SUMMARY
After installing Microsoft Outlook version 8.5 from an installation point
created using the Microsoft Outlook Deployment Wizard (ODW), Outlook may
fail to start successfully and you get the following error message:
Unable to open your default e-mail folders. Outlook could not start
because a location to send and receive mail could not be found. To add a
location, such as a personal folder file, double-click the Mail icon in
Windows Control Panel.
This may be due to incorrect settings for the following services:
Microsoft Exchange Server
Personal Address Book
Personal Folders
This article discusses how to configure the services listed above to ensure
that the user's profile is created successfully when the user runs Outlook
for the first time.
MORE INFORMATION
If the above services are not configured properly, they may be created with
unexpected settings or not at all. Under these circumstances, the user may
receive one or more error messages when attempting to start Outlook for the
first time.
The settings discussed below are configured in step 5 (User Settings
Customization) of the ODW under Outlook Profile Settings. During Outlook
setup, these settings are added to the following registry key on the user's
workstation:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Setup\PRF
The first time Outlook is run, an instance of Newprof is started to create
a new profile. Newprof checks for the following two registry values:
\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Setup
Value Name: First-Run
Value Name: UpdateProfiles
If they do not exist and there is no current profile, Newprof will create a
new profile based on settings in the \Setup\PRF key. The Newprof utility is
located in the \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder. A new
command-line parameter (-R) specifies that Newprof should first attempt to
use settings in the registry. If the PRF key does not exist, it will
attempt to use a .PRF file that you specify.
Microsoft Exchange Settings
The Microsoft Exchange Settings allow you to configure the user's mailbox
name, the Microsoft Exchange Server name, and the path and file name of the
Offline Folder (OST) file. These values are located under the following
registry key:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Setup\PRF
\Service2
Value Name: MailboxName
Value Name: HomeServer
Value Name: OfflineFolderPath
OST File Location
If the OfflineFolderPath value is left blank or you specify only a
filename, then the OST file will be created in the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
HomeServer and MailboxName
When configuring the HomeServer and MailboxName values, the following
scenarios are possible:
- Scenario 1
If either the HomeServer or MailboxName entry is left blank, the
Microsoft Exchange Server service will not be created. Also, if no
Personal Folders (PST) service has been specified or created in the
profile, the following error message may be displayed when starting
Outlook:
Unable to open your default e-mail folders. Outlook could not start
because a location to send and receive mail could not be found. To
add a location, such as a personal folder file, double-click the Mail
icon in Windows Control Panel.
To correct this behavior, the user should add either the Microsoft
Exchange Server service, or a PST service.
- Scenario 2
Specify a valid Microsoft Exchange Server name for HomeServer and prompt
for a MailboxName. For example:
<ENTER MAILBOX NAME HERE>
The name could not be matched to a name in the address list.
When you click OK, the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box is
displayed. The Mailbox field will contain the above text. Since the
server name is already entered, the user enters his or her name in the
Mailbox field and clicks Check Name to resolve the name to the
appropriate server and mailbox.
- Scenario 3
In this scenario, you specify a prompt for user input for both
HomeServer and MailboxName, as follows:
HomeServer: <ENTER SERVER NAME HERE>
MailboxName: <ENTER MAILBOX NAME HERE>
Network problems are preventing connection to the Microsoft Exchange
Server computer. Contact your system administrator if this condition
persists.
When the user clicks OK, the following error message is displayed:
The action could not be completed.
Clicking OK again causes the Microsoft Exchange Server dialog box to
appear and prompt the user for the required information.
- Scenario 4
Create or use a custom utility that automatically determines the current
user's logon name and populates the MailboxName value in the registry or
in a custom .PRF file. This option is more dynamic and allows for less
user interaction. For example, you could create a batch file to retrieve
the user's logon name. This batch file could then be set up as a
Microsoft Internet Express component in step 2 of the ODW, which would
run at the end of the installation.
Personal Folder Settings
The Personal Folder Settings allow you to specify the default path and
filename for the user's Personal Folder (PST) file. The path and file name
are stored in the PathToPersonalFolders value in the following registry
key:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Setup\
PRF\Service4
If this value is left blank or does not refer to a valid path on the local
computer, the service will not be created. If you specify only a file name,
the file is automatically created in the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office
Personal Address Book (PAB) Settings
The PAB Settings allow you to specify the default path and filename for the
user's Personal Address Book file. The path and file name are stored
in the PathToPersonalAddressBoook value in the following registry key:
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Setup\PRF
\Service6
If this value is left blank or does not refer to a valid path on the local
computer, then the service will not be created. If you specify only a file
name, the file is automatically created in the following folder
\Windows\Profiles\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
where <username> is the current user's logon name.