I've got a problem falling from the blue sky, which is like this:

When I tried to open the address book, my Express 6 pops up a error message
roughly meaning "cannot open address book, the address book is properly
installed inproperly".

Error message pops up also when I attempted to open an email item. Even
though I can see the content of the email from the preview window, I've got
an error message roughly reading "error when opening email"

I've changed nothing in setup.

Can anyone kindly give an idea of the problem and solution?

many thanks

Is MS Outlook (or MS Office) also installed?

Do you have this Registry key?...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Software
\Microsoft
\WAB
\WAB4

If not, STOP; If so, is there a DWORD named UseOutlook (NB: no space) and is
its value set to 1 (one)?

If not, STOP; If so, Address Book is configured to share contacts with
Outlook, even if you don't use it (can happen with the install of Office).
Change the value to 0 (zero), Address Book should be available to you and
all should be well. (If that DWORD is not present, don't create it, and
don't alter any other DWORD values.)

Note that any changes (additions, deletions, edits) made while sharing was
enabled will not be available (displayed) in Address Book when sharing is
disabled.

cf. http://www.insideoe.com/files/wab.htm#share
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=191946
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Shell/User, Security), Aumha.org VSOP, DTS-L.org

Feng wrote:
I've got a problem falling from the blue sky, which is like this:

When I tried to open the address book, my Express 6 pops up a error
message roughly meaning "cannot open address book, the address book is
properly installed inproperly".

Error message pops up also when I attempted to open an email item. Even
though I can see the content of the email from the preview window, I've
got an error message roughly reading "error when opening email"

I've changed nothing in setup.

Can anyone kindly give an idea of the problem and solution?

many thanks

Hi Feng,

Try renaming the default *.wab file in use by Outlook Express. The file
general uses the computer user name with the (.wab) extension. When
searching for *.wab it may be necessary to include hidden folders and files.
A new *.wab file will be created when OE starts. See if the new address book
can be opened. It might be possible to import entries from the renamed book
without re-introducing any corruption.

The file might be in this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\*User Name*\Application Data\Microsoft\Address
Book

--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MS-MVP - Outlook Express
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Feng" wrote in message
...
I've got a problem falling from the blue sky, which is like this:

When I tried to open the address book, my Express 6 pops up a error message
roughly meaning "cannot open address book, the address book is properly
installed inproperly".

Error message pops up also when I attempted to open an email item. Even
though I can see the content of the email from the preview window, I've got
an error message roughly reading "error when opening email"

I've changed nothing in setup.

Can anyone kindly give an idea of the problem and solution?

many thanks