opening outlook from vba shell() I get error "cannot open your default email folders"

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The command to open outlook is below:
conPATH_TO_OUTL OOK is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14 \outlook.exe

retVal = Shell(conPATH_T O_OUTLOOK, vbMaximizedFocu s)
the error message is "cannot open your default e-mail folders. the infomation store could not be opened"

If I go to the path target and click on outlook.exe then it opens without any problems
it would seem that my user info is not being transmitted

I am using windows7 on a company intranet server
any help with this would be appreciated