Outlook Express Won't Start (msimn.exe goes to 98% cpu usage)

[Lukecro]

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

[Lukecro]

Another clue:

Outlook Express works when I log in to XP as a different user. I have my Dell PC set up so that for two users: myself and my roommate. Now, after I uninstalled XP sp2, I shut down the PC. Then, apparently, my roommate booted the PC up. And for her, OE has been working fine. She just told me this, so I tried logging on under her name, and sure enough everything works. So I'm guessing that the XP sp2 update installed OE configurations to her username and not mine (since she logged in first after the update). Would that be a good guess? A registry problem, perhaps? With the way I had set OE up, my OE identity does not exist under my roommate's XP profile -- so I still can't access my saved email folders or anything. And I still can't get OE working under my username.... please help....

[Killer_Typo]

Another clue:

Outlook Express works when I log in to XP as a different user. I have my Dell PC set up so that for two users: myself and my roommate. Now, after I uninstalled XP sp2, I shut down the PC. Then, apparently, my roommate booted the PC up. And for her, OE has been working fine. She just told me this, so I tried logging on under her name, and sure enough everything works. So I'm guessing that the XP sp2 update installed OE configurations to her username and not mine (since she logged in first after the update). Would that be a good guess? A registry problem, perhaps? With the way I had set OE up, my OE identity does not exist under my roommate's XP profile -- so I still can't access my saved email folders or anything. And I still can't get OE working under my username.... please help....

it sounds like what was said before, it sounds like a setting in OE that needs to be fixed, or delete the location of the settings so they will be recreated.

[Lukecro]

I've tried using the reg edit that should allow OE to reinstall, but it won't work. Same with trying to do a full or partial IE reinstall ("You already havea newer version of this program installed" it says, and will not let me force the install, despite the fact that the reg edit makes the PC think that OE is missing every time I boot now).

SO then I tried http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=245419 , which suggests backing up and then deleting the entire registry key of HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Identities ... so I followed these instructions, and OE opened up -- BUT when I tried to switch back to my old settings by using the "Switch identity" feature, the entire thing froze and now I'm back at square one, even after a reboot.... So these particular registry fixes and forced-reinstall options don't seem to be working quite right with sp2 ....

[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.

:D

[Lukecro]

Please see my post above for my solution for fixing the Outlook Express 6 problem that occurred to one user (of multiple users) on my Dell PC (this was after an XP SP2 update).

If the specific solution above does not work, a technician at Microsoft sent me the solutions below to try and resolve overall SP2 problems, especially Internet Explorer-related problems (one of my other users bagan having frequent IE crashes after the SP2 install):

------------------------------------

Regarding the Internet Explorer crash issue, we can perform the
following steps to troubleshoot this issue.

Step 1: Clear Internet Explorer settings.
===1. Click Start, click Run, input "INETCPL.CPL" (without the
quotation marks) and press Enter.

2. Click Delete cookies and Delete files on the General tab.

3. Click Clear History in the History area, and then click OK in
the dialog box that appears.

4. Click Settings, click View Objects, delete all objects there,
and then close the window.

5. Click View Files, delete all files there, and then close the
window.

6. On the Connections tab, click the LAN Settings button, and then
uncheck all the boxes.

7. On the Advanced tab, click the Restore Defaults button, and then
click to clear the checkbox beside "Enable third-party extensions".

8. Click OK to save these settings.

Step 2: Re-register some DLL files.
===1. Quit all programs that are running.

2. Click Start, and then click Run.

3. Type "cmd", and then click OK.

4. Type the following commands in this window and press the "Enter" key
after each one. On each pop up window, click "Ok".

regsvr32 urlmon.dll
regsvr32 Shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 Actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 Oleaut32.dll
regsvr32 Mshtml.dll
regsvr32 Browseui.dll
regsvr32 actxprxy.dll
regsvr32 softpub.dll
regsvr32 wintrust.dll
regsvr32 initpki.dll
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 vbscript.dll

Test the issue again. If the issue still exists, please refer to the
following steps.

Step 3: Check Spyware.
===1. Go to the following link to download and install the spyware removal
tool: Ad-Aware SE
http://lavasoft.element5.com/support/download/

2. Start Ad-aware from the Start menu.

3. Under "Sections to scan," place a check mark next to My Computer.

4. Click "Check for updates now" and then click Connect to update the
software.

5. Single-click the "Scan now" button.

6. Remove all objects that are found.

If the issue continues, I suggest we uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 2
and then reinstall it.

Please refer to the following Knowledge Base article to uninstall it.

Title: How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;875350

After that, I suggest we visit the following link to download and
install Windows XP Service Pack 2 in Safe Mode.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73c
f11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe

Please save it to a folder that you can remember.

After downloading, please restart the computer to Safe Mode.

1. Restart the computer.

2. Keep pressing the F8 key until the Windows Startup menu appears.

3. Choose Safe Mode, and press Enter.

4. Log onto your user account and then double click the downloaded file
to install Windows XP Service Pack 2.

[Lukecro]

Key Words:

Outlook Express Freezes, Internet Explorer Crashes, Windows XP SP2 errors, bugs, fixes

thank you,

Lukecro :)

[Lukecro]

Related thread (deals with NVidia driver solution that also may resolve this problem):

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?t=6297

[Canada]

Had the same problem with Outlook Express not responding and msimn.exe using 98% cpu resources.The inbox folder was corrupt.I moved the inbox.dbx file out of the Outlook Express folder(this folder is hidden so must unhide folders) and when i went back into Outlook it worked fine after it created a new inbox.An easy solution ,but may work for some instead of doing the more complicated workarounds.Good luck.

[batera]

Had the same problem with Outlook Express not responding and msimn.exe using 98% cpu resources.The inbox folder was corrupt.I moved the inbox.dbx file out of the Outlook Express folder(this folder is hidden so must unhide folders) and when i went back into Outlook it worked fine after it created a new inbox.An easy solution ,but may work for some instead of doing the more complicated workarounds.Good luck.

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 ....

[Canada]

Well i did indeed want some of the messages from my corrupt inbox ,so i took the file to work and got it to open on a computer running outlook express.I then copied what i wanted into a new folder ,copied it to disk ,brought it home and got it to work with my outlook express ,so then had the messages i wanted.A pain but got what i wanted.

[qwerty90009]

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

Luke.. this is just a suggestion.. but if you haven't fixed it by now, i'd probably just try reinstalling outlook over the existing installation (if you can). That way all your data should remain intact and the glitch/missing file should be overwritten/replaced.

qwerty90009

[Amanda1969]

I am new to this community-- I am having the exact same problems. have you found a solution?

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

[jerrrrrrrrry]

I had this problem after installing 2800 fonts on my computer.

After I cancelled the fonts, everything come back to normal : outlook started again in less 1 second.

Jerry

[TomGerrits]

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.

:D

Luke, I just wanted to thank you for all the effort in preparing, and putting into writing, the above solution. I'm running Windows 2000, and out of the blue MSIMN.EXE in Outlook Express just started to go wild. I followed your instructions above exactly (even downloading the trial backup software) and it worked perfectly! Thanks so much!

Tom

[rlyness]

Post #10 worked for me. Thanks to Canada.

[Bill Law]

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 ....

=============================================
Dell xps 630, 4mb ram, win xp pro,sp3,2 hard disks, 2 users I use the administrator user; usu use firefox,but have IE 8 installed. I like outlook express as my email but have had trouble off-on. Today OE won't work. On clicking on it the OE screen comes up, email can be received but there is no message in the bottom panel, the mouse doesn't do anything, and remains as an hourglass. I have to use CAD to end the program. I ran SLP to check on any bad files--none found. I deleted the 'folders.dbx' without help. I disabled zone alarm and the program worked for a few of the email messages, then stopped. On rebooting and disabling zone alarm and most other programs and then getting off the web, nothing brought it back. The home network is okay, I can use the web normally. I ran a deep scan with Malwarebytes, with zone alarm, with counter-spy---all okay. Strangely, to me, the program works fine with the other user -the one I am using now. I have not uninstalled IE8 for fear it would ruin the
===============================================
Deleting the 'inbox.dbx' worked for me too. Amazing!!
Thanks---Bill

[Devilspit]

Here's a quick a solution I found that works pretty well for this problem. http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-fix-Outlook-Express-Locking-up-in-Windows-2000XP2003

I used this same solution several times and it is simple and effective.