August 13th, 2009 
Kiwi Si 
When going to open my Outlook email client this morning I received the following error message:
“Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.”
This was easily solved by running the following command from the ‘Run’ prompt. *IMPORTANT: Make sure that you have a space between the ‘Outlook.exe’ and the ‘/resetnavpane’ command switch.
If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 you won’t have the ‘Run’ option enabled by default.
To enable ‘Run’ option go to the ‘Customize Start Menu’ section and check the ‘Run command’ box.
Everything going well this should fix you’re “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.” error.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Outlook,Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.
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Posted in 
My name is Simon Seagrave and I am a London (UK) based Technical Architect. 
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The Outlook.exe/resetnavpane won’t work on my Vista computer…it tells me that it cannot find that prompt
anything else i can do?
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I have had the same problem as egrand (trying to run in Vista the fix as posted).
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Try a space between .exe and the /
It worked for me ! Thanks !
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! The spacing worked… I have been working on this for hours including deleteing registry and nothing worked. THANK YOU!!!
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It works! I shall earn some penny with this.
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Works perfect everytime – even though I don’t understand why it does that on every reboot.
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Sorry, as in giving me the same error message over and over…
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worked for me too – with the space – thanks !
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worked for me too – with the space – thanks !
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Awesome, easy fix for a perplexing problem. Thank you.
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Thank you so so so much. It worked with the spacing.
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Thanks, that worked perfectly…you need the space though!
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wow tht command worked for me thanks a lot buddy for the solution
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Thank you this worked – with the space. Why does this suddenly happen though? Bit worrying. It followed a Windows update….
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thanks a lot! It worked with space for me too, you guys ROCK!!!
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Thanks, great tip about the space in the command line, it doesn’t work without it.
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Fantastic! i followed this and got the problem fixed in a second. This is after spending hours looking up other sites & microsoft help which was a complete waste of time. Thanks again.
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Fantastic. Worked for me too. I was a bit worried I would lose all my conatcts, but I didnt. Thanks.
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Brilliant. Worked for me too, another website was telling me to reinstall the service pack! but yours was far simpler and worked!! Cheers
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Thank you verry verry much
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Thanks so much will I have to repeat this every time I reboot?
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Major thanks, worked the first time! This happened for me when I was sycning folders over a VPN connection, outlook blew up, then blue screen of death as i was shutting down outlook. Thanks again!
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Bless you, bless you.
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OMG…….Thanks……YOU ARE GOD
But will it do this again?
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Wonderfully helpful and straightforward. Thanks a lot
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I had just got the error after my system had rebooted after Automatic Update which included some Outlook patches – thought I was going to have to reinstall or restore. Your fix has saved me a lot of time. Thanks.
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Kiwi Si Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Hi Paul,
Glad it helped
Cheers,
Simon
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Worked like a charm in XP. Many thanks!
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Thanks, finally a solution that works. I’m very grateful.
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Thanx a lot man!
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Thank you very much it worked from the get go!
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worked great. Thanks!
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great stuff – excellent work fellas!
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Thank you for the information regarding cannot open Outlook. I have been working on that problem all day and your solution solved it in seconds. Thank you!
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This fix worked for me except my contact list is missing. Any suggestions on where to find it?
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Kiwi Si Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Hi Betty,
Glad the fix worked for you. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of this issue before (re: missing contact list). Do you mean all your contacts are missing or a customised email distribution list of users that you created yourself?
Cheers,
Simon
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Betty Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 1:57 am
All of my contacts are missing. It is my address book that was in Outlook therefore all of my contacts. I feel sure they are out there somewhere but I can’t find them.
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Kiwi Si Reply:
January 8th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Hi Betty,
Not sure why that would be happening.
Your best bet may be to post the question on the Microsoft Outlook forum here: http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/FlyoutOverview.mspx
Good luck.
Cheers,
Simon
It works just watch out for the space, cheers for the info.
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Thanks a bunch!
Works like a charm.
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awesome thank you you’re a life saver!
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For days I have been working on a Outlook promblem. Your suggestion on how to fix Microsoft Outllok worked
Thank you so much
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Thanks so much! I was trying the “outlook.exe/resetnavpane” solution with no luck at all – UNTIL I saw your solution to add the space. It worked! I’m running Windows 7 .. don’t know if that’s why. All better now – thanks again!
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Thanks. worked perfect
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I use Windows 7, can I do the resetnavpane in Win 7,
and will this keep happening?
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Graham Down Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
i’ve just done it and it worked and i’m running W7 64bit.
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Thank You so much!
Microsoft qouted me 5 hours at $89 per hour to fix this. I was about to the point of paying it when I found this.
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Many Thanks
Worked like a charm 10/10
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Myrna: I tried that on Win7 and it worked.
However, I observed that all my previously configured search foloders and favorites folders are gone. My configuration for “Mail” view has been resetted to initial as well (I had customized it as per my convenience).
Although, these are minor issues as compared to the original one but I am really curious about what went wrong and what this command did to fix it.
Thanks,
Kamran
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Many thanks – works perfectly. Should have tried your site first rather than going to Microsoft 1st and wasting several hours!!
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worked for me too,.
Tanx
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Worked a treat many thanks.I did the same as Graham above. Should have know microsoft wouldn’t of know how to fix their own product.
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Great tip about the space between. Used alternate program for weeks before discovering this site. Thanks again.
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thanks! run command worked! Thannnnnnk youuuuu
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Thanks this worked for me you saved my life all my work is on my outlook Thanks so so much
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