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and many of the link pointers within have become mislinked over time, many of the files or information within them is outdated, incomplete, or superseded with more accurate information - and so be careful.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

---

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

---

• 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]

So you did and yes, I missed it. My eyesight isn't that good any more, I know that isn't the best excuse but in my case it's true. Thanks very much

 

[Slartybart]

.....
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..

That make me chuckle ... I thought I was the only one who got up out of bed to post something I thought of

Bill
.

 

[endeavor]

That make me chuckle ... I thought I was the only one who got up out of bed to post something I thought of

Bill
.

Hey Bill,

Yeah sometimes that's where the creativity and answers of things flow isn't it, when you go to sleep with a problem on your mind, and when your brain is off while your sleeping or daydreaming, and when you wake up sometimes even in the middle of the night, the answer is right on the tip of your thoughts.

 

[endeavor]

(2014)

I found a new glitch in WinMail's Spell-Check operation caused after a group of Windows Updates were done today. I should say noticed an old known glitch was fixed but now a new one was introduced.

First though one of the previous glitches with WinMail was if you had made changes within a saved Draft, and then just closed (X) the email without first specifically saving or sending, it would Not save any changes made and you'd lose them, and so for those non-send moments you always had to purposely go to File>Save to update the Draft.
After Windows Update was done today though, if you make changes to an email Draft and just hit the X to close the email, the good news is it will now prompt if you want to save the changes, and works, so that's now better.
What has newly broken in Spell-Check though, is for instance if you only wanted to check spelling on a single word or paragraph portion of a long email, where before, you could just highlight that portion and click Spelling and it would work fine. Now it's that 'Highlighting' way of spell-checking which always worked has now been broken, and so if you click Spelling while having anything highlighted, the first misspelled word you're prompted with and you click to make that change, WinMail will crash and you'll lose any unsaved changes.
Many people may not use that Highlight feature, but I very often did and is why I noticed it right off.

2015 Edit:
Using WinMail on Win8 & Win10,
'Regular' Spell Check is fine on these too, but yes when you use 'Highlight' spell-checking it takes a little longer to crash on Win8/10 than it does on Win7 (Win7 happens very quickly) but on Win8 & Win10 (happens slightly differently on each too) but after the first few spell check replacements it will either error out or crash/restart WM.

The easy way around this WinMail Spell-Check issue:
Just simply don't use the ''Highlighting'' way of spell-checking on Win7/Win8/Win10

 

[Hag]

winmail crashes

Hello,
I have been using Winmail in windows 7 for about 6 months and used the tutorial here to make it work. It is excellent and a really good replacement for OE6. I have 2 problems with it that need care and I wonder if anyone else has come across them:

If I highlight a bit of text that I want to spell check and the spell checker finds an error and needs to make a correction when I click OK Winmail crashes with:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: WinMail.exe
Application Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Application Timestamp: 4a5bca09
Fault Module Name: INETCOMM.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7601.17609
Fault Module Timestamp: 4dbf9046
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0000000000079059
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: bc6a
Additional Information 2: bc6ab5fd14147cc7607766fe95c635dd
Additional Information 3: e882
Additional Information 4: e8827cc045f254d715f74893ef683cfc

If I don’t highlight the text it works fine.

The other time it can crash is if I select: file > “work offline” This time it crashes with:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BEX64
Application Name: WinMail.exe
Application Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Application Timestamp: 4a5bca09
Fault Module Name: StackHash_1dc2
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Offset: 0000000000000000
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 0000000000000008
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 1dc2
Additional Information 2: 1dc22fb1de37d348f27e54dbb5278e7d
Additional Information 3: eae3
Additional Information 4: eae36a4b5ffb27c9d33117f4125a75c2

I have searched the web on both issues and have found little info that applies to WIN7. Any ideas ?

 

[kewl1]

Spellcheck Crash

I don't think I posted anything when this started happening to me some time ago because I figured I was probably the only one in the world affected. I even re-did the Tutorial hoping that might fix the problem. So now I must say I am rather happy to see that it is not something I broke. It drove me crazy for weeks and maybe months but as you pointed out Endeavor I finally realized that if I did not highlight anything, every spellcheck will go smoothly with no crash. I lost some very long emails before I figured out what to do or rather what not to do and the retyping was very frustrating.

 

[endeavor]

Hello,
I have been using Winmail in windows 7 for about 6 months and used the tutorial here to make it work. It is excellent and a really good replacement for OE6. I have 2 problems with it that need care and I wonder if anyone else has come across them:

If I highlight a bit of text that I want to spell check and the spell checker finds an error and needs to make a correction when I click OK Winmail crashes with:

Hi Hag,

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

Yes we are aware of that Spell Check error and is the exact same error I just posted about yesterday in the very post above yours. More is involved that just the INETCOMM.dll that shows up in the prompt. I posted how to get around that Spell Check error yesterday, if you would please read the post above yours - it's easy to get around the Spell Check error.

As far as the Work Off Line error you posted, that also is a known error that will never be fixed and there is no workaround. However having said that, I accomplish the same or rather similar Off Line status by going to the Tools> Options> General tab and un-checking both Send & Receive at startup & Send & Receive every xx minutes... Sure I have to manually click the Send & Receive button when I want to do the task, but I actually prefer it that way without question, for so many reasons, imho.

There are also a few other glitches by using WinMail on an unsupported OS not listed here, but again are minor too.

These are just a few of the known errors that happen with using the old Vista WinMail workaround to make it run on Windows 7, or Windows 8, or now even Windows 10. As I said in my previous post, for me anyway, the few glitches that are presented are minor and well worth still having WinMail to use.

 

[endeavor]

I lost some very long emails before I figured out what to do or rather what not to do and the retyping was very frustrating.

Yeah I know that's very frustrating indeed and it has happened to me in WinMail too, and even years ago in OE.

Actually no matter what software program I am working with, after so many minutes of work especially if it's critical, I will automatically go up and hit the File Save button. I especially also keep exceptional backup processes with creating backup partition images of whatever OS I'm creating history on. So many things in life we cannot control, but these backup things we speak of are easy to control and always prove so valuable.

Thank you for your post kewl1, I appreciate your reply and confirmation.

For me this Spell Check issue just started happening right after a group of Windows updates recently, and narrowing it down by using three identical computers next to each other where one having the updates and the others not having them rolled/imaged out to yet, and those don't have that highlight problem and they don't crash when highlighted, logically tells me it's one of the updates that were just done. I could even spend some time narrowing it down to which specific update if warranted. If your's has been doing this for the last year? ...then there must be some explanation for that. At any rate, the resolve is the same, just don't highlight Any text you want to spell check, and instead if you want to just spell check one paragraph out of pages of them, then simply place the cursor at the beginning of that paragraph (without highlighting Anything) and click spell check from there and it will start there, and after you check what you want you can click cancel on the rest of the pages.

ps
I would not be surprised if on some IE update in the future, that any changes they make will further affect this Spell Check issue, and maybe it will be for the good like with what happened for us with WinMail on This Issue, or maybe it will go the other way and make it worse; MS is not thinking about what affects WinMail to the good or bad on non-supported OS's since they don't use it anymore... ...but imho, they should!

 

[kewl1]

Great Tip

Great tip Endeavor regarding saving every few minutes to avoid having to re-type a mountain of work. And in my case I usually cannot remember what all I typed so it involves more than just re-typing. One might think well there are settings that you can check in many apps like Word and Excel that are supposed to AutoSaved as often as you tell them such as every two minutes. But I have found that these to be seem to be very unreliable. Either that or I am doing something wrong. I really need to remember to save manually every few minutes and sometimes I do remember.

 

[bjproc]

i've added in windows mail to my mum's, but now it want to keep asking for the username & password


any ideas why it's doing this?

 

[endeavor]

i've added in windows mail to my mum's, but now it want to keep asking for the username & password

any ideas why it's doing this?

After you have run the tutorial to setup WinMail, then for a new install or if you have no settings to import from your previous client, then you'll have to go in to WinMail's tab of Tools> Accounts, and set all that information up manually; under the Properties tab of the Account you setup, on its Server tab is where you enter in your ISP's username & pass, as well throughout all other informations to setup an account all of which if you have no previous imports, has to be done manually just like any other Mail Client setup.

 

[bjproc]

i've added in windows mail to my mum's, but now it want to keep asking for the username & password

any ideas why it's doing this?

After you have run the tutorial to setup WinMail, then for a new install or if you have no settings to import from your previous client, then you'll have to go in to WinMail's tab of Tools> Accounts, and set all that information up manually; under the Properties tab of the Account you setup, on its Server tab is where you enter in your ISP's username & pass, as well throughout all other informations to setup an account all of which if you have no previous imports, has to be done manually just like any other Mail Client setup.

Thanks, I'm sure its set up right, but I'll double check it

 

[lostdane]

Thanks for this amazing guide, worked great. Windows Mail crashed the first two times I tried to run it, but now I have my Gmail account set up and it all seems to work well. I really like this program because it's so leightweight, loads quickly and is very responsive.

Is there any way to have Windows Mail minimize to the system tray though? That'd really be great.

 

[endeavor]

Is there any way to have Windows Mail minimize to the system tray though? That'd really be great.

Hello lostdane, and welcome to the Seven Forums.
The answer to your question is No, but there is a (limited) yes, and what I mean by a yes is that an icon will appear in the 'system tray' but Only when new e-mail arrivals happen and Only if you have that system tray option of Customize set to show 'icons and notifications' on the Windows Mail entry - and that is when, if you already have Windows Mail running either open or set minimized to the 'regular' bottom tray, and if you have WinMail's receive options set polling for new emails, and then when one arrives, a new email icon appears on the system tray with the caption "You Have New e-Mail'' and (if set) will also play a new email arrival sound.
Note though, the only thing you can do with that icon is double-click it which will just bring the already running minimized WinMail and open it to the forefront; that new email icon provides no other options and that's why I said (limited) because it's purpose is good only for Visually letting you know you have a new email arrival via its appearing icon, and at the same time Audibly with a sound that thankfully can play too.
I have a Windows Mail shortcut in my Quick Launch tray too.

That's how I have mine setup and that's the best we can do - or at least as far as I know.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

 

[WelshyPete]

Hello I have just joined the forum with having Windows 7 64bit. I'm volunteering for several charity IT roles in my spare time.

I come up with problems but most of the time I can solve them. But then of course there times when you need some extra help. I help disabled people with all disabilities, partially sighted and non sighted people. Also people who are out of work or want a job or start self employment. Below is the list of charity I help out with just to give you a back ground idea.

RNIB Technology Support Coordinator, IT Specialist,
Technology Support Squad, Get Connected Crew RNIB

PRIME Cymru Volunteer Mentor Project The Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise

Digital Champion 2.0 DVSC Denbighshire Voluntary Service Council

AbilityNet IT Support and County Coordinator AbilityNet

The main problem at the moment Windows Mail. The customers I visit have sight problems and changes in software and programs can cause serious problems at times. Windows mail is something of a problem at the moment with the changes.

I know windows mail works on vista and looking on the forum here now it will work on windows 7 now also good news. But I have visited a customer recently and they have windows mail on there windows 8 then 8.1 pc. So its possible that windows mail does work on a windows 8 and 8.1.

So I need this working on windows 7 machines and windows 8 for future clients.

So does this version work on windows 7 32bit, 64bit, and windows 8, 8.1?

Also will any future updates change this to the window live mail be a problem?

Many thanks

 

[Slartybart]

.....
I know windows mail works on vista and looking on the forum here now it will work on windows 7 now also good news. But I have visited a customer recently and they have windows mail on there windows 8 then 8.1 pc. So its possible that windows mail does work on a windows 8 and 8.1.

So I need this working on windows 7 machines and windows 8 for future clients.

So does this version work on windows 7 32bit, 64bit, and windows 8, 8.1?

Also will any future updates change this to the window live mail be a problem?

Many thanks

The first thing you should know Pete is that this tutorial only shows you how to get WinMail working on Windows 7 - there isn't any real support for WinMail.

There are related tutorials that show you how to get WinMail calendar working and maybe other features.

This only works on Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) installs. Some members have proof of concept on Win8, but this tutorial does not do the trick for Win8.

Future updates change this? I'm not sure if you're asking about WinMail or Windows Live Mail.
Futures updates are an unknown commodity - some Windows Updates have and might affect WinMail. Members will try to resolve those types of issues if and when they crop up, but we're not the developers and have zero control over what MS updates. The last update that caused an issue for WinMail was an update to core HTML processing - fortunately that update caused issues elsewhere and MS put out an update to fix those errors which also fixed the WinMail issues - phew!

There isn't any way that I can think of that WinMail would be changed to WLM, if that's what your question was about. There are two separate applications.

With all of the caveats stated, reinstated WinMail has been used for a good number of years without major issues by a few members. These members are the core support of this endeavor (see that paly on words endeavor?)

I would normally recommend that a member migrate to a supported mail client, but I understand your needs.

Summary: WinMail reinstated by this tutorial is as rock solid as it's going to get. WinMail is not supported by Microsoft, and this tutorial was written as a stop gap measure.

Thanks for doing what you do with and for those folks and the organizations - it's important work.

Bill
.

 

[kewl1]

Question

Hello Guys and Gals,

I have a question that has puzzled me for years. Thanks to this forum I was able to keep my beloved Windows Mail when I ditched Vista and went to Windows 7 32 bit (Which I think should have been SP1 for Vista but that’s another story). I then switched to Win 7 64 and again no problem. Win 7 SP1 64 - no problem. Win 8, 64 it was a piece of cake and took 2 minutes but I hate windows 8 so much I took it off my new laptop and put 7 on after a couple of days

Here's my question. Why on earth has MS kept the hidden files in the OS all this time, allowing us to do this? At first with Win 7 I thought it was probably due to laziness and overlooked in the always rush to slam a new OS onto the street to haul in more money ASAP. Just an oversight? But it continues to be there. I am certainly not complaining but just curious as to why you think they are doing it. Could it be that some other functions of the OS depend upon these files?

Thanks for considering my question and thanks so much for helping me to keep my Winmail all these many years. I am the type of person who may have the most up-to-date programs for converting home videos, making DVD's etc. etc. But I still use Lotus Organizer since my very first Thinkpad in 1993 (updated to the last available version which is still 2003) as well as Windows Mail which I hope to never lose.
Kewl1

 

[endeavor]

Hello Guys and Gals,

Here's my question. Why on earth has MS kept the hidden files in the OS all this time, allowing us to do this? At first with Win 7 I thought it was probably due to laziness and overlooked in the always rush to slam a new OS onto the street to haul in more money ASAP. Just an oversight? But it continues to be there. I am certainly not complaining but just curious as to why you think they are doing it. Could it be that some other functions of the OS depend upon these files?

Hello kewl1

Good question!
I have dreaming hopes someday they will activate WinMail again, but it's just purely a far off dream.
No matter though, I will always use it, even for Windows 8 or Windows 10 which I already have installed with WinMail and working. I mostly stay booted to Windows 7 for now though, but use/boot to any with one click of the mouse when needed.

Anyway I often wondered your question myself, and wondered if they use the WinMail base files to somehow run the built-in Mail client on 7, 8, or 10 ...I've never investigated it though and was just a passing thought wondering.

Maybe they use the same whole MS program footprint for all their new OS's just disabling the ones they don't want, until at some point they re-write the whole Program and OS base from scratch.

Anyway back to WinMail, of which I only want to use WinMail for my client, even with it's annoying spell-check hassle that had me swear out-loud just yesterday when I forgot not doing it right.

 

[Slartybart]

It is a good question. I'm sure it's for legacy application reasons.

I know for instance that the Windows Address Book (WAB) and Contacts folder are not used by Windows Essentials Mail (WEM), but do serve as a migration path. There are still a lot of people migrating off of XP to something - so there's a legit reason to keep it handy. I liked having Contacts available outside of WEM. When I worked on the tut, I was able to import and export using that folder. When I removed WinMail (un-reinstated?) I lost that function and scratched my head for a while.

WEM uses the VCS business card file for contacts and stores them in a DB, so you have to launch WEM to get a phone #.
I just export them to a CSV file and import them to the Contacts folder - so that might be a reason besides migrating to WEM, there might be a lot of customers that do the same. And then there might be some foreign or contractual legalese that requires MS to keep it (not sure on that though).

The eml msgs are plain files, but other information is also stored in a DB - the only way to fully migrate mail, contacts, calendar, etc is to write a specialized tool or keep the old code available and write hooks into it for the 'migrator' tool.

A lot of guesses, educated guesses, but still guesses.

Bill
.

endeavor - please remind me what the spell check issue is? Something about not spellchecking when sending?
Thanks

 

[kewl1]

Thank you both for your replies. I am guessing that endeavor is referring to the problem I have whereby if I highlight text such as a paragraph or whatever, to do a spell check on, it will freeze and close the program and the entire email will be lost. It is indeed enough to make one swear out loud especially if the email was long. I've done this many times. I tried to correct the problem by re-installing i.e. redoing the tutorial but I still have it. I just have to keep trying to remember to not highlight. I assume this must have been caused by a Windows Update many months ago.

Cheers