Windows Mail

How to Reinstate Windows Mail in Windows 7​

   Warning

Microsoft no longer supports Windows Mail, aka WinMail. It's recommended you use another well known supported email client. This Tutorial is for Advanced users who importantly have the Technical Ability to make the changes, have backups of everything including your OS, and to be your own tech support for WinMail going forward. If you decide to complete this tutorial you accept the fact that you are using WinMail as-is. It might be necessary to uninstall other email clients to resolve any WinMail conflicts in some environments. Understand it's likely that new OS updates from Microsoft will break WinMail's operation, and to fix make it necessary to rerun the tutorial again to reinstate it. With those things in mind, this tutorial was written so that you can rerun it without affecting WinMail user data.
Please see this Errata (Bug List) post before you install, to be aware of the current information about known issues using WinMail within Windows 7, these issues are programmatic and in most cases cannot be resolved by this tutorial, and will never be fixed.

Having said all of that disclaimer, if you have the technical ability, and can put up with the annoying minor byproduct bugs, then like so many of us still enjoy using WinMail on Windows 7 ...ymmv!

   Tip

As of January, 2025, the instructions given here supersede all other instructions given in forthcoming older posts. Realize some of the posts that follow are over 16 years old, and many of the link pointers within have become mislinked over time, many of the files or information within them is outdated, incomplete, or superseded with more accurate information - and so be careful. However you can always be sure that the latest info from all research is incorporated into this tutorial post, and its downloads are the latest available. This post is continuously kept up-to-date, and so..
...Always refer to this Tutorial post for the very latest updated information

This is the 4th iteration of the Windows 7, WinMail tutorial.

The process of this tutorial Will Not work to reinstate WinMail on Windows 8/10 !
Windows 8/10 users please go Here

Start here

1. Download tutorial package TutReWinMail.zip
   
   Download
   
   
2. Extract the TutReWinMail.zip into your user Downloads folder
   • Note: Be sure once extracted this is the address of the ''TutReWinMail'' folder:
   • C:\Users\username\Downloads\TutReWinMail... ... (if it's not there please put it there)
3. Navigate to your user Downloads\TutReWinMail folder to be sure the above is correct.
   • (..if you need more verbose install instructions to follow, download this WinMail Local Tutorial.zip)
   • Advanced Users can proceed below:

     ---

     (..log in for Full Access, being able to get support, remove ads, like, and even to post, etc..)

Advanced Users: ..use this easy excellent overview of the steps in the local tutorial:

• Open an Administrator Command Prompt. (screenshot showing in Administrator mode)
• copy/paste this line into the command prompt: cd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads\TutReWinMail\
• Your command prompt must now be showing you are at That Same Folder Address ..which contains the tutorial files that the batch file in the next step executes programs and copies files specifically from that folder address - if it's not there the batch file will fail since it cannot find what it needs!
• Next type in either winmail32 or win64mail <matching OS bit, to interactively process These Next Steps
• If you've finished to the bottom as shown in last screenshot, restart your machine (sets registry)
• Create a shortcut from WinMail.exe to your Desktop
• Open WinMail - it may prompt you one (or both) of These Two Notices ..click yes, and okay.
• They now should be already set, but you can manually check/set at any time These Default Settings
• That's pretty much all there is to it, and from here you setup the rest of the Windows Mail client (aka: WinMail) as normal within its various tab menus for Accounts, Options, Layout, etc, etc, to suit your individual needs.
• Lastly, but should be the First thing you do, is to Create A WinMail Backup (new version) ..Go to this next link and when you get there scroll down to the heading: Backup/Restore Procedures for further instructions.

   Information

See How to open an elevated Administrator Command Prompt
Important: The exact text provided by the tutorial must be entered into the Administrator Command Prompt.
Hint: to avoid typos, copy/paste the entire line containing the command into the Command Prompt window.
Also see: How to Enable Copy to Clipboard from the Windows 7 Command Prompt

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Every effort has been made to make this a step-by-step process, however, it is beyond the scope of a single tutorial to provide information on every command or concept. Search the Main Tutorial Section if you need greater detail on a concept or command presented in this tutorial.

Good luck, and long live WinMail

   Note

Made possible by members:
Mark (aka Mr GRiM) - provided the original tutorial
Poppa Bear - continued Mark's work within the 2nd version
endeavor - provided continuous feedback, changes, invaluable testing instrumental to tutorial operations
EKManitis - propose the batch code that made operations easier
Slartybart - updated, tested, and consolidated all of the above into the 3rd version
endeavor - reviewed, updated, tested, and incorporated all of the above into this 4th version
...and also a special thanks to All the other members who presented discovery for this project

Related Tutorials

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• How to Backup/Restore Messages in Windows Mail (Vista version)
  
• Windows Calendar - Import into Windows 7
• Vista Windows Sidebar - Reinstate on Windows 7
• Windows Live Mail - Import Windows Mail Messages
• Windows Live Mail - Import Windows 7 and Vista Contacts

 

[Ex_Brit]

The oddest thing is happening suddenly in my VWM in Win 8.1 x64.

All was working fine until about a week or so ago and now I can't use Windows Mail. It opens OK but when I poll for mail the polling window flashes open for just a split second and closes..fetching no mail. So I have to resort to using Incredimail 2 which I hate.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[endeavor]

Hey Hi Peter,
I've been thinking of you lately and hoping that your eye's has been healthy.

You posted on the Seven Forum about Eight, but the good information is I had just updated all the latest Windows Updates on Win7 the other day and everything is still normal operation for WinMail on 7.

Tonight when I get a chance I will also check Windows Update and fully update Win8 current as well, and see if there are any new problems with WinMail that have come up because of any Windows Update conflicts. I will post back then or in the morning before work.

Again though, as far as Windows 7 WinMail operation after updating all the latest Windows updates available, all is normal.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks I posted here in the actual Tute thread rather than in 8 forums simply because I figured that was really the best spot. I can't figure it out, even ran the install reg again.

 

[Ex_Brit]

P.S. My eyes are OK, the AMD "hasn't got worse" according to my eye doctor.

 

[endeavor]

Okay tested it now. I haven't updated W8 in a while I see and had nearly 300 MB of updates available.
I installed all the updates in the ''Important'' column but left the few in the Optionals column unchecked, rebooted, tested WinMail afterwards and just like before I can still Send/Receive mail, and still post in newsgroups just fine Peter.

And so according to 'my' Windows 8 setup it seems it's not a Windows Update change that caused your problem, but since for 'your particular setup' we can't say for 100% sure unless of course you do a Restore and then prove it out.

As far as what to do from here Peter, no need for me to spell it out since the smart seasoned tech that you are you know what to do to isolate it, of which hopefully you have kept full install tracking of your file & registry changes made since then (which is preferred) ..or if not then secondly is to do a Restore Point, or even restoring a saved backup partition image of your OS, etc, etc... Whatever you need to do to restore it to working order, and then logically move forward with installs to isolate and prove out who/what the culprit was.
If it were my setup I have softwares installed that would be able to see all the file/registry changes made each day, and from that I would decipher what did what to affect my WinMail, and simply reverse the offenders.

Anyway Peter let us know how you make out, and if needed PM me if you need any testings done so we don't untidy the thread with intermediate posts.

Good Night,
All the best to succeed

 

[Ex_Brit]

No time now as it's a secondary OS I rarely use but will try Restore, if the option is there, maybe tomorrow. Backups...alas I only just started doing backups. I may have to start at the beginning again. Of course it could be simply a problem with it seeing the internet connection, by why that would suddenly be an issue is anyone's guess. Appreciate your efforts. Will keep trying various things. Dagnabbit Microsoft, why did you ever stop developing it and go for that awful WLM? I may have to swallow my pride and go for that option. But having a complete set of folders for all 10 of my email addresses is a pain in the you-know-what.

 

[endeavor]

Hi Peter,

Got out of bed for a minute so decided to drop in here quick and saw your reply
If you did not have internet connection then your email Send/Recieve gui would stay open and prompt you that it could not connect, so that can't be it.

I have a number of email accounts that polls for incoming messages too, so it takes a few seconds and I can watch them all as they flow through the different ones till the end, but if I check mail on only one at a time, then it flashes by verrrry fast, and if there are no messages on that one then the Send/Receive flashes by so fast and disappears you could nearly miss it; anyway that single quickness almost sounds like what yours does. My point is I would think if you had something missing in your account information setup could cause what you say happens of your "polling window flashes open for just a split second and closes" while still having an active account connection is why you're not prompted of a failure ...so poke around matching the Properties of each of your accounts on the malfunctioning OS, over to a working OS, to make sure all the settings are the same...and so since you have 10 accounts it would never go that fast, and so first checking to be sure that the box that says on each account ''include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing" look at that on all your account tabs to make sure here all are still checkmarked.. and anything else in there.
My thought is it's something simple that happened, so no need to swallow anything to use WLM heavens goodness there's no need for that, it will be a simple fix in hindsight you'll see, sleep on it.

 

[Ex_Brit]

I'll take a look later today in a quiet period at the McAfee Forums where I Admin. It's like something has corrupted it, but what I wonder as I don't use registry cleaners. I'll work on it.

 

[Ex_Brit]

OK, it was quiet at McAfee, for a change, so am now in Win 8.1 and found a curious thing. It's just the Send/Recv button that produces the quick 'flash then vanish' window. If I go to Tools > Send and Receive > (account user name) and poll for each one individually, that works. It's just the Synchronise All or Send and Receive All that don't work.
Bizarre. Something has obviously corrupted it, but what I wonder. I have nothing new onboard and my A/V hasn't quarantined anything.

Food for thought?

Must get back to Vista as I have saved work to do there.

 

[endeavor]

It could of been anything that inadvertently made a change to your setup. It's still not out of the question that one of your automatic Windows Updates did something to yours that I did not experience; or it could be most anything else you did.
For me it is here that's imperative to refer to fie/registry tracking changes, because I would just let my software automatically compare the file/registry snapshot from what it was on the day it worked till the present, and presto out comes a navigable graphical windows interface mimicking Windows file/registry gui's of all the changes made in each file/registry locations, I would focus in on the WinMail location of their file/registry homes, observe any changes made, and could one click create a reversal or if necessary create install files of same; at any rate I would see the cause and effect and know what did it. I know you don't have that so you have no choice but to do it the hard way, which is the manual process of elimination.

It cannot be stressed enough to always create an appropriate backup of whatever your choice is. At least the built-in Windows Restore Points can be useful if one has nothing else.
In this case I do not think reinstalling WinMail will help as you found out since you said you already did that, besides the problem seems to lie in the account settings/options area which is always manually entered anyway.

This WinMail information even though you are on your WinMail Windows 8 install is relevant for WinMail for Windows 7 users too, because the basic WinMail operation is exactly the same, the only difference between the two is the installation process to put WinMail on Windows 7 vrs Windows 8 is all, otherwise operationally is the same basics. The same goes for WinMail on Vista, on Windows 7, on Windows 8, and yes as stated even on Windows 10 now too.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Oh yes, this would apply to any WM installation on any OS. The only thing that has altered WM is my A/V suite's anti-spam which introduces it's own folder. When I am next in there I'm going to completely uninstall it and test WM after a reboot. It's a long shot because it's been there since the beginning but one never knows.
This basically boils down the "synchronize all in WM broken" for which I am about to do an intensive online search.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Oh well. that was a complete waste of time. I'll just have to satisfy myself with synching each account separately. It's not my working OS, rather a work in progress if anything, so I'm not going to to try removing VWM and start over, too much work. If anyone has a brainwave though, I would welcome it.

 

[Ex_Brit]

...and on returning to Vista, where WM is alive and well, it just occurred to me that I don't recall seeing the down arrow to the right of the Send/Recv button in Win 8.1:

 

[endeavor]

Look again next time you boot to 8, that down arrow is there next to Send/Receive on Vista, 7, 8, 10, since they are all the same placed version of WinMail.

If you had two computers next to each other with one booted to 7 and the other 8, or Vista, or 10, you could see that it's there, but also importantly if you had two you would be able to compare the settings back and forth from one OS's screen to the other making Options, Accounts, and Properties comparisons a much simpler task.

btw, I use that drop down arrow all the time.

As to the brainwave answer - is to always have backups available

 

[Ex_Brit]

Can't compare side-by-side unfortunately as it's a multi-boot on this machine. In any case synch-all is not working but synch each one is. Very strange indeed. I can't find anything helpful online.

 

[endeavor]

Have two machines each with their own monitor, with cloned identical multiboots on each one.
I don't know if you are going to find anything online Peter since your situation is unique to your own setup, and I can't say it enough, probably until you hiss back at me, but backups, backups, backups will save the day. bless

 

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks

 

[Ex_Brit]

What an idiot I am....I had forgotten that I jad recently had to alter all the 10 email account settings to use secure servers both incoming and outgoing and in that process, the box highlighted below must have become unchecked.

As Homer Simpson would say..."DOH"

Now it works. I found the answer in a really old thread in Shawn Brink's Vista64 Forums BTW.

 

[Ex_Brit]

Sorry, the Snipping Tool in 8.1 isn't too user-friendly. Now fixed.

 

[endeavor]

I found the answer in a really old thread in Shawn Brink's Vista64 Forums BTW.

Peter, I also gave you that very same answer last night in my post #1588 to you where I stressed:
"...and so first checking to be sure that the box that says on each account ''include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing" look at that on all your account tabs to make sure they are all still checkmarked.."

I guess you missed what I had told you, and to think I got out of bed in the night to tell you that answer.

Anyway, glad you got her going again. Congrats, and as always, bless..