Tips To Solve 'scanpst.exe Fails With Fatal Error: 80040818' Outlook Error
Microsoft provides Outlook with a tool called Scanpst that is capable of fixing corruption problems with Outlook .pst file
. As the name applies, the tool examines the corrupted file and attempts to repair what it can. It checks the PST file directory structure and analyzes the headers of all mail items. Also called Inbox Repair Tool, it is not able to correct all problems with the .pst file. Some of the file corruption problems may remain unfixed. At this point, you will need to restore the corrupted file either from backup or repair it using more powerful third-party repair applications.
Consider a situation when your .pst file gets corrupted in Outlook 2007. When you try to repair the file by running Inbox Repair Tool, it fails to fix the corruption and instead gives the below error message:
scanpst.exe fails with Fatal Error: 80040818
Cause
The possible cause of this error is that PST file has been brought from an earlier version Outlook to Outlook 2007. Outlook 2002 and earlier versions have ANSI formatted .pst file with size limitation of 2 GB. Though Outlook 2003 IMAP4 and HTTP accounts still use the ANSI .pst files, but its other accounts and as well as Outlook 2007 support UNICODE file format with extended file size value of 20 GB.
Unless you modify the Windows registry to give a size warning for .pst file, Outlook will not warn against its higher than expected value. The error occurs with a .pst file having large size that Scan Pst cannot repair.
Solution
You can try these fixes to overcome the issue:
You can use PST Crop Tool to reduce it overall size. Make sure you backup the file prior doing so as some of your emails can get deleted. You can delete the unwanted items as well.
Try to repair the file by moving it to a system installed with earlier version of Outlook
If PST is still corrupted, you should use third-party tools. These software apply exclusive scanning algorithms to repair and restore a corrupted .pst file. The software work even when Scanpst fails.
Stellar Phoenix Outlook PST Repair is a fully-featured repair utility with powerful features to repair damaged or corrupted PST file. It is a safe tool with support to Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 and 2000. The software is easy-to-use with self-descriptive interface. You can use it when Scan Pst has failed. It recovers and restores all PST file objects at a safe location.