How to Fix the Outlook Error: “Something is wrong with your OST file?”

Microsoft is aware of frequent issues and errors that users encounter while using the email client and thus, provides a utility called Inbox Repair Tool (ScanPST.exe) with all Outlook versions. The utility helps Outlook users to fix inconsistent Outlook data files, such as OST, and resolve common errors. One of the common errors is “Something is wrong with your OST file.” The complete error message reads as follows:

“Something is wrong with one of your Outlook data files and Outlook needs to close. Outlook might be able to fix your file. Click OK to run the Inbox Repair Tool.”

The error message pops up when you try to open Outlook client to access the email account. However, this error prevents you from accessing the mailbox. When you click OK, it opens the built-in Inbox Repair Tool to repair the Outlook data file (OST) file.

You can click Start, followed by the Repair option to repair the Outlook OST file and resolve the error. However, if you see this error message popping up again and again, there could be some other issues with your Outlook client, profile, or OST file that can’t be resolved with the help of the Inbox Repair Tool.

In this article, we have shared the reasons that can lead to this error and the solutions to resolve it without losing a single mail item.

Reasons for Something is Wrong with your OST File Error

The error message may occur due to various underlying issues with the system, Outlook client, or the Outlook data file. Usually, the error occurs due to Outlook OST file corruption or reasons, such as:

• Oversized or large OST file.
• Faulty or incompatible add-ins.
• Software or hardware-related issues.
• Conflict with antivirus or other security programs on your system.
• Abrupt system shutdown or power failure.
• Improper or forced Outlook termination.
• System crash.
• Using network storage or shared folder location for storing Outlook OST files.

Solutions to Resolve Something is Wrong with your OST File Error

Below are a few solutions that you can follow to troubleshoot and fix the error and get back access to all your emails and other mail items.

Find and Remove Faulty Add-Ins

An incompatible or faulty add-in in Outlook can easily cause damage to your Outlook profile or data file (OST), leading to this error. To ensure the error isn’t caused by add-ins, you can start MS Outlook in Safe Mode and then disable all add-ins by following these steps:

• Press Windows + R and type Outlook /safe.

• Press the ‘Enter’ key or click ‘OK.’
• Then select a profile and click ‘OK.’ This opens Outlook in Safe Mode.
• Go to File > Options > Add-Ins and click the Go button.

• Uncheck to disable all add-ins and restart Outlook normally.

If the error was caused by a faulty add-in, it should be resolved now. If it did, enable one add-in at a time and restart Outlook to check which add-in is causing the error. Once found, remove the add-in from Outlook to permanently fix the issue.

Edit Registry Keys

Editing Registry Keys could lead to severe issues in your Windows system. Thus, you must follow the below steps carefully and ensure you make changes to the keys as mentioned in the below steps.

• Press the Windows + R keys, type regedit, and press the Enter key or click OK. This opens the Registry Editor.
• In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\xx.0\Outlook\PST

Tip: You can manually browse the location or copy the location from above (change xx.0 with your version) to open the location directly.

• Find and delete the LastCorruptStore and PromptRepair keys.

NOTE: The registry key for both Outlook data files (OST and PST) is PST. Any changes made to this location affect both OST and PST files. So don’t get confused about why we are deleting registry values from the PST location.

• Restart Outlook for the changes to take effect.

The error “Something is wrong with your OST file” may be fixed after performing these steps. However, if you don’t find the two keys mentioned above, continue following the next solutions.

Repair MS Office Installation

Sometimes, issues with the Microsoft Outlook or Office program also trigger such errors. To ensure this isn’t a result of some issues with the Microsoft Outlook client, try repairing the MS Office by following these steps:

• Open Control Panel and click Uninstall a program.
• Select Microsoft Office and click the Change option.

• Choose the Repair option and click Continue.

• Follow the wizard to finish the repair.

This will fix any issue with the program files of the Outlook client and may help fix the error.

Setup a New Outlook Profile

Setting up your email account under a new Outlook profile can also help fix the error if caused by a corrupt or damaged profile. Follow these steps to create a new profile and configure it.

• Open Control Panel.
• Search and click the Mail option.
• Click Show Profile… and click Add.
• Enter the profile name and click OK.

• Set up your email account under this new profile and then start Outlook.
• You may see a prompt to choose a profile. Select the new profile and click OK.

Caution: Creating a new profile replaces your default OST file with a new OST. Refer to the below method to learn how to locate the OST file and create a backup before setting up a new profile.

Rebuild OST File

If the error can’t be resolved by following any of the solutions mentioned above, you can try recreating or rebuilding a new Outlook data file (OST). For this, you need to delete your current OST file from the default location. It is important to note here that any mail items that are in the current OST file that didn’t sync with the mailbox server will be permanently lost. If you are not sure and want to avoid permanent loss, follow these steps to back up and delete the OST file.

• Open Control Panel, search and click on Mail.

• Click the Data Files…. button.

• Select the email profile in the Account Settings dialog box and click Open File Location…
• A new File Explorer window will open showing the default OST file location.
• Since you can’t open or access the Outlook options, the only way to back up OST is to copy the OST file from the default location to a different drive or folder.
• After backup, right-click on the OST stored at the default location and delete it.
• Start Outlook.

As soon as Outlook starts, it looks for the Outlook data file (OST) at the default location. If the OST file is not found at the location, Outlook creates a new OST file at the same default location and starts synchronizing the mail items from the server.

This may take a while to complete, depending on your network speed and the mailbox size.

Once you see ‘All folders are up to date’ in the Outlook status bar at the bottom, check all mail folders to ensure all mail items are available. If you don’t find your recent mail items, you can use an OST to PST converter tool to convert the backup OST file into PST format.

Then import the converted PST file into your Outlook via the Import Export wizard and restore the missing mail items. You may also directly export the mail items to your Outlook profile or mailbox on live Exchange Server or Office 365 with complete integrity. Besides, you can also use the OST to PST Conversion tool to extract mail items from any inaccessible, orphaned, or encrypted OST file and export them to PST, Office 365, or live Exchange.

Conclusion

You can fix the error “Something is wrong with your OST file” by repairing the Outlook data file (OST) using the Inbox Repair Tool. However, it may not work in most cases where the OST is larger than 2 GB or has severe errors in the tree structure. Besides, the error may trigger again after some time. In such cases, you can follow the solutions discussed in the guide to permanently resolve the error.

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About The Author

Eric Simson

Eric Simson is an Email Platform Consultant and is associated with Stellar Data Recovery from last 6 years. He writes about the latest technology tips and provides custom solutions related to MS Outlook, MS Exchange Server, Office 365, and many other Email Clients & Servers.