Microsoft KB Archive/317031

= OLEXP: How to Share the Store Folder Among Multiple Windows XP Users =

Article ID: 317031

Article Last Modified on 7/13/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0

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This article was previously published under Q317031



SUMMARY
If two or more people share a Windows XP-based computer with different user accounts, they may want to share the same message store. The message store is the physical file structure on the drive in which Outlook Express stores e-mail messages.

By default, each user of Outlook Express has a unique message store folder. The default location for each user's message store folder is on the same partition on which Windows XP is installed. The default location for each user's message store folder is

Documents and Settings\ \Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{ }\Microsoft\Outlook Express

where  refers to the name of the logged on user and { } refers to the Class ID. The Class ID is a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), a unique and lengthy alphanumeric text string that uniquely identifies an object in Microsoft Windows.

This article shows you how to configure separate Windows XP user accounts to share the same Microsoft Outlook Express message store.



Configure the First Windows XP User Account to Use the Message Store

 * 1) In Outlook Express, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Maintenance tab.
 * 2) On the Maintenance tab, click the Store Folder button.
 * 3) Make a note of the exact path to the current store folder.

You can now move the store folder to a different location if you want to or leave the message store in the current location. Whichever you choose, you must note the exact path because you use this path when you set up the second and subsequent accounts.
 * 1) After you make the change to the store location if you want to, close the Options dialog box.

Configure Other Windows XP User Accounts to Use the Same Message Store
Set up the second and subsequent Windows XP user accounts to use the same Outlook Express message store as the first Windows XP user account. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) In Windows XP, log on as the next user, and then start Outlook Express.
 * 2) On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Maintenance tab.
 * 3) On the Maintenance property sheet, click the Store Folder button.
 * 4) Change the path of the message store folder to the path that you noted in step 3 of the previous procedure, &quot;Configure the First Windows XP User Account to Use the Message Store.&quot;
 * 5) Click OK to close the Store Location dialog box.
 * 6) Click OK to close the Outlook Express Options dialog box.
 * 7) Restart Outlook Express for the changes to take effect. For each subsequent user account that you want to share the same message store folder, follow steps 1 through 7.

Keywords: kbinfo KB317031

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