Outlook Express 6 - Address book failed to load

[ZitoZito]

One day Outlook Express decided to stop working and everytime I login I get this error message (no error code): "The address book failed to load. Outlook Express is incorrectly configured, please re-install"
So, I went to Microsoft and tried to do this, but it only comes with IE5 and I am currenlty running IE6 and could not find a stand alone version.
The help sheets were not very helpful unless you had a good understanding of OS's.
Could somebody please give me some advice on how to get this running again?

 

[Ian Rogers]

Electro tech online is an electronics site... However!!! Outlook express is no longer supported.... It's old and tired!!! It has always been buggy... Do yourself a favour and install Microsoft live mail or some other service...

Most other mails server can import the address book..... Download Mozilla Thunderbird... You'll be so glad you did...

 

[DerStrom8]

Like Ian said, Outlook Express is extremely old for a mail utility and you should think about upgrading ASAP. Microsoft has a new(er) product called Outlook.com. It should be able to import your contacts and old mail. It's worth a try, if you don't want to try getting a whole new email.

https://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/outlook-express#tabs=windows-7

 

[Alan-90Hayes]

The WAB file may have become damaged or corrupted causing one or both of the above error messages. You will need to rename the existing .wab file and restart Outlook Express(OE). Once started, OE will create a new .WAB file. Microsoft does not recommend that you import the data from the old, damaged .wab file. If you do, you may import the damage into the new .wab file.
1. Click Start, point to Find (Search on Windows 2000 or newer operating systems), and click For Files or Folders.
2. In Search for files or folders named, type. *.wab and click Search Now.
3. In the Search results window, Right-click the file(s) with an extension of ".wab" and then click Rename.
4. Rename the file extension (the three left-most characters in the name) to "old" and press ENTER.

If you are still experiencing the issue after applying this fix you can try Address Book Recovery https://www.oemailrecovery.com/address-book-recovery.html