Li Min's Blog

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Office Online Support Service. My name is ***, and I will be helping you with this service request.

After reviewing the case log, I understand this issue is: You are currently experiencing an Outlook problem, when you open Outlook, you had an error message saying “cannot find server”. You are unable to use Outlook.

If I misunderstand your concerns, please let me know.

Based on my research, the problem may be related to many factors, please try following steps to narrow down the problem.

Step 1: Disable Anti-Virus programs or some other third party program

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Please disable any Anti-Virus, firewalls, spy, Anti-Spam programs and check whether you have installed any third party program related to Outlook on your computer. If so, please temporarily disable it.

Does the problem still persist? If so, please go on to the next step:

Step 2: Start Outlook in Safe Mode

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1. Quit Outlook.

2. Choose Start menu -> Run

3. Type "Outlook.exe /safe" and click OK. (Without quotation marks but there is a space in front of "/")

Please perform a test in Outlook Safe Mode.

If the problem persists in Outlook Safe Mode, Please try next step.

Step 3: Create a new profile

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Please create a new profile to see if the problem is caused by the corrupt profile

1. Close Outlook.

2. Click Start, and click Control Panel. Click Mail icon.

3. Click Show Profiles.

4. In the "When starting Microsoft Office Outlook, use this profile:" area, please select "Prompt for a profile to be used"

5. Click Add and type the new profile name as you like in the Profile name box.

Note: Please don't choose the same name of your original profile.

6. Choose "Add a new e-mail account" and click Next.

7. Choose your email type and type the necessary information. (You can gain information of the email account from the ISP)

8. Click Next and click Finish.

9. Reopen Outlook. Choose the new profile in the profile list and click OK.

For more information, please refer to the following Knowledge Base article:

287072 OL2002: How to Create a New E-mail Profile for Outlook

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=287072

Note: This article also applies to Outlook 2003

Is the problem resolved in the new profile? If yes, you could import your data from the original profile. You can refer to the following Knowledge Base article on how to import Outlook data:

Q287070 OL2002: How to Back Up, Restore, or Move Outlook Data

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287070

Note: This article also applies to Outlook 2003

If the problem persists after you tired above steps, would you please send a screenshot of the exact error to me?

To save the screenshots, please follow the steps below:

(a) When the error appears, press the Print Screen key several times (the Print Screen key is located to the right of the F12 key on the keyboard)

(b) Open Paint or Microsoft Word or WordPad.

(c) Click Edit (menu) -> Paste or press Ctrl + V.

(d) Click File (menu) -> Save. Save it to a file and attach it in email to send it to me.

Please try the suggestions and update me with the result at your earliest convenience. If there is anything unclear in my email, please feel free to let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Microsoft Office Setup/Outlook Team
Microsoft Product Support Services