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Cannot add .pst file or click file|Open|outlook data file
Indeed the error 0x80070043 occurs before any (file) dialog is shown so no use checking rights on files folders. What I did was search the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER for any stale entries referring to a folder on our server that should no longer be active for this user. In addition I checked the folder settings in both 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders' and 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders'. I'm fairly sure this was the step that fixed the problem. I guess Outlook is trying to open the default location for (new) PST files and runs into an unavailable network connection. I was unable to reproduce the problem by settings these entries to an invalid value though.
The problem occurred when trying to move a user from a terminal server to a local workstation. In the process I removed the policy that did some folder redirection for start menu and documents folder. Somehow the policy was indeed lifted but the related registry entries were not correctly restored/repaired.
I spent some more time on this issue and was able to track down the actual registry value causing the problem. It is the value 'Personal' in 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders'.
Steps to reproduce this error:
- Use regedit to set REG_EXPAND_SZ value 'Personal' in 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders' to '\\%COMPUTERNAME%\homeshare\username\data'
- Open mail settings (Mail 32-bit) from control panel
- Click 'Data files' button
- Click 'Add' button
- Observe message 'An unknown occurred, error code: 0x80070043'
A few remarks:
- The problem seems to be specific to Outlook 2010. I was unable to reproduce it with Outlook 2007.
- If you feel the 'Personal' registry value points to a correct location you may try to create an 'Outlook' folder in that location.
- On my Windows 7 Pro systems the default value for 'Personal' entry is '%USERPROFILE%\Documents'.