Fix: Microsoft Outlook Crashes ‘KERNELBASE.DLL’

If you are an Outlook user then you might experience the Appcrash issue. Every time you will open Microsoft Outlook, it will crash and give you an error Microsoft Outlook has stopped working. If you click on the Show details from the error dialog, you will see the details of the problem. The event name will be APPCRASH and the Faulty Module will be the KERNELBASE.dll. This problem will, of course, prevent you from using the Outlook. However, there are cases where your Outlook will crash only when you open an email. So, some users will be able to at least open the Microsoft Outlook whereas other users won’t be able to keep the Microsoft Outlook open.

The issue is usually caused by a corrupt or damaged Outlook profile or a corrupt Personal Data File (PST) or Offline Data File (OST). Usually, this is resolved by simply creating a new Outlook profile. Another thing that might cause this issue are the add-ins. Add-ins can be very useful but some of the add-ins might have a bug or they might be damaged. Since add-ins run with the application, if there is a problematic add-in then it will crash the application. So, add-ins can also be behind this issue.

Method 1: Create New Outlook Profile

Since the most likely cause is a corrupt Outlook profile, simply recreating the Outlook Profile will resolve this issue for you.

Here are the steps for recreating your Outlook Profile

1. Make sure Outlook is closed
2. Hold Windows key and press R
3. Type control panel and press Enter

4. Click View by and select small icons from the drop down menu

5. Click Mail

6. Click Show Profiles

7. Click Add

8. Enter the name you want to give to the new profile and click Ok

9. You will see a new dialog named Add New Account. This dialog is needed to enter the information related to your account. Usually, this will be automatically filled but if it doesn’t then you need to fill in the details like Email address (and other details as per your requirement) and click Next
10. Click Finish once you are done
11. Make sure the option Always use this profile is selected
12. Select your newly created profile from the drop down menu just under the Always use this profile option

13. Click Apply then select Ok

Now start Outlook and check if this resolved the issue or not.

Method 2: Disable Add-ins

This method is for people who are experiencing the Outlook crash upon opening or clicking on an email. This method requires you to open Outlook and you won’t be able to follow the steps if you can’t even open the Outlook.

Sometimes, there might be an issue with one (or multiple) add-ins of Outlook. The best way to check whether the problem is caused by an add-in is to disable all of them and then trying to open the email that causes Outlook to crash. If the problem doesn’t appear then it clearly means that the issue was with the add-ins. Let’s first look at the steps on how to disable the add-ins in Outlook.

1. Open Outlook
2. Click File
3. Select Options

4. Select Add-Ins from the left pane
5. Click Go. This button should be at the bottom and in front of the Manage section

6. Now click on the boxes and uncheck the boxes for all add-ins. This will disable these add-ins
7. Click Ok once you are done

Now check if the problem persists or not. If the problem is still there then simply repeat all the steps given above and check the boxes for the add-ins you want to enable. On the other hand, if the problem is gone then this means the problem was because of one of the (or multiple) add-ins. In this case, simply repeat all of the steps given above and check only one box to enable one add-in. Click ok and check enabling this add-in has brought back the problem or not. If the problem isn’t back then this add-in is fine. Repeat the steps given above and enable another add-in. Now check if the problem has reappeared or not. Keep doing this and enable all the add-ins one by one. This will help you check which add-in is causing the issue. Once you locate the problematic add-in, simply follow the steps given above and select the add-in. Now click Remove to delete it. Click Ok and you should be good to go.