Inbox Repair Tool Not Responding – Find Best Alternative

  author
Written By Andrew Jackson
Anuraag Singh
Approved By Anuraag Singh
Published On October 4th, 2023
Reading Time 7 Minutes Reading

Inbox repair tool not responding during repairing. Looking for an alternative solution, you landed on right page. In below section you will come to know, what to do, when scanPST not responding during repair process.

Generally, we found that Inbox Repair Tool works in minor corruption issues and repair header corruptions only. So get a solution that will help you in getting your Outlook data to file back even if you are facing Microsoft Outlook Inbox repair tool not responding issue.

Sadly enough, scanpst.exe does not always excel in fixing the errors of Personal Storage Table. Most people who use Outlook desktop mail program do often get stuck with sarcasm, which can be framed and explained as below:

User’s wordsI have scanned my PST file with scanpst.exe utility and it still displays an error with the following message:

Error Message:Internal errors were found in this file. They must be repaired for this file to work correctly.

“I did choose repair and got the ‘Repair Completed’ message after running it. But even then I am getting the same error message again when I try to open PST files. How can I successfully fix corruption of Outlook data file while Inbox Repair tool not responding and unable to access its email data items?’ I am pretty sure it just matched your line of words, isn’t it!”

The irony is due to the fact that it (Scanpst) is a tool rendered in the mail program itself but fails at most times and many things more can be understood from the below section. You can download PST Repair Tool alternative of Outlook Inbox Repair Tool, available for free download here:

Download Now Purchase Software

This software is capable to resolve PST file issues in a simple and efficient way. It can scan multiple PST files in very little time. It allows users to view the data items of PST file and export them in required file format. Download the tool from the above link, and try the free demo edition first.

scanpst not responding

Why is Inbox Repair Tool not Responding?

It is a fact that Scanpst.exe keeps encountering issues and often fails to repair your corrupted Outlook Personal Folders. It becomes quite a troublesome process when the inbuilt utility Inbox Repair Tool not responding at all or fails to fix the corruption issue. This is because the facility provided by Microsoft, to repair the damaged Personal Folders is free of cost tool that gets installed automatically with the installation of Outlook desktop mail program on the any Windows machine irrespective of the version.

outlook inbox repair tool not responding

Moreover, it is available for free with all releases of MS Outlook desktop client and is the one and only inbuilt utility. That is, whichever version like Microsoft Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, scanpst.exe automatically get installed in Microsoft Office.

Therefore, it can be said that when the need is to fix corruption in Outlook data while Microsoft Inbox Repair Tool not working, the situation gets really difficult. But ever thought why the .pst file gets corrupt, why the scanpst.exe fails to work, need for executing the repair tool, etc. Well, there are several reasons behind these. So, let’s discuss the subjects in detail!

Need for Running the Inbox Repair Tool

A general need for running the ScanPST.exe arises when Outlook rejects loading or opening PST files and displays several errors. Screenshots of some of the error messages are given below:

Can Not Start Microsoft Outlook

repair pst file using scanpst

Inbox Repair Tool does not Recognize

Repair Corrupt Outlook PST File

Note – Many more additional error messages that occur in Outlook. It brings in the need to use the Inbox Repair Tool so as to make the data items like: emails, contacts list, calendars, tasks stored within it accessible.

Failure of Inbox Repair Tool for Outlook

Whenever PST files fail to open due to corruption issues, Scanpst, the Inbox Repair Tool automatically pops up with a message seeking permission to repair corrupt PST file. And at times users themselves opt for the application to get the Personal Folders repaired when they are sure about corruption. But most often it ends up ScanPST not responding during repair process or ScanPST does not working issues. Know why?

When the Scanpst is executed it provides browse option to select the Personal Storage Table. On clicking on the Repair tab of the tool it checks the file directory structure and file headers, which are actually low-level objects and tries to repair the file.

But unfortunately, it fails to repair the upper-level objects such as email messages, attachments, calendar, contacts-list, notes etc. The worst feature of the utility is that when it gets unable to read the hierarchy of files/ folders, it deletes the entire folder along with the sub-folders from the directory. This results in complete data loss which would otherwise have been prevented.

What To Do If Scanpst Fails

Click to view full image

For Mac Outlook

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Preventive Steps for PST File Corruption Issues

There is a well-known saying that ‘Prevention is better than Cure’. Therefore, in this section of the blog, common corruption causes are discussed so that PST file can be protected from getting damaged. Though there are a lot of safety measures in-built in Outlook for the prevention of .pst file corruption, there are multiple reasons that may result in damage and are mentioned below:

  1. Malicious Attack by Viruses

    Deadly viruses and Trojans may attack the Outlook data files and damage them. Therefore, computer systems should be kept well protected by the use of anti-viruses and anti-malware.

  2. Corruption in File Header

    Damage in file header leads to inaccessibility of PST (Personal Storage Table) files that sometimes lead to complete corruption of the storage files and further results inaccessibility of stored data items.

  3. Improper Extermination

    Terminating MS Outlook improperly and frequently is also one of the causes of PST file corruption in all versions of Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 etc. and hence should be avoided.

  4. OS Re-installation

    Sometimes due to re-installation of operating system the Outlook data files face corruption. Therefore, as far as possible OS re-installation should be avoided.

  5. Increase in PST File Size

    When the storage limit exceeds the PST file size. The Personal Folders are more likely to get corrupt. Hence, the storage limit should not be crossed.

  6. Crash in PC/Outlook

    Computer might crash at any time and if it crashes while Outlook is in running state, then PST files may get corrupt. So, frequent backups of the PST file should be made.

  7. Fault in Add-ins

    Sometimes the add-ins may also cause corruption to the PST file. Thence faulty add-ins should be removed completely or at least disabled to fix the Inbox repair tool not responding.

  8. PST file Storage on a Network Share

    PST files are designed to be stored on a local hard drive. Utilizing them from a network share is not supported by Microsoft and leads to PST corruption, data corruption, and even data loss. Therefore, PST files must be used on the local hard drive.

Finally, A Suggestion

On failure of prevention from corruption issues, PST files get damaged. So, you need a powerful Inbox Repair Tool Alternative to repair Outlook PST file. When Inbox Repair Tool not responding for Outlook all versions.

A reliable application to save the retrieved data after fixing corruption issues, in various common mail formats. Therefore, it can be investigated and used in case corruption is severe and Scanpst.exe fails to work.

  author

By Andrew Jackson

I am SQL DBA and SQL Server blogger too. I like to share about SQL Server and the problems related to it as well as their solution and also I do handle database related user queries, server or database maintenance, database management, etc. I love to share my knowledge with SQL Geeks.