Symptoms:

• User gets an error that they cannot open their Personal Folders "PST file."
  (This can be a file access problem, so you should first verify that the PST file is accessible from the users workstation.)
• User gets an error telling them specifically that the Personal Folders are corrupted.
  (This is straight forward and you should begin following the second portion of this document.)
• User connects to personal folders, but when they attempt to open any of the folders they get an error describing problems with the Personal Folders.
  (This is straight forward and you should begin following the second portion of this document.)
• User opens Outlook and it takes a very extended amount of time to open. Many users will complain that they had to end the task and cannot open Outlook.
  (This can sometimes be an Outlook problem, but if other users can log on and open Outlook without problems, then there could be a problem with the PST file and the second portion of this document should be followed to repair the PST.If you run the repair tool and it finds no errors, or the problem still persists, then there is probably a problem with their Mailbox and the ticket should be forwarded to the server team (LanAdmin.)
  

Running Inbox Repair Tool:

The 'Inbox Repair Tool' is a program supplied with Outlook to correct errors within the Personal Folders file (Also known as a PST file because it has a .pst extension on the file.) The PST file is generally located on the users Home drive (H: Drive)

• Close Microsoft Outlook
  (This is VERY important. If you have the PST open when you try to scan it, you can destroy the data completely.)
• Run the 'Inbox Repair Tool'
  (C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\NT\Scanpst.exe)
• In the 'Inbox Repair Tool' application, select the users PST file using the 'Browse' button to look for the file.  If error messages generate during repair process, consider copying aforementioned PST to local hard drive for repair.
  (Generally will be 'H:\username.pst')
• Click the 'Start' button
  (The program begins scanning the PST. The larger the PST file is, the longer it may take to run.)
  

Note:
It can take a very long time to run, depending on size of customer PST file.

• 2GB:  1-3 Hours depending on number of problems.
• 200MB: 20 Minutes to 1 hour depending on number of errors.

When the repair tool is finished it will leave up a screen describing what it has found and, if applicable, what actions it has taken. If it found no problems within the PST file it will respond with 'No errors were found in this file'. In this case, you can rule out PST file corruption as the users problem.

If error were found it will notify you it found errors and prompt for what to do next. Continue as follows:

• Remove the check from the box for 'Make backup of scanned file before repairing'.
  (A backup of a large PST file can waste space on the server.  Theoretically, we perform backups of the data daily, so there is no need to back them up yourself before running this tool.)
• Click the 'Repair' button
  (The repair will probably take close to the same amount of time as the scan took. Please be patient.)
• When the repair is complete, it will pop up a window telling you the repair is complete. Click the 'Ok' button.
  (If it fails, then the file may be too corrupted to repair. This is rare and you will have to work with LanAdmin staff to correct this problem.)

Note:
If problems were found you should run the 'Inbox Repair Tool' again, until it runs without finding errors. This is because sometimes it cannot repair all the problems in one sweep, but the program will not inform you of this.

• Open Microsoft Outlook
  (The Personal Folders file will have been renamed to 'Recovered Personal Folders')
• Create a NEW PST file for the user to keep.
  (The old one will be deleted when this is complete.  Create new PST file in customer Home directory)
• Copy ALL items from the recovered PST file to the one you just created by dragging the items from one folder to the other.
• After all recovered items are in the new PST File, remove the old PST File from the services window.
  - In Outlook, Select 'Services' from the 'Tools' menu.
  - In the 'Services' window, highlight 'Recovered Personal Folders' with the mouse.
  - Click the 'Remove' button
  - Click the 'Ok' button
  

Note:
It is important to copy the items to a new PST then remove and delete the old one, because the old PST file, once corrupted and repaired, will retain corrupted items (It is altered to ignore them) and will remain larger than necessary as well as be more susceptible to corruption in the future. This way the PST file is fresh and clean.

• Be sure to explore to the users home directory (H: Drive) and delete the old PST File.