When you start Microsoft Outlook or try to open a personal folders (.pst) file or an offline folders (.ost) file, you may receive the following error message: where <file_path> is the path to the .pst file.

If you run the Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe), the file does not resolve the problem.

This problem occurs because the .pst and the .ost files have a 2 gigabyte (GB) size limitation, and the error message occurs when it is exceeded. The Inbox Repair Tool cannot correct this problem.

To resolve this problem, download the tool from the following Microsoft Download Center link:NOTE: Use the tool to create a truncated copy of the .pst file. The copy that is left after the tool completes does not have all the original data because the tool cuts a user defined amount of data from the file.

Recovery Limitations of the 2 GB Truncation Utility:

• You must have 2 GB of free hard disk space (to make a copy of the .pst file).
• The utility truncates the .pst file to under 2 GB. To have enough working space, truncate the file between 20 to 25 megabytes (MB) less than the 2 GB limit. The truncated data is removed from the new copy, which means some messages are missing from the recovered copy.

You can use this process to attempt to recover the data, but is not 100 percent successful. If this tool does work, it does not recover all of the data (the truncated data is missing).

Use the following steps to recover the data:

1. Download the tool from the following Microsoft Download Center link:
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B33B1DFF-6F50-411D-BBDF-82019DDA602E&amp;displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B33B1DFF-6F50-411D-BBDF-82019DDA602E&amp;displaylang=en)
2. Extract the 2gb152.exe file to an empty folder. You should see the following five files:
   • Msstdfmt.dll
   • Msvbvm60.dll
   • Pst2gb.exe
   • Readme.rtf
   • Readme.txt
3. Start the Pst2gb.exe program.
4. Click Browse to select the oversized .pst file, and then click Open.
5. Click Create, select the name and location of the truncated data file that you want to create, and then click Save.
6. Type in the amount of the data that you want to truncate in the .pst file. There is not a correct amount that you use. You can receive the best results if you use 20 to 25 MB, but you may have to truncate more or less. For example, if you truncate 25 MB of data and the process works, repeat the process and truncate the original oversize .pst file by only 15 MB. If that works, then try the process with 5 MB. If 25 MB does not work, repeat the process and truncate the original .pst by 35 MB. If the process does not work, increase the amount until the process is successful.
7. Run the Inbox Repair Tool (the Scanpst.exe file) on the smaller .pst file.
8. Open the repaired .pst file in Outlook.
9. (This step is recommended but the step is optional) If the file opens, right-click the root folder of the .pst, click Properties, and then click Compact Now to start the compression. For a file of this size, the compression may take approximately 4-8 hours.
10. If the file does not open, discard the truncated .pst file, and repeat the process with the original .pst file. Truncate more data than in the first attempt, and try the process again.
11. Install the following update or hotfix depending on the version of Outlook that you have.
    These updates prevent Outlook from allowing the .pst file to exceed the 2 GB maximum size. Use one of the following methods to manage the size of the .pst files:
    
    
    • Use more than one .pst file.
    • Use the archive feature.
    • Save attachments to a file system folder and delete them from messages.

The English-language version of this tool should have the following file attributes or later:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

It is possible that you may receive the following error message when you try to run the 2 GB Truncation Utility: If you receive this error message, use the following steps.

Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 SE, Microsoft Windows ME

1. Copy the MSstdfmt.dll file to the C:\Windows\System folder.
2. Open a command prompt, and then type the following command:
   REGSVR32 C:\Windows\System\MSSTDFMT.DLL

Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP

1. Copy the MSstdfmt.dll to the C:\<windir>\System32 folder.
2. Open a command prompt and type the following command
   REGSVR32 C:\windir\System32\MSSTDFMT.DLL
   where windir is either the WINNT or the Windows directory.