Error message when you start Outlook 2010: "The SharePoint external list could not be configured correctly"

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a server that is running Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 with an Enterprise client access license (CAL) enabled.

• You create a Business Connectivity Services (BCS) simple solution that uses the externallist.

• You take this external list offline to Microsoft Outlook 2010.

• You right-click the list folder, click Data File Properties, click the Advanced tab, and then click Change Password.

• You leave the Old Password field blank and type a simple password in the New Password field. You click OK two times.

• You exit and then restart Outlook 2010.

• When you are prompted to enter a password for the external folder, you cancel the prompt and then enter your password two times.

In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

Note When you click OK to close the error message, the BCS Simple Solution store in Outlook 2010 may be removed and may no longer be available in Outlook 2010.

After this issue occurs, you receive the error message when Outlook starts.

Workaround

To work around this issue, follow these steps:

1. If Outlook 2010 is running, exit the program.

2. Click Start, click Run, copy or type the following path into the Open box, and then press Enter:

   %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\BCS

3. Delete the file BCSStorage.pst.

4. Start Outlook 2010. You receive an error message that the external list initialization has failed.

5. Click Yes to uninstall the external list.

6. Restart Outlook 2010.

After you follow these steps, you have to take the external list offline to Outlook 2010 again.