Cannot Start Outlook 2010. Use Safe Mode


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If your Outlook 2010 is crashing due to a culprit add-in, then the only possible way is to start it in safe mode and remove the add-in. Apart from add-ins, there could be hundreds of other reasons why your Outlook is crashing. In all cases you will need to start Outlook 2010 in safe mode.

So how would you start Outlook in safe mode? Go to Start Search, type Run, and hit Enter. Once the Run dialog window is open, you can type any one of the four switches.

Cannot Start Outlook 2010? Use Safe Mode

Cannot Start Outlook 2010? Use Safe Mode

outlook /safe – Starts Outlook without Microsoft Exchange Client Extensions (ECE), the Reading Pane, or toolbar customizations. Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are turned off.

outlook /safe:1 – Starts Outlook with the Reading Pane off.

outlook /safe:3 – Starts Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Client Extensions (ECE) turned off, but listed in the Add-In Manager. Component Object Model (COM) add-ins are turned off.

outlook /safe:4 – Starts Outlook without loading outcmd.dat (customized toolbars).

For some reason, /safe:2 switch is not included so typing it will give you ‘wrong switch’ error.

These switches can also help us in pinpointing the exact problem. Suppose you can run Outlook in /safe and /safe:4 switch, but not in /safe:1 and /safe:3 switch, this means the problem is occurring in the customized toolbar.

Create a shortcut

You can also create a new shortcut to outlook.exe and add the /safe switch;

First, determine the location of outlook.exe on your system. In general you’ll find it under:

32-bit version of Windows

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 

64-bit version of Windows

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office 

If you can’t find it, do a search for outlook.exe or use OutlookTools (free) instead.

Once you’ve found outlook.exe we create a shortcut to it with the /safe switch to prevent Outlook from opening an extra window each time you click the shortcut or use your keyboard shortcut.

  • Right click on an empty space on your Desktop and choose New-> Shortcut;
  • Type the path to outlook.exe between quotes or browse to its location via the Browse… button;
  • Type a space behind that and /safe;
  • The entire line should now look like this (example is for a 32-bit version of Outlook 2010 on a 64-bit version of Windows):

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\OUTLOOK.EXE" /safe
    

  • Click Next
  • Name your shortcut for instance: Outlook Safe Mode
  • Click Finish.