Recover PST File when unable to Repair with SCANPST.exe

MS Outlook is the email client application that comes with the Microsoft Office suite. Unlike other email carriers (i.e. Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.), MS Outlook is much faster and reliable because your entire email data is stored as a PST file on your own computer.

Since this Outlook data file (i.e. Personal Folder file) is portable, you can easily carry and directly import it into MS Outlook. Despite so many advantageous features, this PST file is prone to corruption. Since PST recovery tools are available on the Internet, you can recover Outlook data if it is severely corrupt.

Despite so many recovery tools for PST files, MS Outlook offers inbuilt PST repair utility, i.e. SCANPST.exe. However, it can repair PST files up to a certain level of corruption. Therefore, you can try repairing Outlook PST files whenever you experience any issue while launching Outlook or accessing them.

Finding SCANPST.exe

Though SACNPST.exe is an inbuilt utility, do you know where to find it? Most likely, not because it is located together with Outlook installation files. Go to Outlook installation drive (generally C drive) and open Microsoft Office folder followed by opening Program Files folder. Double-click to open Office12.

Or, follow
Note: The above path is for Outlook 2007.
Here, you will find the SCANPST.exe utility. Double-click to launch it, and then click Browse button to choose the PST file in case if its location on the disk is known. 

If Location of the PST File is unknown

Trial 1
If the location of the PST file is unknown (i.e. Outlook created the PST automatically), then go to the user profile directory and type %appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook in the address bar. In the opened directory, click Outlook.pst file and copy the complete address in the address bar, and then paste it in the Browse field. Alternatively, if you created the database, then select it from there.

Trial 2
If you can open MS Outlook, then right-click My Mail in the left pane and click Properties of “My Mail”. Under General tab (default tab), click Advance button and see PST location next to Filename field. Copy the location address and paste it in the Browse field.

Repairing PST File

Once the PST file is chosen, click Start button to scan it, which may take a while to finish. Scanning process checks the consistency of the chosen PST file. On finishing, it will display the scan report including the errors (if any). Here, you can back up the original PST file before repairing it. 

For this, click the checkbox in front of Make backup of scanned file before repairing and click Browse button to choose a location to save the backup (*.bak) file. If you find errors in the scan report, click Repair button to do the same. 

In the end, a message box will appear notifying “Repair Complete”. As you can see, a log (*.txt) file is created with the same name as your PST within its folder. However, you will not be able to understand the whole content written in this file, as it is encrypted.

If the issue persists, it means the file is severely corrupt and you have to use Outlook PST repair software to recover it. However, use of professional software is always recommended.

Russell Smith

About the Author:

I am ‘Russell Smith’ and working as a tech experts for email related applications. I write useful contents about different process and methodology related to email application like Outlook PST repair algorithm and advanced backup strategy.