Windows Mail

Check out this post: Winmail setup ok in Windows 7 but UI disappeared . The discussion implies that maybe one of the msoe.dll files (32 or 64) may be out of date but upon comparing my updated Vista 32-bit system with the current tutorial, they seem to be the same based on size and date:
1,616,384 1/29/10

oceano said:

Manually show hidden files ...

The path to show hidden files has nothing to do with the Windows Mail program itself, but is needed to be set temporarily to "show hidden files" in Windows Explorer so that some Windows files can be manipulated. The "View" section of "Folder Options" is found through Control Panel>>Folder Options or in any Windows Explorer window with the menu bar turned on (File Edit View Tools Help) under Tools>>Folder Options... If you want you can always show hidden files but if you also show "Protected Operating System Files" it may clutter your desktop and folders with stuff you don't want to see.

Edit: After reading your question again, I realize you're asking about "restore default view settings". You are right that would wipe out all you're customizations, which you don't have to do. The instructions are merely saying you can undo the view changes you made for the purpose of installing Windows Mail.

A friend of mine has recently began having the same problem with Windows mail that I installed on his Windows 7 Professional system.
It turned out, that with his system at least, it was the VPN that he had recently paid for and made a new network connection for that was stopping Mail connecting, once that was disconnected everything worked fine. I've not been able to find out why the VPN is stopping it though, I would appreciate any suggestions anyone might have in addressing this.

Raymond2512 said:

I installed windows mail in my windows 7 following your explanations here... It was working perfect but after some month, now it does not connect to the server. I do not know if I have to re install it or if it was disable by a recent update from microsoft. I will appreciated your answer. Thanks a lot again.
Raymond

There was a Microsoft update several months back that stopped WinMail working. Do not uninstall this update.

If this is the cause of the problem, to fix it simply replace the msoe.dll file in Windows Mail folder as per Step 4 of the tutorial on page one of this thread. The download buttons will give you an updated msoe.dll file. If that doesn't help, unfortunately I can't offer any other solution, except maybe to run the whole tutorial.

Cheers PB

kewl1 said:

That's odd. I was not effected on my laptop or desktop. Everything is still fine here. There are however two "optional " updates I have not downloaded both for "Windows Live Essentials". Could they be the ones? One has the number kb2434419 and the other has no number.

The update is KB 978542 and is a security update which modifies the msoe.dll file in Windows Mail folder in program files.

For reasons unknown, this update did not affect WinMail in my 32bit version of Windows 7, but completely stopped WinMail working in 64bit version. Are you using 32bit Windows 7?

After the KB978542 update had become available, the tutorial was edited to provide a new modified msoe.dll file. These latest msoe.dll files came from Vista 32 and 64bit installations that had the KB update installed, which meant the msoe.dll files were modified in these versions of Vista.

Once the KB update is installed on your PC, and you have subsequently fixed WinMail with the current updated msoe.dll file from the tutorial, you should not uninstall the KB update. If you do, the next time you get Windows updates, it will download this update again, and it will once again modify the msoe.dll so it stops WinMail working.

However, if the KB update is left in the system, and the modified msoe.dll done afterwards, when Windows updates are next installed, the update engine will see the installed KB update, but not recognize the actual msoe.dll file as a Vista file, and hence will not see any need to reinstall the update again.