We got a new computer in a few days ago and it had a trial version of Office 2007 on it. Since it was trail version and we have the licenses for Outlook 2003, I had no desire to go the 2007 route just yet. So after uninstalling 2007 and installing Office 2003 I get this fun message when starting Outlook 2003 that reads something like “Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging software. Please reinstall Outlook.”.
I should also mention that when I went to Control Panel > Mail…I would get some random error message about not having enough memory. Either way, the first MS support article I found was of no use. And my first urge was just to delete or rename the Mapi32.dll file, but I want something solid to say “This won’t screw things up worse.” Which I finally found here (MS Support Article 926196)
The short of the fix is to go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Msmapi\1033\ and rename MSMapi32.dll to MSMapi32.old (I also renames Mapi32.dll to Mapi32.old since it was referenced in the error message).
After you do this restart Outlook 2003, this will make Office rebuild the files and things should be fine.
Futility RSS Feed
YOU ARE A GENIOUS!
I visited other threads and all they said was to rename the SYSTEM32 Folder MAPI thing… but i read yours and it said to do somthing else as well and it worked!@
GENIOUS I SAY
By: Peter on June 27, 2007
at 8:13 pm
Thank you so much.
I finally fixed it!
Sending good karma your way,
Brian
By: Brian on June 28, 2007
at 2:08 am
Peter…good to know that you found the correct solution for your problem. I know how annoying it is to try “fixes” that don’t work..or in some cases just make things worse!
Brian…glad I could help and thanks for the karma!
By: aa!2on on June 28, 2007
at 2:56 pm
Hi there. I tried the fix however as I don’t have the install disk, it stops and prompts me for SKU112.cab on the disk.
I’ve gone through every possible fix I’ve found, but without the disk it appears I’m done for. Any other ideas?
By: LB on July 3, 2007
at 3:00 pm
LB…. that is quite interesting. I have seen this issue twice and neither time was asked for the install disk. I doubt your issue would come from trying just this fix so maybe it was some of the “other” advice that is prompting for the install disk.
Are you trying to reinstall 2003 or 2007? Let me know and I will be glad to try and help.
By: aa!2on on July 6, 2007
at 4:02 pm
OMG I AM SUCH A COMPUTER NOVICE AND EVEN I WAS ABLE TO FIX THIS WITH YOUR HELP THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!
YOU ROCK!!!!
By: DEA on July 23, 2007
at 6:58 pm
Thanks DEA..glad I could be of service
By: aa!2on on July 25, 2007
at 6:44 pm
that’s the concise, relevant, solution I needed. YOU Rock!!!
By: Your the Man! on August 9, 2007
at 10:56 pm
THANK U THANK U THANK U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
By: Dave` on August 18, 2007
at 11:45 pm
Tusee Great ho. Translation – You are great
By: Anand on August 24, 2007
at 8:24 am
mwah mwah MWAHHHHH!!!!
By: miksee on August 29, 2007
at 2:20 am
Thanks a bunch. This fixed the problem immediatly and I was able to get Outlook working. I greatly appreciate it:)
By: tj on August 29, 2007
at 10:30 pm
Thank to all of you for the linkbacks and letting me know the solution helped!
By: aa!2on on September 21, 2007
at 6:47 pm
OMG – I love you thank you so much for sharing I defiantly appreciate it, I can not thank you enough for being so freaking awesome and sharing this information!!
By: Cody Royster on October 10, 2007
at 3:23 am
I have just got a new laptop and Windows Vista is the OS. I can’t find the path c:\program files\……….. and a search for mapi32.dll or msmapi32.dll produces nothing.
Can you help?
By: Ellen on October 23, 2007
at 3:49 am
On Vista I’m not too sure..I have never encountered this issue on a Vista system…just XP…but you should have c:\Program Files….hmmm… what folders do you see on the root of your c: drive?
By: aa!2on on October 23, 2007
at 3:13 pm
I found this solution several other places. I do it and then when I restart outlook it just recreates the old MSMapi32.dll anyway and still shuts down.
Please help, before I throw the computer out the *#&%*@ window!!!
By: ryetyson on October 25, 2007
at 5:14 pm
have you tried changing both files and not just the MSMapi32.dll?
By: aa!2on on October 25, 2007
at 6:41 pm
Ace. Thanks very much, fixed it instantly!
By: kevin on November 14, 2007
at 11:43 am
Awesome. I read similar fixes on other sites but they were directing me to the wrong file in the wrong folder. I finally fixed it after reading this post.
By: Shaan on December 8, 2007
at 7:54 pm
Hi there. I tried the fix however as I don’t have the install disk, it stops and prompts me for SKU112.cab on the disk.
Any other ideas?
By: ES on January 6, 2008
at 7:43 pm
Worked first time for me…good tip…always wonder of the effects though, does this cause some other hidden problem, renaming the files, or are they legacy and not used now…..cheers.
By: Ramjet on February 1, 2008
at 3:42 am
Hi,
I tried this, renamed the files, but when I start outlook it starts the installation as before (even though I have installed it months ago) and gives the same error message and doesn’t recreate the file.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Z-
By: zoltan on March 7, 2008
at 8:33 pm
I solved my problem with system restore. My Office 2003’s case more severe. Email client wasn’t found, etc. The system restore worked perfectly though.
By: zoltan on March 7, 2008
at 9:25 pm
THANKS SO MUCH! Several sites suggested renaming mapi32.dll which is in the Windows\system32 folder. MSMAPI is the answer.
By: Dana on April 6, 2008
at 9:19 pm
i make this steps and the problem its still on
what can i do to repair this problem
By: Mahmoud Atef on April 11, 2008
at 9:38 pm
Hi and thanks a lot
I thought i’ve lost all my mails once again
U’re a genius
God Bless U
By: kar_76 on April 14, 2008
at 12:49 pm
Let me throw in a twist. We publish Outlook 2003 through Citrix. On the same computer, one user logs on and outlook opens fine, another user logs on and outlook won’t open giving the same mapi error. Other users are connecting to the same server with no problems with outlook.
Any ideas?
By: DaveV on April 28, 2008
at 9:00 pm
Wow! That took 30 seconds after spending hours. Thank you.
By: David Lamoureux on May 16, 2008
at 7:39 pm
Wooo Whooo! You saved me many headaches!
By: michele on July 31, 2008
at 7:30 pm
I cannot rename msmapi32.dll, nor can I delete it. When I try I receive a message saying:
“Cannot delete MSMAPI32: Error performing inpage operation”
I have tried removing/renaming with AVAST antivirus, in safemode, scanned with some free registry scanners and nothing seems to work. All I know is that I cannot install MSOutook XP with it there. I would reinstall OS, but don’t have the disk.
Any help you can give would be much appreciated.
Thanks
By: Elle on August 5, 2008
at 1:16 am
@Elle
Have you ever heard of zap.exe?
It’s a very handy little utility that will allow you to delete any file. I can’t remember where it first came from but it’s now part of the Microsoft SMS 2.0 Support Utilities.
Try here for the download or contact me for help.
By: Aaron on August 5, 2008
at 1:36 am
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for your advice. I downloaded zap.exe, opened and nothing happened. I also tried this in safemode. I am running Windows 2000 and Office XP. Is zap.exe suitable for this OS? Would you advise downloading the MS SMS 2.0 Support Utilities package?
By: Elle on August 5, 2008
at 2:58 am
Sorry, I should have included some more instructions…
take zap.exe and put it in your %system dir%\System32\ directory….in Windows this should probably be something like c:\windows\system32 or c:\WIN\system32
Then you need to use it from the command line… navigate to the C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Msmapi\1033\ directory and then type “zap MSMAPI32.dll”
By: Aaron on August 5, 2008
at 3:10 am
Hi Aaron,
I tried what you suggested – only I believe my system folder is WINNT, so I placed zap.exe in the system and system32 folders to be on the safe side. Upon execution I receive the following message:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033>zap msmapi32.dll
Failed. GetLastError() = 999
Certainly seems as though this one doesn’t want to budge.
By: Elle on August 5, 2008
at 4:35 am
Wow! I’ve been working off my on line Outlook for a week now, what a pain! Thanks a lot, that really worked!
By: Sean on August 27, 2008
at 10:30 am
hi thanks u r my savior i spent 24 hrs trying to open outlook and keep getting this error message. i spent all day downloading and doing everything but the problem wont go away until i found you. Thanks i owe it to you. thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks
By: Simon on August 29, 2008
at 3:39 pm
I tried all the solutions above and it did not work, plus i did not have the CD, so i did this: search for “msmapi” (without the quotes) on your computer, go to advanced and make sure to include “search in hidden files and folders”. I found several copies of MSMAPI32.DLL_0001_1033 so i copied one into the current location of the msmapi folder and then renamed msmapi32.dll to msmapi32.xxx then renamed MSMAPI32.DLL_0001_1033 to msmapi32.dll. After which, outlook started wihtout a problem.
By: Ray on September 19, 2008
at 8:31 pm
Thanks for your help! It worked!
By: Udeni on September 24, 2008
at 4:28 pm
i found that for my case, renaming of msmapi32.dll is also necessary to make it work…
By: Louis on September 28, 2008
at 4:03 pm
Fantastic… I was moments away from shelling out £99 for microsoft office 2007.
You have saved my sanity and my e-mails.
By: bob the mul on October 20, 2008
at 9:56 am
I love you.
By: gisele on November 9, 2008
at 11:23 pm
ditto – been stuffing around all morning trying to save myself some bucks – nothing wrong with Office 2003 – especially when I own it. worked first time.
By: mikeyj on December 13, 2008
at 10:26 pm
Thank you very much – this worked perfectly for me!! Youre a star!
By: Star owner on December 25, 2008
at 4:19 pm
Nice one. Worked a treat.
By: jamie on January 14, 2009
at 2:15 am
Thanks for the help – Worked 1st Time – Microsoft site only gives 1/2 the info
Ian
By: Ian on February 3, 2009
at 3:30 pm
Hi, thanks its working fine……
By: venkatesh on February 25, 2009
at 9:33 am
Hi
I would like to fix my problem that i am gettin
on my operating system,however i am broke and my parents wont let me use there credit card how else can i fix the problem of the mapi32.dll file corruption
By: Ismail on February 26, 2009
at 9:36 am
I am battling with this, I installed 2007 and after it being a little slow decided to go back to 2003.
I have had the Mapi conflict and renamed it first to .xxx then to .old and still can’t start Outlook…it comes up with the ‘Outlook 2003 has experienced a problem and has to close’ standard XP message and then I tried safe mode with the result being ‘Unable to open the Outlookwindow. the set of folders could not be found.
It is a legal program
By: paulb on March 6, 2009
at 5:38 pm
The Mapi file seems to have reverted back to the original MAPI32.DLL….
I am about to pull what little hair I have left clean out….please help…
By: paulb on March 6, 2009
at 5:41 pm
Paulb
Bro , I’ve the same problem with outlook as you have. I tried copying / changing name to xxx frm safe mode…but nothing worked…i hope you have solved…please tell me how you did….my whole office work has stuck because of my damn outlook…Please reply to me in mail… sameer.ahmmed at gmail dot com
Awaiting you reply
By: sameer on August 16, 2009
at 11:37 am
Dude you my hero!!!!! Think this might be a good time to run a back up!!!
By: KeithK on March 11, 2009
at 10:41 am
Cheers for the mapi help dude.
Fixed it a treat. Bloomin 2007 trials argggghhhh
By: Brian on March 26, 2009
at 7:51 pm
Many, many thanks!!!!!! This did it!!!!!!
By: Cliff Minter on April 27, 2009
at 10:23 pm
Thanks dude its a great fix
cheers
gotta a fix for the bloody swine virus before it hits Aussie lol
By: warfer on April 28, 2009
at 3:01 am
Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!
Worked perfect.
Most other suggestions don’t mention the second file.
By: Gord on May 16, 2009
at 3:10 pm
Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing this. I solved it!
By: apple on May 19, 2009
at 3:36 am
You solved my dilema! Thanks for keeping this post up for so long. Almost 2 years now!
By: Rafael on May 24, 2009
at 1:38 am
Aaron,
Thank you for your wonderful post. This worked for me also. Once again thank you.
Regards,
Chendur
By: Chendur on June 5, 2009
at 1:02 pm
This worked so well, thank you for taking the time to write this up and help so many others.
By: Aaron on June 15, 2009
at 3:46 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was ready to drop this brand new laptop on the ground!! Looks like things are fixed. Yippeee!
By: Lisa on September 18, 2009
at 7:45 pm
thank you thank you very muh,I can start my office outlook.
By: lysil on November 6, 2009
at 2:03 am