How to Resolve Unexpected Error Preventing Access To PST File In Outlook?

Looking for ways to resolve the unexpected error occurred in Outlook? Want to access your PST file back? The solution is here, in this post I guarantee you will get an idea about resolving Outlook's unexpected error preventing access to this file issue with various possible ways. If you are urgent to fix the error, make use of the Yodot Outlook PST Repair tool.

Written by Lucy John on June 13, 2023

"While trying to access my PST file in Outlook, an error encountered unexpectedly that said, access to this file (*.pst) is prevented. I did what I can do but nothing seemed to fix the issue. Now I am unable to access my mail data; can someone suggest me a proper way to fix this unexpected error in Outlook that is preventing access to PST file? Please help!!"

MS Outlook users may face many unexpected errors while trying to open mail account and one among them is, “An unexpected error prevented access to this file. Use ScanDisk to check the disk for errors, and then try using Inbox Repair tool again”.

This error is thrown out by Scanpst as the disk that holds your Outlook data is severely fragmented, affected by CRC errors and other related problems. From the view of disk error, Scanpst can only cope errors involved with the PST file, not with hard disk. And, running Inbox Repair tool directly doesn’t help in solving unexpected error prevented access to this file in Outlook.

Common Causes of the "Unexpected Error Prevented Access to PST File" Error

Corrupted PST File - Outlook unexpected error may be caused by PST file corruption. The PST files may be corrupted because of power fluctuations, improper shutdown, etc.. due to this the error might be caused. Repairing a corrupt PST file may fix this issue.

File System Issues - This error may be caused If there is an issue with the file system where the PST file resides, as it denies access to the PST file and eventually leads to an Outlook unexpected error preventing access to this file issue.

Software Conflicts - Any other software on the system, may interfere with Outlook and denies access to PST files, and might lead to an unexpected error has occurred on Outlook issue. Especially an anti-virus tool mistakenly flags the PST file as a threat and denies access to it.

Network or Server Issues - Any network or server issue might cause Outlook an unexpected error has occurred difficulty. For example, if your PST file is saved on a network location or exchange server this kind of problem may occur

How to Fix Outlook Unexpected Error?

Method 1: Use the ScanDisk Utility

Method 2: Run ScanPST.exe

Method 3: Repair Corrupt PST File using Yodot Outlook PST Repair

Tips to Avoid Unexpected Error Prevented Access to PST File

Conclusion

Here I have talked about fixing the outlook an unexpected error has occurred issue by the ScanDisk utility, inbox repair tool (ScanPST.exe), and the professional Outlook PST Repair tool. Make use of these tools wisely to fix the issue.

Method 1: Use the ScanDisk Utility

Method 2: Run ScanPST.exe

Use the ScanPST.exe to fix the outlook unexpected error by the below-given steps:

Note - Relaunch Outlook again once the repair process completes.

Note: Location of Scanpst- C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX” on a 32bit Windows OS or to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OfficeXX, where XX denotes the Outlook version.

The Outlook unexpected error prevented access to this file issue might be caused by PST file corruption. You can quickly repair your corrupt PST file with the Yodot Outlook PST Repair. This tool can even repair severely corrupted PST files and PST Files which are larger than 20 GB of file size. Download and try the tool for a hassle-free PST file recovery

yodot-outlook-pst-repair-review

Method 3: Repair Corrupt PST File using Yodot Outlook PST Repair

Tips to Avoid Unexpected Error Prevented Access to PST File:

  • Regularly keep track of errors or presence of bad media spots on hard drive using ChkDsk utility
  • Backup Outlook PST file recurrently to save yourself from file corruption issues

Conclusion:

I hope you got an idea of how to fix outlook unexpected error prevented access to this file issue by this article. Use the article wisely to fix this issue. If you think that PST file can’t access issue occurred because of PST file corruption, then use the Yodot Outlook PST Repair tool to fix the error.

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