How to Fix “Your Outlook Data File Cannot be Configured” Error?

Microsoft Outlook is undoubtedly a popular desktop email client among Windows users. Excellent features, interactive user-interface, and great performance make it the best solution to fulfill all your mailing needs. But sometimes you may face some serious troubles while using the Microsoft Outlook client. Whenever the Outlook program starts acting abnormally or fails to perform, this means there must be a problem. In such a situation, you’re likely to encounter an Outlook error message. It’s very common. Whenever there’s a problem with Microsoft Outlook client, you get an error message on the desktop screen. One such Outlook error message is, “Your Outlook Data File cannot be configured”.

Symptom:

The error message is just the only symptom. For example, you try to open Microsoft Outlook 2013 or 2016. But it doesn’t start. Instead of that, you receive an error message like:

Your Outlook data file cannot be configured. <Your OST File Path>

If you’re a non-technical user, maybe you don’t know how to resolve this Outlook error message. I would be glad to help you fix this problem. But before that, let’s find out the reason behind this Outlook error message.

Causes:

If you have a roaming profile connected with Microsoft Exchange Server, you may receive this error. How? Since a roaming profile is saved on the shared network, you can easily access the Outlook profiles from any PC connected to the same network. But if you execute such an action multiple times, you’re like to encounter this Outlook error message, “Your Outlook Data File Cannot be configured”. Also, you may receive this error message when you try to import the OST file from one PC to another and the configuration process completely fails on the new PC.

Below are the most common reasons which might be responsible for this Outlook error message:

• Missing of OST & PST files: It’s probably the most common reason behind this error. If the OST or PST file is missing on the system where Microsoft Outlook is actually running, users are likely to receive this error message.
• System crashes down: Sometimes it may happen that a system crashes down while importing the Outlook data file in Microsoft Outlook client. This will dismiss the process of configuring the Outlook profile which you’re looking for.
• Corrupt Outlook data file: An Outlook data file is prone to corruption due to many reasons. Logical failure, synchronization error, virus attack, abrupt Outlook cancellation and/or system shutdown, etc. are a few common reasons.

How to resolve this error message?

In order to resolve this Outlook error message, you should take some appropriate corrective and preventative measures which are given below:

• You should recheck the path of the Outlook data files on the system which the Outlook client is looking for.
• Uninstall and reinstall the Microsoft Outlook client, and try to open the Outlook data files.
• If nothing works, you should try to repair the Outlook data file (both OST & PST).

Repair Outlook Data File (.OST)

Microsoft provides a built-in repair utility in Outlook 2007 and earlier versions. It’s called the Integrity check tool aka scanost.exe utility. But it’s not installed with Outlook 2010 and later versions. The Inbox Repair tool aka scanpst.exe utility is still available and can be run against PST as well as OST files. The scanpst.exe utility tool doesn’t need access to an Exchange mailbox. Also, it doesn’t check synchronization errors. If the scanpst.exe utility fails to repair the OST file, you should delete the OST file and recreate it. How? Follow these simple steps:

Step 1: First, make sure the Microsoft Outlook client is closed.

Step 2: Now go to the Control Panel and look for the Mail option. Double-click it.

Step 3: On the Mail Setup dialog box, click the E-mail accounts… button.

Step 4: On the Account Settings window, click the Data Files tab. Select the Outlook data file (OST) which you want to delete, and click the Open File Location… option on the mini toolbar.

Step 5: On the file explorer window, right-click the OST file and choose Delete.

This action will delete the old OST file. And next time when you start Microsoft Outlook program, it’ll create a new PST file for your account.

Repair Outlook Data File (.PST)

If the Outlook error message is associated with the PST file, you should try to repair it. The Inbox Repair Tool is the best thing you can try to repair the PST file. It’s commonly known as the scanpst.exe utility, a built-in repair tool in Microsoft Outlook client. First, you should locate its executable file before you can run the Inbox Repair tool. Once you locate the scanpst.exe utility, double-click it and follow these simple steps:

Step 1: On the Microsoft Inbox Repair tool window, click the Browse button and select the PST file you want to repair.

Step 2: The PST file you select will be listed in the edit box. Before you can start the repairing process, make sure you’ve selected the right PST file. Then click the Start button.

Step 3: This will start the scanning process. Please wait while the process completes.

Step 4: Within a couple of minutes, file scanning will be completed successfully. You’ll be notified if any error was found during the scanning process.

Step 5: Now you can repair PST file by clicking the Repair button.

By repairing the Outlook data file, you can resolve the Outlook error message “Your Outlook data file cannot be configured”.

Professional Solution –

If you can’t repair the Outlook data file manually, you should look forward to a professional solution. DRS Software provides you the OST Recovery tool and PST Recovery tool to fix “Your Outlook Data File Cannot Be Configured” error.

Read here: Common Outlook Email Issues

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