Summary: This guide helps you repair PST file by using best free PST repair software that is MSOutlook’s own utility Inbox Repair tool (ScanPST.exe) from Microsoft. It also discusses an alternative to ScanPST.exe tool to repair PST file when it fails to fix an encrypted, corrupt or large Outlook PST file. Download the free demo version of Stellar Repair for Outlook software to repair your corrupt Outlook PST file and preview the recoverable file data.
ScanPST.exe is a free PST repair tool that helps you repair a corrupt or inaccessible PST file in Windows. Also known as Outlook Inbox Repair Tool, Microsoft’s ScanPST.exe tool is installed by default during the installation of MS Office with Outlook 2010 or later.
How to Repair your PST file for Free?
Outlook inbox repair tool is used as a first-aid to fix problems with the Outlook data files (.ost or .pst). And in this guide, we will show you how to find and run the free PST repair tool (ScanPST.exe) to repair Outlook PST file in three simple steps:
- Locate and launch the PST file repair tool
- Find and repair the corrupt PST file
- Save repaired PST file data to a new PST file
Steps to Run Free PST Repair Tool (ScanPST.exe)
Outlook repair tool can help you fix following errors in Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, and 2010, which might appear while accessing the Outlook account or importing the corrupt PST file to Outlook
- Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook Window
2. The file c:\….\xxx.pst is not an Outlook data file (.pst)
3. Something is wrong with one of your data files and Outlook needs to close
These errors are usually a result of corrupt or damaged PST file.
To run and use Inbox Repair tool (ScanPST.exe) for PST file Repair, follow these steps,
Step 1: Launch the Outlook Inbox Repair Tool
To start the Inbox Repair Tool, you need to locate it first. The location of PST repair tool, i.e. ScanPST.exe, varies based on the Outlook and Windows version installed on the system. Following are the default locations, based on Outlook version, where you can find and launch the PST repair tool.
- In Outlook 2019,
- 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office19\
- 64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office19\
- In Outlook 2016,
- 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\
- 64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\
- In Outlook 2013,
- 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\
- 64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\
- In Outlook 2010,
- 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\
- 64-bit Outlook: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\
Once you have located the SCANPST.EXE file, right-click on it and choose ‘Run as administrator’.
Read Stellar Repair for Outlook Review on IBTimes.com by Administrators.
Step 2: Repair the PST File
After launching the Inbox Repair Tool, click ‘Browse’ to select the corrupt Personal Folder file, i.e. PST file.
The default location of PST file in Outlook 2010 is
C:\users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\
If you are using Outlook 2013 or later, the location is
C:\users\YourUserName\Documents\Outlook Files\
Alternatively, you may go to,
- File>Info>Account Settings and click ‘Account Settings’
Click ‘Data Files’, select the PST file you want to locate and then click ‘Open File Location…’
After selecting the damaged PST file, click Start to scan the PST file for errors.
Step 3: Repair Damaged PST File
After the scan is finished, if the PST repair tool displays errors found,
- Click the ‘Make a backup of scanned file before repairing’ and then click ‘Repair’ to begin the repair process
NOTE: In case tool displays ‘Outlook Not responding’, do not close it. The tool is trying to repair the PST file and thus, taking the time. Leave your system for a while and let this Inbox Repair tool to finish the PST file repair process.
If you get a success message, try opening the Outlook and check if the errors are resolved and PST is accessible.
However, if the repair was unsuccessful or tool fails to repair PST file corruption, to repair Outlook Data Files, you can refer to this Manual guide.
Why Use Stellar Repair for Outlook?
ScanPST.exe tool has its limitations. It may fail to repair severely corrupt or damaged PST file. Also, this free PST repair tool doesn’t work if you try to repair an encrypted or Repair large Outlook PST file.
Stellar Repair for Outlook is an advanced PST repair software that overcomes all the limitations of ScanPST.exe. This powerful software can repair severely corrupt and encrypted PST files of any file size with a few clicks.
After the repair, you can save the repaired PST file to a new PST file or any other desired format such as HTML, RTF, EML, MSG, and PDF.
The steps to repair PST file by using the software are as follows,
- Close MS Outlook and launch the software
- Click ‘Browse’ to choose the corrupt PST file for repair
3. Click ‘Repair’
4. After repair, you can view and preview email items within the software. To save repaired PST file to a new PST file, click ‘Save Repaired File’ under ‘Home’ tab at the top.
5. From the options, choose ‘PST’ and click ‘Browse’ to select a save location
6. Click ‘OK’ to save the repaired PST file. If you want, you can also save your mailbox items to other formats
Now browse to the original PST file location and replace the corrupt PST file with this new repaired PST file. Don’t forget to rename the file with the same as the old one.
Then start Outlook. If you have multiple profiles on Outlook, choose the profile to which PST belongs.
Conclusion
By following the three-step process to run and use Best Free PST repair Tool or Outlook Inbox Repair tool (ScanPST.exe), explained in this post, you can restore corrupt PST file and get access to all your email items. By repairing the corrupt PST file, you may also resolve common Outlook errors as discussed in this post.
In case Microsoft’s inbuilt ScanPST.exe fails to fix the problems with the PST file, use a more advanced PST repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Outlook.
Unlike ScanPST.exe, the software can repair severely corrupt, encrypted, and large PST files with a few clicks. You can free download and use Stellar Repair for Outlook on your system to repair and preview the damaged PST files. However, to save the repaired PST to a new PST file, you need to activate the software by using a valid license key.
Also Read:
Inbox Repair Too Not Responding
About The Author
Eric Simson is an Email Platform Consultant and is associated with Stellar Data Recovery from last 6 years. He writes about the latest technology tips and provides custom solutions related to MS Outlook, MS Exchange Server, Office 365, and many other Email Clients & Servers.
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Everything is very open with a really clear clarification of the challenges. I was looking for this information for too long. It was really informative.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Mason, Thank you so much for your Feedback. Keep reading and also share it with your friends and colleagues.
In my case, Stellar Repair for Outlook is doing a better job than ScanPST.exe in Outlook 2019.
Thanks for your wonderful & depth observation.
Hi Eric
Firstly congrats on your excellent work.
I seem to have inadvertently deleted some Outlook 2007 files that render the dreaded
‘your .pst file is corrupt, etc’
My emails remain intact in all folders and are available to view BUT:
I can’t forward, reply or compose / send or delete any of them.
Not only that, the server [AOL] is unable to push them through…so I have to use AOL’s rotten homepage before it deletes them.
I have carefully followed all instructions and my of scanpst.exe was no use.
However – Stellar has correctly identified everything in the free d/l.
I’m happy to pay to have my Outlook 2007 working again [it’s a great app and has 11 years’ important information on it!] but I would like to know that Stellar will repair it to a workable condition: I don’t just want the emails dumped as text in a document file. I want to be up and running. I’m also concerned that I might not UNDERSTAND how to get back up and running!
Please can you reassure and advise me – It’s for my own personal use but very critical to my life: resumes, address books…pdf.
thanks!!
The software recovers all items from damaged PST file, then saves into a new PST file. Later, you can import PST file in MS Outlook application.
I never trust on free stuff. Of course, a premium tool puts a financial burden but it gives assurance for safe & error-free execution.
Free ScanPST.exe is working but doesn’t show all emails. I need all emails at any cost. Please guide!
Outlook client is down since 2 days. Its giving “Unknown Error: 0x800cce05” thus halting all my work. I’ve even tried repairing my PST file using SCANPST.EXE but still, it is giving this error when I try to send an email.
Are you sure that this tool would be able to get my Outlook client up and working again?
Don’t panic about the error!
At this moment, I can suggest for the free demo of Stellar Outlook Repair.