Outlook stuck on Loading Profile or Processing screen

If when you launch your Microsoft Outlook desktop client on your Windows PC, it is stuck at the Loading Profile or Processing stage, then this post may be able to help you.

I was working on my laptop and needed to open a PDF file. Edge being the default PDF file opener, it suddenly sprang to life, and – BAM – the next thing I saw was the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Stop Error screen and my PC restarted.

On the restart, when I launched Outlook, I found that it would not go beyond the Loading Profile splash screen. After a while, I opened it in Safe Mode but found that one of my email accounts had no email in it and was displaying an empty folder.

Outlook stuck on Loading Profile or Processing

This could happen if your personal Outlook .ost or .pst data files have been corrupted and Outlook is thus unable to load your profile. Anyway, if you are facing this issue, here are a few things you could try.

1. Restart PC and relaunch Outlook
2. Start Outlook in Safe Mode
3. Repair email account
4. Reconnect Outlook client
5. Delete Outlook profile folders
6. Reset the Outlook navigation pane.

1] Restart PC and relaunch Outlook

Sometimes restarting the PC and relaunching Outlook may just make the problem go away, so do not take this suggestion lightly, but try it at least once.

2] Start Outlook in Safe Mode

If it does not help, launch Outlook in Safe Mode and see if you are able to syn that email account. If you are lucky, it may just work! In case you do not know, to launch Outlook in safe mode, simply hold the CTRL key and double-click on the Outlook icon to run it. Or you could Run outlook /safe command.

Read: Outlook stuck on updating inbox

3] Repair email account

You may want to repair that Outlook email account and see if that helps you. This process will enable network connection, search for the email account settings and log on to the server to confirm that all is fine.

4] Reconnect Outlook client

If that does not help, reconnect your Outlook client to Outlook.com and see if that resolves the issue. Basically what you need to do is either create a new Profile or remove that email account from Microsoft Outlook and then recreate it, by following the procedure mentioned in that post.

Read: Outlook stuck on Verifying data integrity

5] Delete Outlook profile folders

Create a system restore point first and then Run regedit to open The Registry Editor. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles

This key stores your Outlook profile folders. The default Outlook profile is “Outlook.” Right-click on Outlook and delete it.

6] Reset the Outlook navigation pane

To reset the Outlook navigation pane which is located at the left or bottom,run the following command:

outlook /resetnavpane

Once done see if it has helped.

If you have any other suggestions or a freeware tool that can help, please post your comments.

See these posts if you have other Outlook problems:

1. Outlook is not responding, has stopped working, freezes or hangs
2. Unable to access PST File or start Outlook after upgrading
3. Troubleshoot Microsoft Outlook problems like freezing, corrupt PST, Profile, Add-in, etc.