Solved Windows Mail mshtml.dll crash

[tktk88]

I am experiencing a random crash in windows mail appears to be isolated to a few senders ie. Best Buy and Angies List when I click on emails from these senders in the inbox I get the following crash :

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: WinMail.exe
Application Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Application Timestamp: 4a5bca09
Fault Module Name: mshtml.dll
Fault Module Version: 11.0.9600.16476
Fault Module Timestamp: 52948abb
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00000000001a25ee
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 01f2
Additional Information 2: 01f2bfb0b73137abe7f6aebc6753b15c
Additional Information 3: dec6
Additional Information 4: dec6f4cf3d357670454f3ec94c2e4ec0

This has been going on for approximately a month possibly associated with an update from Windows but not sure.......I even did a clean install of Windows 7 Pro last week to see if that would help but still have the same issue I am running Windows 7 Pro all latest updates and IE Explorer 11 When the crash occurs and I get the crash message closing and reopening windows mail works fine, however any messages in the inbox are unreadable after the crash

Windows Mail is installed per the tutorial on the site have successfully used it for years.....

 

[andjayik]

i am getting the same thing as well??

 

[Slartybart]

Is it one or two msgs from those senders or every msg from those senders?

Caution: some eMail contain malware. The following might expose your system to that if it is in the msg.
Unless you're familiar with mime encoding, it's hard to distinguish an image from code just by looking at the source. It is a caution not a warning because most malware require you to click something or visit somewhere.

:ar: To limit your exposure to possible malware in this exercise,
:ar: disconnect from the Internet before you try to open the new .hmtl file

I don't know if there is malware in the msg or not - I take precautionary steps when I'm uncertain about an eMail.

With that ouf the way.....
Try right clicking the problem msg,
select properties from the opions presented,
then select display details

Copy the contents of the source (display details window) to a new file with an .html extension, then see if your browser can open it.
-

 

[andjayik]

as soon as u click on that message mail shuts down, u can even delete it. I also found certain normal emails do the same thing now. Even did a clean win7 install and the same thing happens. all this started to happen with the new windows updates recently.

 

[tktk88]

Unfortunately when it crashes there is no info or access to the emails remaining in the inbox..............I have turned off all add ons in IE Explorer 11 with no change to this additionally I replaced the mshtml.dll file with one from my laptop with no change the files from both computers are dated 11/26/2013 is there a newer version of the file?? The crash occurs from known safe sites mainly bestbuy.com and angies list

 

[andjayik]

mine crashes from my own emails as well, not all a few

 

[Slartybart]

Yeah, you see..... the dirty little truth is that WinMail isn't really supported.

The reinstate tutorial was written back in 2009 or 2010, it was updated again at some point, and then a 3rd time when I joined Sevenforums, I thought I'd try to pick up all the pieces scattered around in comments and make it more streamlined.

Knowing that it is only a few msgs helps. Finding a "fix" won't be easy.

Is the original eMail still on the server. If it is, download that copy of the msg from the web based client to your Downloads folder.

The error is in mshtml and is specific to certain msgs. Finding out what is in those msgs might help figure this out.

could be video, could be flash, could be html5 code.

Don't post the msg here, it contains your eMail address. I'll figure out something to do with it.

See if you can save a copy, or look at the msg in the web client - give some feed back on anything that pops out
such as: every problem msg has an ad in it pointing to xyz, or every msgs has video in it... those sort of things.

We kneew this day was coming, technology continues to move forward (new techologies like HTML5) and from the time of development - WinMail is 8 or 9 years old. There might NOT be a solution. Let's find out what it is though, then you can decide if you an live with it, or if you have to bite teh bullet and install a supported Mail client.

 

[Slartybart]

After giving this some thought, I wondered if IE 10 or IE 11 is the culprit here as I implied.

An "easy" test would be to roll back to IE9.
"Easy" in quotes because there have been some issues on some machines rolling back IE.

A newer mshtml isn't the answer - the dll that comes with IE10 or IE 11 might be the cause.
mshtml.dll on my system is version 9.0.8112.20637

Note that I took WinMail off my system shortly after consolidating the reinstate tutorial. Why?
I didn't want to have to keep fighting technological advances just for an eMail client.

So I bit the bullet and installed WEMail 2011. I wasn't happy with it and tried a few other eMail clients - also not happy with them. I struggled with WEMail 2011, cursed a lot, and learned what could be done with it, complained abut the features I did not like and the features I thought were missing, peeked under the covers of this new client.

The underlying engine to MS mail clients has been Outlook Express for a long time. New paint and different ways of managing the msg store and contacts is all that really changed.

When WEMail 2012 was released, it had some initial new version issues, but it was dramtically more stable than WEMail 2011. It is very stable now. I got used to the user interface (there are still some things I don't like) and found some neat things that I really like.

So here's the rub.

• I don't have a test environment to set up WinMail (lost a mobo - no money to replace)
  and I'm not going to test WinMail on my production machine. It's a test machine vs. a production machine.
• If I did have a test environment, I don't have the data (msg) that casues the issue - it's only certain msgs on your machines. Testing would be near impossible trying this msg content or that msg content.
• Reinstating WinMail - as the tutorial says, it is not a supported client and as long as you accept being your own support......
• This is one of those cases where you have to be your own support. I'm willing to suggest some paths, but I don't have all the things needed to fully diagnose the issue. I'll give you my best guess and warn you about consequences (rolling back IE 10 or IE11 issues).
• There are other members that might help, but without the data causing the failure, they too would be trying to hit a target in a pitch black room.

So after that lengthy diatribe, it boils down to this.
You can try rolling back to IE9, possibly having to fix IE due to issues rolling back
I can see if there's a way to point WinMail to an older mshtml
You can test your data.

You have to ask
"Is an unsupported / reinstated mail client worth all this trouble?"
If your testing shows that IE needs to be rolled back
"Will I ever be able to update IE again?"
"What's more important to me? WinMail or an up-to-date browser?"

If the IE rollback solves the issue for a few msgs, then you'll have two back level apps running on your machine.

 

[andjayik]

I do not even have ie on my computer cause i removed it streamling win 7 and i still have that proble. So it's not a ie problem for me.

 

[Slartybart]

thought of something easier to try.

Install WEMail 2012 and configure an account for your ISP.
I suggest ticking the manually configure checkbox so you know exactly what values are configured for the account (WEMail automatcically sets up an account based on the domain. I've had problems with it, so I always configure an account manually)

Set up the account as POP3

Try downloading the problem msg into WEMail.

Note, you can have both WinMail and WEMail on your system side-by side. You should configure both clients so that they do NOT automatically send and receive - plus make sure "Leave a copy on the server is checked"

I'll post something if I see anyway to point WinMail at a component store version of mshtml.dll - I'm not hopeful though.

 

[andjayik]

Mail shuts down as soon as u click on the message, so theres no way of viewing ordeleting it for me. I just bypass the message

 

[Slartybart]

Ok, good info. The mshtml.dll is most likely on your system even though you removed IE - it is core technology used in other Windows features and applications. Thanks for the point of not IE. I don't know what to call it now.

I'll just call it mshtml from now on.
Can you tell me the version of mshtml.dll that is in
C:\Windows\System32
and
C:\Windows\SysWOW64
(if you have a 64 bit Windows)

I do not even have ie on my computer cause i removed it streamling win 7 and i still have that proble. So it's not a ie problem for me.

 

[tktk88]

Slartybart thanks for all the info on this topic I have other friends experiencing the same issue using winmail and IE 10 and 11 I am sure you are on the right track with the versions from IE 10 and 11 being the culprit........I certainly like and prefer winmail but I am not married to it.............moving forward with a newer version of email client is certainly a very viable option at this point....we have considered Mozilla Thunderbird as one option would like your thoughts on that as well as WE mail 2012 that you speak of is there a link to download it you could provide me as I am unfamiliar with it Thanks in advance

 

[andjayik]

file version 11.0.9600.16428 if that's what ur after. And it does say ie file. Strange that i don't even have ie on computer or use it.

 

[Slartybart]

Thansk for the version # - you and tktk88 are both at 11.0.9600.164## versions

Not strage really, dlls are used in many applications. MS just categorizes it as part of the IE project.
Makes sense really
MS html -> browsers used to be the only things concernd with HTML,
nowadays, almost everything has ties to HTML

 

[andjayik]

I'm thinking a update cause it only happened after the newest updates recently.

 

[endeavor]

Hi guys,

Slartybart let me know about this thread and so I came over to check it out.
I usually only monitor the WinMail thread and so normally would not see this thread.

I do have WinMail and IE11 installed of course, and use them every single day...always have and always will. I have all the very latest updates installed for both Windows & IE as well.

At first glance my version of files are the same as yours.
I've never had any crashes.

I do have extra test beds always set up and can test any scenario with complete immunity, and will offer to assist you.

tktk88 & andjayik
Naturally what I need are the emails themselves to test them to see if it will happen to me.
You can simply get the emails out of this folder:
C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\Inbox

The emails themselves will be named something like this but of course with different figures:
00AA6522-00000549.eml

You will know which one it is by matching the date & time of the offender by looking within WinMail at the inbox (without opening the email itself) ...and then going to that folder listed above and match the date & time up to what's in there. (have the 'Date Created' column visible and then sort by date created)

zip the offending emails, and send them to me for analysis

 

[andjayik]

i have no app data in users

 

[BrightBlessings]

i have no app data in users

It is a hidden folder. To view it http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/394-hidden-files-folders-show-hide.html

 

[andjayik]

the email is not in the inbox it"s in another folder i put into. i found the folder but all the eml files have the same date so i have no idea what email it is.