Unable to open default email folders, the information store could not be opened..Problem signature: Problem Event Name: BEX

IT Problem

Had this issue yesterday, Server 2008 R2 , running remote desktop services and citrix. The client was only licensed for outlook 2003, so on it went. What happended was 9/10 times when click outlook 2003 the below error would pop up with an option to close and an advanced error section.

unable to open default email folders, the information store could not be opened

Then under the advance error there was further information..

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: OUTLOOK.EXE
Application Version: 11.0.8217.0
Application Timestamp: 480f95d9
Fault Module Name: dhcpcsvc6.DLL
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a5bd9b6
Exception Offset: 00001730
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.18.10
ocale ID: 2057
Additional information about the problem:
LCID: 1033
Brand: Office11Crash
skulcid: 1033

After having a good old rake around and service packing etc etc, I eventually found this solution.

IT Solution

DEP, thats what was breaking it. So first what is DEP..

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a set of hardware and software technologies that perform additional checks on memory to help prevent malicious code from running on a system. In Microsoft Windows XP Service PackA Service Pack is an update to software from the software vendor. Usually a Service Pack is a combination of individual udates that have been released over time, installing in one large service enables less downtime.Sometimes service packsA Service Pack is an update to software from the software vendor. Usually a Service Pack is a combination of individual udates that have been released over time, installing in one large service enables less downtime.Sometimes service packs will add new features to the product. will add new features to the product. 2 (SP2) and Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, DEP is enforced by hardware and by software.

So now lets get outlook to be ignored by DEP.

Ill show instructions for 2008 but they are in the same place for server 2003.

Right Click on computer and then select Advanced system settings. the system properties box will appear, select the 3rd tab named Advanced. You will see the screen below.

Then select performance and finally the 3rd tab Data Execution Prevention.

Its the just a case of setting Turn On Dep for all services except the applications I select. So browse to the outlook.exe and select it. Then DEP will not check this file.

You will now find your will see no errors when starting outlook 2003

1. Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook, Unable to open the Outlook window
2. Unable to open message store. (hr=0×80004005, ec=1100)
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