Trying to copy Outlook's .pst file while it's open results in file lock error

Question

I'm trying to use a simple folder copy as a nightly backup for the Outlook 2007 .pst file that contains all the mail, etc. But the copy operation results in this error on %AppData%\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst file:

I understand that this happens because Outlook is open. So I'm curious if there's a setting or some other way to prevent it from locking its .pst file?

(I remember Outlook Express did not use to lock its data file, as I was doing the same to back it up.)

Answer 1

You can't prevent Outlook to lock OST/PST files connected to the active profile. But you still can copy these files if you really need it using Volume Shadow Copy service and robocopy.