Microsoft Outlook is one of the most important email clients that help running a business smoothly. It stores the entire data in PST file format and in OST while synchronizing with Exchange Server. To keep the PST file secure, users generally protect it with the help of a password. However, it is possible that you forgot or lost the password of PST file due to some reasons. In fact, this is the most common scenarios that can be estimated with the increasing query of users i.e. how to unlock password protected PST file?
If you have the same question, which is yet to resolve then, you have certainly landed on a right page. Here, in this blog, we have come up with three possible solutions to open password protected PST file outlook 2010. One of these methods consists of the use of a third party tool, which makes the entire process easy and quick.
Solutions to Unlock Password Protected PST File
These are 3 popular approaches that you can opt for unlocking a password protected Outlook PST as mentioned below.
Method 1: Using Microsoft Outlook
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- In MS Outlook 2010, hit on the tab of File >> Account Settings >> Account Settings
- Now, a new window appears on your screen as Account Settings. You need to click on the tab of “Data File” Once you do that, choose the path that display PST extension and click on the “Settings”
- As soon as you click on Settings button, a new window pops-up on the screen. You are instructed to modify the password. In order to do this, hit on “Change Password.”
- In the next step, set the desired password and then hit on OK button.
- In MS Outlook 2010, hit on the tab of File >> Account Settings >> Account Settings
All these above-mentioned steps, it is feasible to protect the MS Outlook PST file and increase the privacy of Outlook data.
Method 2: Using Microsoft Free Utility ‘pst19upg.exe’
Keeping the PST encrypted is good to ensure the security of the data. However, once lost or forgot whenever you try to put any password, it will show an error as the password is incorrect or wrong.
Therefore, apart from the attempting the first method to unlock password protected PST file, you can even opt for this method. In this, you need to take the help of a free third-party utility to unlock PST file.
The name of this tool, which is provided by Microsoft, is pst19upg.exe. It can remove the password from Outlook data file and you can easily download from the official website. Once you download it, you need to follow these below stated steps:
- Firstly, you are instructed to clock Microsoft Outlook
- Now, find the location of scapst.exe tool in your machine. You can find in these locations:
- Location in Microsoft Outlook 2002 and XP: C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\\scanpst.exe
- Location in Microsoft Outlook 2000: C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\\NT\scanpst.exe
- Location in Microsoft Outlook 97/ 98: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Windows Messaging\scanpst.exe
- Now, run this application and hit on Repair button. It is important to create the backup of Outlook data before implementing this repair process
- Once it is done, hit on Start button and then go to Run or press Windows Key + R
- Now, type in CMD and hit on Enter button
- Then, copy the location of PST into the command prompt.
- As soon as you do this, the copy of PST will be generated as “abc.psx”, where abc is the name of the file
- Rename your PST file as the old PST, once you have finished the task.
- Next, at the command prompt, type in “pst19upg.exe-newfilename.psx” then, hit on Enter button
- A password free PST file will be created from Outlook PST
- Now, run Scanpst.exe and repair recently produced PST
- Finally, open your Microsoft Outlook and verify the Outlook data file.
Limitations of pst19upg.exe: There is a drawback associated with this free utility. It can work only in Microsoft Outlook 2003 and new versions. This means you cannot use it on MS Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, and 2003. The tool can only remove the password from ANSI PST type, not from UNICODE PST.
Method 3: Outlook Password Recovery Tool
There is a method, which does not come with any limitation and you can easily access in every Windows Operating system. In this solution, you need to take the help of Outlook Password Recovery utility, which has the potential to remove password from pst file effortlessly. It can unlock the PST of both type i.e. ANSI and UNICODE created on MS Outlook 2016 and below version.
Sum It Up
In the above blog, we have learned that many users have the same query i.e. how to unlock password protected PST file. However, they do not have a proper solution for this. Therefore, considering this, we have discussed two manual and one automated solution. Users can opt for any of the approaches according to their need.