Allow Outlook to make changes to this computer?

When I try to start Outlook, I get the following question;
“Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?”

If I click “No”, nothing happens. If I click “Yes”, I get the error;
“No profiles have been created. To create a new profile, use the Mail icon in the Control Panel.”

This error is then directly followed by;
“Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The server is not available. Contact your administrator if this condition persists.”

I went to the Mail applet in Control Panel and my mail profile and mail account is configured as it should but still Outlook does not open. I’m the administrator of this computer;
How can I get Outlook to work again?

The amount of error boxes that you get would suggest a major issue but luckily the issue is very easy to solve; disable Compatibility Mode for Outlook.

Accessing the Compatibility tab
You can find the compatibility settings by right clicking on the Outlook shortcut and then choosing Properties. In this dialog, there is a Compatibility tab. Select it and make sure that none of the options are selected.

If you use Windows 7 and have the Outlook icon pinned to your Taskbar, then you must first right click on that icon and then right click again on the Outlook icon in the menu that pops up to find the Properties option.

Opening the Outlook Properties dialog from the Windows 7 Taskbar.

None of the compatibility options should be enabled for Outlook.

The error sequence in order
Below you’ll find the full error sequence. Depending on your Outlook version, the dialogs might look a little bit different.

First you get a User Account Control (UAC) prompt.

Then Outlook tells you that there is no mail profile configured…

…and informs you that the Outlook window cannot be opened.

Note: If you only get the error that the Outlook window cannot be opened see; Cannot open the Outlook window error