Outlook 2003 crashes on startup

datePosted on 11:23, April 18th, 2008 by yk

This morning Outlook gave me a big scare. Nope, it didn’t deliver a particularly nasty email, but it crashed as soon as it started. Here’s a look at the nasty error message:

Outlook crash screen dump

No amount of begging and coaxing would make Outlook start normally, so I started Outlook on Safe Mode and after it managed to start without error, ended it in hopes that it will fix whatever stuff that is wrong when the program quits. And guess what? It did.

So, for anyone who encounters the above error, the first thing you can do before trying the myriad of troubleshooting suggestions found on the internet, give Outlook a chance to fix itself by starting it in Safe Mode. To start Outlook on Safe Mode go to Start -> Run and type:
outlook /safe

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2 Responses to “Outlook 2003 crashes on startup”

  1. Farid on October 17th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    I just ran into this problem, and I tried a thousand different troubleshooting techniques, and none of them worked. Yours is the first to fix it. What is the issue? Do I have to open in safe mode everytime now?
    Its opening automatically in safe mode now.

  2. yk on October 17th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    Farid, I have no idea what caused the problem. After you managed to get Outlook to start properly on “Safe Mode”, try closing Outlook and then start it in normal mode again. I can start mine in normal mode once I can start it in “Safe Mode” and close it.

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