, choose to allow the Import of messages.
After the process completes check for your missing folders and messages.

If the missing messages _still_ do not appear, do a manual Import.
File > Import > Messages > Microsoft Outlook Express 6 > Next
Select the old Identity to Import it into the new Identity.

Let us know what happens.


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