I've seen a couple of other threads on here regarding Outlook Express problems that are kinda similiar to mine, but since I don't even get a frozen start screen, my problem is a bit differnt, I think:

After installing XP sp2 a few days ago, I can no longer open Outlook Express. I do not get any error messages or anything -- but msimn.exe does start up and hogs anywhere from 40 to 98% cpu. And then nothing happens. The cpu usage goes up and down a bit, but no OE.

Every other program seems to work fine, including IE. I've tried running "sfc /scannow", as suggested by MS Support at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318378 ("How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP"), but that didn't help.

I'm hesitant to uninstall and reinstall Outlook Express, because I'm not confident in my ability to preserve all the folders, email messages, and multiple identities I've got set up.

Any suggestions or instruction would be greatly appreciated. I wonder if sp2 is the direct cause of this -- and if so, if lots of other people will soon be having this problem as well.

Notes: I have AntiVir, Sygate, and ProtoWall installed (I've tried quitting out of all of these, but OE still does not open). I have the XP Firewall and AutoUpdate turned off. I have ALL current XP updates. I use Spybot, AdAware, and CWShredder frequently. There were no problems with OE until I installed XP service pack 2.

Key words: Outlook Express 6 freezes, Windows XP sp2 error

thank you,

Luke

I've seen a couple of other threads on here regarding Outlook Express problems that are kinda similiar to mine, but since I don't even get a frozen start screen, my problem is a bit differnt, I think:

After installing XP sp2 a few days ago, I can no longer open Outlook Express. I do not get any error messages or anything -- but msimn.exe does start up and hogs anywhere from 40 to 98% cpu. And then nothing happens. The cpu usage goes up and down a bit, but no OE.

Every other program seems to work fine, including IE. I've tried running "sfc /scannow", as suggested by MS Support at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318378 ("How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP"), but that didn't help.

I'm hesitant to uninstall and reinstall Outlook Express, because I'm not confident in my ability to preserve all the folders, email messages, and multiple identities I've got set up.

Any suggestions or instruction would be greatly appreciated. I wonder if sp2 is the direct cause of this -- and if so, if lots of other people will soon be having this problem as well.

Notes: I have AntiVir, Sygate, and ProtoWall installed (I've tried quitting out of all of these, but OE still does not open). I have the XP Firewall and AutoUpdate turned off. I have ALL current XP updates. I use Spybot, AdAware, and CWShredder frequently. There were no problems with OE until I installed XP service pack 2.

Key words: Outlook Express 6 freezes, Windows XP sp2 error

thank you,

Luke

Originally Posted by Lukecro

Solution:

1) Back-up all of your folders, email, settings and info (I'd suggest using a program such as Genie-Soft's Outlook Express Backup V6.5 -- you can get a fully functional version of this for free as a 15-day trial from download.com).

2) Now, after the back-up, run window's regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Identities. Delete the entire Identities subkey -- the whole branch. (If you want to back-up these registry keys for safety, see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=245419 for detailed instructions. HOWEVER, what you do {if that help topic has already failed for you, as it did for me} is that you do NOT actually restore these Identity Keys later -- because they'll still be corrupt when you restore them. Instead, you'll be recreating everything using the backup program, so these registry keys should only be needed in an emergency.)

3) Run sfc /scannow (note: there is a space before the slash). This might not be necessary, but it can't hurt.

4) Reboot.

5) Start Outlook Express. OE will automatically re-create the "Main Identity" registry key. It will no longer recognize that any other Identities exist. So go to "Manage Identities" and create an Identity with the name you want (it should be slightly different from your old name). This will create a nice, new, un-corrupt identity registry key for you.

6) When OE asks you to enter additional info (internet settings, the email address for the account, etc.) do not fill anything out -- just hit cancel. Your new identity will be created, but all settings and folders will be empty.

7) Now, if you used a proggie like Genie-Soft's Outlook Express Backup, then just quit out of OE altogether. (If you didn't use a back-up program that is
especially made for this sort of OE restore thing, then you'll need use the OE import functions to import all folders and emails and settings from the files you manually backed-up. And you may have to fill in some internet settings and email-address info again, anyway.)

8) Use the back-program to restore your back-up. You'll be given an opportunity to choose what OE identity you want to restore to. Make your choice, hit restore, and ALL of your old settings, emails, folders, etc -- including multiple email accounts -- will be placed inside your new identity.

9) You might need to import your address book separately using OE's internal "import address book" function. Do a search for any wab files on your PC if you can't find your addresses.

10) Everything should work great now. If it does, reboot and check OE again. If everything is still great, then you should find your old (corrupt) OE files and identities and delete them. You can even delete the back-up file if you want to save the space on your PC.

This did not effect the OE accounts for the other users of my PC (who log in as separate XP users, not as separate OE identities), and all other programs are still working fine. It took me way too long to come up with this solution, though -- so hopefully this will help speed up the process for somebody else. And I'd suggest running a registry cleaner after all this as it's likely to leave some garbage laying about.

Originally Posted by batera

Just to let you know that I have just had an identical problem (msimn.exe using 98 % cpu etc) and deleting the inbox.dbx file sorted the problem out. Definitely worth a try for a quick fix - providing you don't mind losing the inbox contents ....