| |
|
| |
Outlook Express
Repair Tutorial |
|
Learn to repair and
recover corrupted / damaged Outlook Express Emails (.dbx / .mbx) |
|
|
|
This tutorial helps you
in learning the process of repairing and restoring the corrupted
or damaged .dbx / .mbx file of Microsoft Outlook Express and
guides you to repair and restore the corrupted emails by using
Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
About Outlook Express
|
| |
Microsoft Outlook Express is
primarily an e-mail client and comes bundled with the Windows OS
(Windows 95 OSR-2 and later) as part of Internet Explorer
(version 4 and later). The application can also be used as a
news client to read articles on Usenet groups (generally known
as Newsgroups).
Outlook Express should not be confused with Microsoft Outlook,
which is also an e-mail client and comes bundled as part of the
Microsoft Office package.
Outlook Express versions for both Windows and Mac OS (before Mac
OS X) are available. The next version of Outlook Express (to be
included as part of Windows Vista) will be renamed as Windows
Mail.
Outlook Express is designed for users to gain access to
their e-mail messages by dialing in to an Internet Service
Provider (ISP). Outlook Express provides full support all popular mail
standards such as SMTP, POP3, IMAP, LDAP, s/MIME, HTML etc. This
ensures seamless handling (sending & receiving) of all types of
emails.
Each folder that can be seen in
Outlook Express (such as Inbox, Sent Items
etc) is stored as a .dbx file (.mbx for
Outlook Express version 4). For
example, deep within the Documents & Settings folder, there is
folder called Store Folder (by default Hidden) which contains
files such as Inbox.dbx, Sent Items.dbx etc. These dbx files do
not contain simple strings of text (mail content), but rather is
broken up into many unreadable parts and reassembled when
viewing it in
Outlook Express. There is also a file called Folders.dbx which
acts as a master index of the entire Store Folder – without this
file, Outlook Express cannot function
|
|
|
|
How Outlook Express Emails gets
corrupted
?
|
| |
The first sign of .dbx corruption is
when the application appears sluggish with the ‘hourglass’
appearing for long stretches while opening Outlook Express or
while switching folders – even simple tasks such as viewing an
e-mail may take several seconds to initiate. However, these are
indications of minor corruptions. Major corruptions to .dbx files
include a variety of error messages including:
“Msimn caused an exception C0000006h in module Directdb.dll.
The message could not be sent. There is not enough Disk space.”
OR
“Unknown error has occurred. Protocol: SMTP Port: 0 Secure:
No [SSL] Error: 0x800c0131”
Most errors indicative of serious .dbx corruption include the
words ‘MSIMN’ and/or ‘msoe.dll’. If the Inbox is corrupt,
Outlook Express might not start, but in most cases it will do so
by creating a new DBX file named Inbox (1).dbx.
The most common cause of dbx corruption, as can be expected, is
virus related. However, it is not just viruses, but even
anti-virus software which can be at fault – especially those
that are configured to scan incoming and outgoing e-mail. Even
compacting folders has been known to result in .dbx file
corruption. The basic cause behind file corruption in Outlook
Express lies in dbx files being edited, either inadvertently or
on purpose – this can happen due to viruses, or can be done
unintentionally by various software, including Email Application
itself. Unfortunately, this is not within our control and .dbx
file corruption can therefore happen anytime.
|
|
|
|
How Stellar Phoenix
Mailbox Standard works to repair Outlook Express emails?
|
| |
Stellar Phoenix Mailbox
Standard is software which
repairs damaged / corrupted Outlook Express folders. The
software scans, extracts, and saves e-mail’s from .mbx and .dbx
files (which are used by Outlook Express to store messages).
Besides repairing corrupt files, the software can also be used
to recover accidentally deleted messages (even after they have
been emptied out of the Deleted Items folder) – these deleted
messages are recovered as .eml files and can either be imported
back to Outlook Express, or saved in an external folder. The
software supports Outlook Express, versions 4, 5.0, 5.01, 5.5
and 6.0.
Like most database programs,
Outlook Express does not actually remove an item from a .dbx file
when a message is deleted. Instead, it merely tags the item for
removal at a later time. This usually happens the next time the
folders are compacted, and because compacting is mostly done
manually, deleted messages continue to remain in the .dbx file
although they are not visible in Outlook Express. Stellar
Phoenix Mailbox Standard takes advantage of this fact and scans
.dbx files looking for the entries which are ‘tagged’ and pending
for deletion.
Moreover, altering even a single byte in a .dbx file can result
in a corruption and this file will then not behave correctly in
Outlook Express. Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard scans such .dbx
files looking for corruptions and then proceeds to repair them.
Thus, Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard is both a recovery and a
repair tool for Outlook Express. All recovered/repaired messages
are saved as .eml files. These .eml files can be saved to a
user-specified folder and can also be imported back to Outlook
Express.
|
|
|
|
How to repair Outlook
Express emails using Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard?
|
|
The software interface is relatively
simple with 5 tabs at the top of the window:
|
|
|
 |
| |
The first two tabs can be used to either repair a single .mbx /
.dbx
file (Repair single File) or repair multiple .mbx / .dbx files at a
single click (Batch Repair). Following are the steps to
repair/recover data using these tabs:
|
| |
- Repair single File
- Click the arrow button next to the field labeled Select
a File to Repair, navigate to the appropriate folder and
select the corrupt .mbx / .dbx file. The .mbx / .dbx file will have
the same name as the corrupt folder. For example, if you
want to repair files from your Inbox, select Inbox.dbx.
These .mbx / .dbx files are stored in a folder called Store
Folder. If you do not know the location of this folder,
either run a search for the string *.dbx/*.mbx, or open
Outlook Express and click Tools -> Options -> Maintenance
-> Store Folder to know the exact location of your Store
Folder.
- Click the arrow button next to the field labeled
Select the Output Path, and navigate to select any
folder where you would like to save the repaired/recovered
data.
- Click Click to Repair File to begin the recovery
process. A blue progress bar indicates the status of the
recovery. After this process is complete, go to the folder
where the data was saved and you should see one or more .eml
files. Each recovered/repaired message shows up as a unique
eml extension file. All deleted messages that have not been compacted
are also recovered. For Example: If you are repairing
Inbox.dbx and this file contains 200 current messages + 100
deleted messages, then a total of 300 eml extension files will be
created in the destination folder.
- Batch Repair
- Click Select a File to navigate and select an .mbx /
.dbx
file. This can be repeated any number of times to include as
many .mbx / .dbx files required. If you do not know the location
of your .mbx / .dbx files, either run a search for the string *.dbx/*.mbx,
or open Outlook Express and click Tools -> Options ->
Maintenance -> Store Folder to know the exact location of
your Store Folder which contains all .mbx / .dbx files. Selected
files are listed in the white text box – all of them may be
removed from the list by clicking the Remove All Files
button.
- Click the arrow button next to the field labeled Select
Output Path to select the folder in which to save the
recovered/repaired messages.
- Click Start Repair to begin the recovery process. A blue
progress bar indicates the status of the recovery. After
this process is complete, go to the folder where the data
was saved and you should see one or more .eml files. Each
recovered/repaired message shows up as a unique .eml file.
All deleted messages that have not been compacted are also
recovered. For Example: If one of the files being repaired
is Inbox.dbx and this file contains 200 current messages +
100 deleted messages, then a total of 300 .eml files
pertaining to the Inbox folder will be created in the
destination folder.
|
|
|
|
Conclusion
|
|
In conclusion, while mbx
/ dbx file
corruption can occur anytime and is usually not within our
control, one sure fire way to protect your Outlook Express
folders is to take regular backups. However Outlook Express
emails can be recovered and repaired to a great extent by using
Stellar Phoenix Mailbox Standard
The software is available both in the ESD form (downloadable)
and in a physical disc (CD-ROM), and can be purchased for a
price $39 onwards depending on the license option.
For further information on this product,
Visit:
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mailbox-recovery.htm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Outlook
Express Repair Tutorial
