Windows Admin account problems - recovering lost Outlook info

My son plugged his flash drive into my computer to get some of his files. He uses a Mac and his drive was formatted for Mac. He was using his account on my computer at the time.

At any rate, somehow, it screwed up my own Admin. account on the computer. I can't even open my user acct. because I get alternating, repeating forever messages, that Windows explorer has stopped working, it will look for a solution, it restarts, and immediately shuts itself down again....forever and ever. All the other accounts work normally, that's what I don't get.

So I set up a new user acct. with admin priveleges, and am in the process of trying to recustomize everything. Since I can't even open my old screen, I've lost my Outlook 2007 address book, all the custom folders I'd set up to save certain emails, and all my firefox favorites. The last time I'd backed up this stuff :facepalm: <<stupid>> :mad-new: was a year and a half ago, so I was able to recover some of my favorites and email addresses.

So the question is, is there any way I can look around with the new acct. in Explorer and find a file where I might be able to recover the Outlook folders and emails that were in them, & if so how can I do that? Or am I just plain screwed?

Windows 7... I did a System Restore to a previous point and it did not help at all.

Edit: Forgot to add, I did complete virus & spyware/adware scans & came up clean.

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

We use Outlook 2010 and Exchange, but I'm pretty this proceedure should work for you. Close Outlook.

First you need to enable hidden folders and protected files. To do that open Explorer/computer and go to drive C:. On the menu click Tools, then Folder options, then the View tab. Click Show hidden files, folders and drives, and then un-check Hide extensions of known file types, and un-check Hide protected operating system files. Click Yes at the warning, then click OK.

Now we need to find your Outlook PST file which is where Outlook stores it's information. It will normally be in the following location. "C:\Users\<oldusername>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook", where <oldusername> is the admin account name that isn't working.

Now that we know the location of the file you can import it into the working version of outlook.
Open Outlook.
On the File menu, click Import and Export.
In the Import and Export Wizard, click Import from another program or file, and then click Next.
Click Personal Folders File (.pst), and then click Next.
Click Browse, and then choose the file to import.

Note: Under Options, it is recommended that you click Do not import duplicates unless you want the imported information to replace or duplicate items already in Outlook.

Click Next.
If a password was assigned to the Personal Folders file (.pst), you are prompted to enter the password, and then click OK.
Set the options for importing items. The default settings usually don?t need to be changed.

The top folder ? usually Personal Folders or your email address ? is selected automatically.
Include subfolders is selected by default. All folders under the folder selected will be imported.
The default selection of Import items into the same folder in matches the folders from the imported file to the folders in Outlook. If a folder doesn?t exist in Outlook, it will be created.

Click Finish.


Here's where I got the import information. Import Outlook items from a Personal Folders file (.pst) - Outlook - Office.com

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Thanks, Kid, it worked! Got my saved emails & addresses back. I'm forever in your debt! :thumb:

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Re: Windows Admin account problems - starting over with a new user account

Hats off to "The Kid"...!

Re: Windows Admin account problems - recovering lost Outlook info

Just an addendum....I found that I was also unable to locate my iTunes music files anywhere, and I didn't have access to them with the new account I set up, so I found this video on youtube that shows how to transfer your iTunes music library from your ipod to your computer, and keeps your original organization and info too.

How to Transfer Songs from iPod To Computer FREE w/ iTunes - YouTube

It worked great.