SCANPST.EXE, also known as Inbox repair tool, is an inbuilt tool in MS Outlook. This utility is designed to fix the corruption or any data accessibility issue in PST and OST file. It automatically put in when you install MS outlook at your system.
Why Need Scanpst tool
As stated above the scanpst utility is designed to repair the damaged outlook .pst files created in MS Outlook. A PST file works as storage file and store all important business as well as personal data of the user. Once it becomes corrupt or damaged, MS outlook stops responding and all emails get stuck. You cannot perform any action further in your account. Sometimes MS outlook behaves abnormal when you try to access your data. A PST file may get damaged because of many reasons like virus infection, abrupt system shutdown, MS outlook crashed due to low memory or any other reason, human errors, hardware problems, oversized PST file and more.
The main purpose of scanpst.exe tool is to repair and recover the data from damaged or corrupted .pst files. This utility verifies the internal structure of the corrupted PST file and makes it usable.How to use Scanpst.exe utility
In order to run scanpst utility, you need to locate it at your computer. The location of this application varies from Operating systems version to version. So to use this tool, you can either make a search or locate it manually by browsing the folders as mentioned in the KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272227
Before using this utility, make sure that you have closed the MS Outlook application. Once the scanpst.exe tool is located, double click on it. Then locate the .pst/.ost file to be repaired and click on Start. After completing this process successfully, you need to create new .pst file. You need to follow the steps as mentioned in these KB articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/272227
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287497
The main purpose of scanpst.exe tool is to repair and recover the data from damaged or corrupted .pst files. This utility verifies the internal structure of the corrupted PST file and makes it usable.
How to use Scanpst.exe utility
Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe) repairs only header part of the PST file. During the analysis process if it finds that data is unreadable or severely corrupted, it removes permanently. Hence, sometimes users face critical data loss situations in their recovered .pst file. Some outlook versions (prior to 2003) have 2 GB size limit for the PST file and Outlook displays error messages when it is exceeded. The scanpst program is unable to fix this problem. Some common errors which indicate the corruption in Outlook .pst file:
- "Outlook.pst can not be accessed - 0x80040116"
- "An unknown error has occurred. 0x80040119"
- "An unknown error has occurred. 0x80040600"
- "PST has reached maximum size limit"
- "OL2000: Unable to Use Your Personal Folder File if it Exceeds the 2 GB Size Limit"
What to Do When Scanpst.exe Tool Does Not Work:
Failure of scanpst.exe tool indicates that your .pst file is severely damaged. You need then take help from a third party Outlook PST repair application. This tool incorporates advance analyzing techniques to scan and fix the errors in your severely damaged Outlook .pst file. Except repairing the damaged PST file, this software has more features like you can recover your permanently deleted emails, repair password protected .pst file, option to save recovered item as .eml and more. For free demo version or purchasing the software, you can visit here:
