Outlook Express Address Book Failed to Load

By admin | Apr 27, 2006
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outlook express logo.jpgYou may get this error message. Outlook Express may load but chokes when you try to forward a message, or compose mail, or view the address book. This is caused by a number of things. The most common causes are:

  1. The registry values for Outlook Express and the Windows Address Book are set incorrectly.
  2. The Windows Address Book is sharing the Contacts folder from a .pst file that is used by Outlook 98, or Outlook 2000 in the Internet Mail Only (IMO) configuration, and the .pst file has been moved.
  3. The .WAB file may have become damaged


If Outlook Express loads, it’s best just to jump to cause 3. That’s where I will go. This is an easy fix actually. But, you will lose your address book. But that doesn’t matter, because you do backups, right? No? All I can say is shame on you. I deal with that issue day in and day out. You have to backup. No more excuses. Or no more complaining when you lose it and want it back!

Click on “Start”, go to “Search”. Click “All Files and Folders”. Now, make sure you select “More advanced options” and make sure “search hidden files and folders” is checked. Type *.wab in “all or part of file name” in the top box. Now, click on “search”. When it finds a file named “someidentitynamehere.wab” then right click it and change .wab to .old . Now, restart outlook express. It will create a new .wab file. Now, it should work!

[tags]Outlook Express, address book, failed to load, .wab, wab[/tags]

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6 Comments so far
  1. rosario bouchard December 28, 2007 8:20 pm

    francais

  2. North Star April 3, 2008 8:23 pm

    Great, just great!

    Only addition: After renewing the wab file as mentioned, you not only need to restart your Outlook Express, but also restart the computer.

    Thank you very very much…

  3. Paul May 8, 2008 10:08 pm

    Paul fixes in one paragraph, what Microsoft fails to resolve in numerous pages of knowledge base articles.

    This should be the very first thing people are instructed to do in the case of a “The address book failed to load. Outlook express is incorrectly configured. Please re-install”.

    After wasting hours on MS guides, I tried this tip and wanted pull my hair out because the fix was so easy after HOURS of troubleshooting off the MS website. Why does the error tell you to re-install???

  4. Sara October 13, 2008 10:23 am

    after the search returned “no file found”, what should i do???

  5. admin October 14, 2008 11:51 pm

    and you made sure to check the box to search for hidden files and folders? if so, then are you sure your issue is with outlook express or plain old outlook – there is a difference.

  6. MJ November 24, 2008 5:30 pm

    Thank you so much for these instructions! I was ready to jump out a window after dealing with Microsoft No-Help and my ISP provider. OE is now up and working after after restarting my computer. Yay!

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