ScanPST location: every Outlook version path in one place

ScanPST is an extremely reliable inbox repair tool that users use with Outlook. However, there is one major hurdle that prevents most users from taking advantage of its potential. Apart from not having heard of the tool, can be challenging to locate ScanPST for new users.

The thing is, that ScanPST location may vary depending on the version of Outlook you have installed and may not show up while using the Windows search bar.

Where can I find the Outlook repair tool?

The Outlook repair tool is scanpst.exe, and for most modern installations you will find it at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\scanpst.exe. That path covers Outlook 2016, 2019, 2021, and every current Microsoft 365 subscription build, because all of them share the Office16 folder regardless of their release year.

The Scanpst.exe (Inbox Repair tool) is a desktop application, so it does not appear in your Start menu by default and will not always surface in a Windows search. The fastest route is to open File Explorer, paste the path directly into the address bar, and press Enter. You will land in the correct folder immediately. From there, double-click scanpst.exe to open it.

If you are on a 32-bit Office installation running on a 64-bit copy of Windows, substitute Program Files with Program Files (x86) in the path above. That swap catches the vast majority of cases where the folder appears to be missing entirely.

ScanPST Location As Per Outlook Version

Outlook 2019

• 32-bit Version: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office19
• 64-bit Version: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office19

Outlook 2016

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\
• 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\

Outlook 2013

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\
• 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\

Outlook 2010

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft office\Office 14\
• 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft office\Office 14\

Outlook 2007

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft office\Office 12\
• 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft office\Office 12\

Outlook 2003

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\ Common Files\System\MSMAPI\
• 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\

Outlook 2002 or XP

• 32-bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\

Outlook 2000

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MAPI\locale ID\NT\scanpst.exe

Outlook 97 / Outlook 98

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Windows Messaging\scanpst.exe

ScanPST Location for Outlook 2021 and Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

One of the most common reasons users cannot find ScanPST is that they are running a Click-to-Run installation of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) or Outlook 2021. These versions install Office in a virtualized environment and place scanpst.exe in a different root directory than traditional MSI-based installations. If you are using Microsoft 365 or Outlook 2021, the ScanPST location is as follows:

• Microsoft 365 / Outlook 2021 (64-bit Office, 64-bit Windows): C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\scanpst.exe
• Microsoft 365 / Outlook 2021 (32-bit Office, 64-bit Windows): C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\scanpst.exe
• Microsoft 365 / Outlook 2021 (32-bit Office, 32-bit Windows): C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\scanpst.exe

Note that even though Outlook 2021 is a newer release, it still uses the Office16 folder naming convention, the same as Outlook 2016 and 2019 Click-to-Run builds. This surprises many users who expect an “Office21” folder to exist. If you navigate to the path above and still cannot see scanpst.exe, confirm whether your Office installation is Click-to-Run by opening any Office app, going to File > Office Account > About Outlook, and checking for the words “Click-to-Run” in the version string.

For Office 365 subscribers specifically, Microsoft periodically updates the installation, so the scanpst.exe file should always be present at the path listed above as long as Outlook is fully installed. If you access Outlook exclusively through a web browser (Outlook on the Web), ScanPST will not be available, as it is a desktop-only tool designed to repair locally stored PST and OST data files.

ScanPST location on Windows 10 vs Windows 11

The file paths are identical on both operating systems. Scanpst location Windows 10 and Scanpst location Windows 11 resolve to the same directory because the path is determined by your Office installation type, not by your Windows version. What changes between the two is how reliably you can find the file using each OS’s built-in search.

On Windows 10, typing “scanpst” into the taskbar search sometimes surfaces the executable directly, especially if the search index has had time to crawl the Program Files directories. On Windows 11, that same search more often returns nothing, because Windows 11 changed the default indexing scope. I have seen this confuse a lot of people into thinking the file is missing when it is sitting exactly where it should be.

The reliable method on both systems is File Explorer’s address bar. Open File Explorer, click into the address bar, paste your version-appropriate path from the table above, and press Enter. That approach bypasses the indexer entirely and works first time on every machine I have tried it on.

Where is the scanpst file in Windows 11?

On Windows 11, scanpst.exe sits in exactly the same folder as it does on Windows 10. The Scanpst location Windows 11 path for a 64-bit Microsoft 365 or Outlook 2021 installation is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\scanpst.exe. Windows 11 changed a great deal about the shell and Start menu, but it did not move any of the Office program directories.

There is one Windows 11 behaviour worth knowing. Windows 11 applies more aggressive SmartScreen filtering than Windows 10 did, so the first time you double-click scanpst.exe from File Explorer you may see a blue “Windows protected your PC” dialog. Click “More info” and then “Run anyway”. Microsoft signed the binary, so this prompt is a caution, not a warning that anything is wrong.

If you searched for the file using the Windows 11 taskbar search and got zero results, that is expected. The Windows 11 search index does not always index deep subdirectories inside Program Files on first run. Use the File Explorer address bar paste method described above instead, and you will find it in under ten seconds.

How to Find ScanPST?

Well, knowing where ScanPST is located is one thing, accessing it is another. Here are a few methods that you can use to access and open ScanPST. While these methods should work for most Outlook versions, these steps specifically cater to Outlook 19, 16, and above.

1. Locate ScanPST Using Search

Copying the folder path is the fastest and easiest method that you can use to locate ScanPST.

1. Open Windows File Explorer.

2. Copy the appropriate file address from the table above.

3. Paste it onto the file explore the search bar and hit Enter.

2. Locate ScanPST Via Manual Browsing

The most straightforward way to access ScanPST is through manual browsing. Pay close attention, follow the steps and you will have access to ScanPST in no time.

1. Open Windows File Explorer.

2. Click on This PC in the left-hand column.

3. Click on your primary drive. (Usually C:)

4. Click on Program Files or Program Files (x86).
(If one doesn’t work come back and try the Other)

5. Click on Microsoft Office.

6. Click on Root.

7. Click on Office 16/19.

(You may see multiple Outlook files, figure out which one is correct)

8. Locate and open ScanPST.

Unable to Locate ScanPST?

If you can’t find ScanPST or if ScanPST, you can use alternatives. Rikvr Repair For Outlook is an ideal scanPSt alternative that is not only easy to use but can repair extreme levels of PST File corruption that ScanPST cannot.

What to do when ScanPST is genuinely missing

If you have navigated to the correct folder and scanpst.exe is not there, three things are worth checking before you reinstall anything. The first is your antivirus quarantine log. Some security tools flag scanpst.exe as suspicious because it reads and writes binary mail data at a low level. Open your antivirus dashboard, check the quarantine or exclusions list, and restore the file if it is sitting there.

The second possibility is a partial or interrupted Office installation. This happens more often than Microsoft’s documentation acknowledges, particularly after a forced Windows Update that interrupted an in-progress Office update. To fix it, open Settings, go to Apps, find Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365, click Modify, and run the Quick Repair option. Quick Repair restores missing binaries without touching your data files or requiring an internet connection. If Quick Repair finishes and the file is still absent, run Online Repair instead.

The third cause is rarer but worth knowing. If your organisation uses a shared computer or a virtualised desktop environment, the IT policy may have removed scanpst.exe deliberately to prevent users from modifying mail data locally. In that scenario, neither repair option will help. You will need to ask your administrator to restore it or use a machine where you have full local Office rights.

One thing people skip: after running either repair option, confirm the file is present before opening Outlook again. The repair completes without telling you which specific files it restored, so a quick check of the folder path takes five seconds and saves you from wondering whether it worked.

How to Run ScanPST Once You Have Located It

Finding scanpst.exe is only the first step knowing how to use it correctly ensures your Outlook data file is repaired without further data loss. Before you begin, close Microsoft Outlook completely, as running ScanPST while Outlook is open can produce inaccurate scan results or even cause additional file corruption. Once Outlook is closed, navigate to the scanpst.exe location appropriate for your Outlook version and double-click the file to launch it.

1. Open ScanPST: Navigate to the correct folder path for your Outlook version (see the table above) and double-click scanpst.exe.
2. Browse to your PST or OST file: In the ScanPST window, click Browse and navigate to your Outlook data file. The default PST location on most systems is C:\Users\[YourUsername]\Documents\Outlook Files\ or C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\.
3. Start the scan: Click the Start button. ScanPST will analyze the file for errors. This may take several minutes depending on the file size.
4. Review scan results: Once the scan completes, ScanPST will display a summary of errors found. If errors exist, you will see a Repair button become active.
5. Create a backup (recommended): Before clicking Repair, ensure the “Make a backup of scanned file before repairing” checkbox is ticked. This creates a .bak copy of your original file as a safety net.
6. Run the repair: Click Repair. ScanPST will fix structural errors in the PST file and notify you when the process is complete.
7. Reopen Outlook: After repair, relaunch Outlook. If items were recovered, they will appear in a folder called Recovered Personal Folders in your folder list.

It is worth noting that ScanPST repairs file structure errors but does not recover permanently deleted emails. If the repair completes but Outlook still shows errors, you may need to run ScanPST a second time, as very heavily corrupted files sometimes require multiple passes before all errors are resolved. For PST files larger than 2 GB or severely damaged archives, a dedicated third-party PST repair tool may yield better results.

To Conclude

I hope you were able to locate and use ScanPST to repair your PST file. The best way to avoid such issues is to create and maintain a backup PST file. If you have any feedback or related queries, please reach out.

Frequently Asked Questions