Windows Mail

poppa bear · 20 Jun 2010

kewl1 said:

I just found that on my desktop Windows Mail is no longer working. It was fine last night. I can open it and write an email and put it in the outbox but when I go to send it will tell me I am working "off line" and ask if I want to go online. When I choose to go on line the program grays out and needs to restart.

If I click on file, "work off line" is always checked. When I try to remove the check mark, the same thing happens ie the program grays out and restarts. It always asks if I want to notify MS and of course I just close that box. I hope I haven't done something to ruin the whole thing.

So far I haven't had this problem come up with anyone using WinMail after doing the tutorial. It sounds like the program may have somehow become corrupted. It's not the KB update, because that would kill it totally.

Just a couple of questions.

1. Are you running 32 or 64bit Windows 7? And if it's 64bit installation, I assume you only replaced the msoe.dll file in normal 64bit Program files, and NOT Program files(x86). There are two Windows Mail folders, one in 64bit program files, and one in 32bit (x86) program files?

2. I presume you have re-booted since this problem occurred?

I have attached a small program named WMUtil which repairs the data base of Windows Mail. Download it by clicking the link under "Attached files" at the bottom of this post, and save to your desktop. Click it to open, then click: Repair Data Base.

If this doesn't fix it, it may be necessary to restore a virgin copy of the original files in Windows Mail folder, and run the tutorial again from the top. Let me know if you need to do this.

As a test I opened my WinMail and went to: File --> Clicked: Work offline. It grayed out the window and came up with the message: Windows Mail has stopped working. So I'm getting the same result when I try to go offline! Very strange.

Cheers PB

kewl1 · 21 Jun 2010

Thanks very much poppa bear. After I left that posting I worked on it for quite a while. Finally as a last resort I thought of doing a system restore and then another one going back yet another day. It then started working. Although it has left me with folders that are somewhere between where I started sorting and importing and where I left off. The stranger thing is that one folder has all of the headers but when you click on each email it can not find the actual mail. It's only one folder out of very many but as luck would have it it's my WORK email folder!!!! This could only happen to me.

I am running the 64 bit version and using the correct Program Files folder. I also redid all the steps prior to doing the restore. The problem is only on one of two computers.

Thanks very much for this latest file. I wonder if it will connect the headers with the actual emails wherever they may be. It's 1:40 am here in Canada and I better wait until morning to try. I don’t want my wife complaining about me being on two computers at the same time in the middle of the night. They just don’t understand the importance of these things.

poppa bear · 21 Jun 2010

kewl1 said:

Thanks very much poppa bear. After I left that posting I worked on it for quite a while. Finally as a last resort I thought of doing a system restore and then another one going back yet another day. It then started working. Although it has left me with folders that are somewhere between where I started sorting and importing and where I left off. The stranger thing is that one folder has all of the headers but when you click on each email it can not find the actual mail. It's only one folder out of very many but as luck would have it it's my WORK email folder!!!! This could only happen to me.

I am running the 64 bit version and using the correct Program Files folder. I also redid all the steps prior to doing the restore. The problem is only on one of two computers.

Thanks very much for this latest file. I wonder if it will connect the headers with the actual emails wherever they may be. It's 1:40 am here in Canada and I better wait until morning to try. I don’t want my wife complaining about me being on two computers at the same time in the middle of the night. They just don’t understand the importance of these things.

Had to laugh.... yes wives can be very lacking in tolerance when it comes to the really critical things in life... LOL!

If system restore has brought it back to life it's a fairly sure bet it was something you downloaded, (eg update or program installed), that conflicted and borked WinMail. Maybe you can think back to what you've downloaded/installed in the past few days. The other possibility is some form of malware. Might pay to run a cleaning process using Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Anti-Malware; and then a safe registry cleaner.

For these jobs I use Avast anti-virus, Malwarebytes, and SuperAntispyware; and for registry cleaning, free program Glary Utilities and/or EasyCleaner by ToniArts.

Re importing your mail across, if you're bringing it from WinMail in Vista, the easiest method I found is as shown in this post here. As long as you've got your original emails in their current locations in Vista, I'd suggest:

1. In Windows 7: Save all emails to desktop for safety.

2. Delete the entire contents of Local Folders found at:

Start orb --> User Name --> AppData --> Local --> Microsoft --> Windows Mail --> Local Folders

3. In Vista: Open Local Fodlers, (found via the same pathway in Step 2) --> Copy ALL folders, including accounts and personal folders you've created.

4. Paste these into the equivalent Local Folders in Windows 7.

This method imports all your accounts, folders and emails in one hit. All you have to put in is your ISP user name and password when you first send/receive emails.

Then if you have to import the rest from Outlook, even though it will create a Recovered Folders folder, as a sub-folder of Local Folders in the main interface of WinMail, at least all your other folders will be set up to move those other eamils to. Once they're all in place, delete the Recovered Folders folder entirely.

Cheers PB

roncerr · 21 Jun 2010

poppa bear said:

...If system restore has brought it back to life it's a fairly sure bet it was something you downloaded, (eg update or program installed), that conflicted and borked WinMail....

I'm confused. In a previous post you said "As a test I opened my WinMail and went to: File --> Clicked: Work offline. It grayed out the window and came up with the message: Windows Mail has stopped working. So I'm getting the same result when I try to go offline! Very strange."

So if you both have the same problem going offline in WM, perhaps everyone who is currently using WM in Win7 also has that problem; they just haven't yet tried to go offline in WM.

poppa bear · 21 Jun 2010

roncerr said:

I'm confused. In a previous post you said "As a test I opened my WinMail and went to: File --> Clicked: Work offline. It grayed out the window and came up with the message: Windows Mail has stopped working. So I'm getting the same result when I try to go offline! Very strange."

So if you both have the same problem going offline in WM, perhaps everyone who is currently using WM in Win7 also has that problem; they just haven't yet tried to go offline in WM.

Yes, I think you have raised a valid point. We're both getting the same result when going to: File --> Work offline/Work online.

The only difference is we're coming from different directions. He's offline but can't get online. I'm online but can't switch to offline. Which strongly tends to suggest there's a glitch in the On/Off line switch.

It makes me wonder if there is another file from the Windows Mail folder in Vista that needs to be imported ove? I'll try a few experiments to test this.

Hopefully other users of WinMail in Windows 7 can try clicking: File --> Work offline... and see if they get similar results. Doesn't bode well for long term use of WinMail as a stable mail client.

kewl1 · 21 Jun 2010

roncerr said:

poppa bear said:

...If system restore has brought it back to life it's a fairly sure bet it was something you downloaded, (eg update or program installed), that conflicted and borked WinMail....

I'm confused. In a previous post you said "As a test I opened my WinMail and went to: File --> Clicked: Work offline. It grayed out the window and came up with the message: Windows Mail has stopped working. So I'm getting the same result when I try to go offline! Very strange."

So if you both have the same problem going offline in WM, perhaps everyone who is currently using WM in Win7 also has that problem; they just haven't yet tried to go offline in WM.

Yes I can confirm that with my second computer ie my Thinkpad where I have also enabled Windows mail but without problem, after reading Poppa Bears post if I go and deliberately check "work offline" the program will stop working.

kewl1 · 21 Jun 2010

poppa bear said:

kewl1 said:

Thanks very much poppa bear. After I left that posting I worked on it for quite a while. Finally as a last resort I thought of doing a system restore and then another one going back yet another day. It then started working. Although it has left me with folders that are somewhere between where I started sorting and importing and where I left off. The stranger thing is that one folder has all of the headers but when you click on each email it can not find the actual mail. It's only one folder out of very many but as luck would have it it's my WORK email folder!!!! This could only happen to me.

I am running the 64 bit version and using the correct Program Files folder. I also redid all the steps prior to doing the restore. The problem is only on one of two computers.

Thanks very much for this latest file. I wonder if it will connect the headers with the actual emails wherever they may be. It's 1:40 am here in Canada and I better wait until morning to try. I don’t want my wife complaining about me being on two computers at the same time in the middle of the night. They just don’t understand the importance of these things.

Had to laugh.... yes wives can be very lacking in tolerance when it comes to the really critical things in life... LOL!

If system restore has brought it back to life it's a fairly sure bet it was something you downloaded, (eg update or program installed), that conflicted and borked WinMail. Maybe you can think back to what you've downloaded/installed in the past few days. The other possibility is some form of malware. Might pay to run a cleaning process using Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Anti-Malware; and then a safe registry cleaner.

For these jobs I use Avast anti-virus, Malwarebytes, and SuperAntispyware; and for registry cleaning, free program Glary Utilities and/or EasyCleaner by ToniArts.

Re importing your mail across, if you're bringing it from WinMail in Vista, the easiest method I found is as shown in this post here. As long as you've got your original emails in their current locations in Vista, I'd suggest:

1. In Windows 7: Save all emails to desktop for safety.

2. Delete the entire contents of Local Folders found at:

Start orb --> User Name --> AppData --> Local --> Microsoft --> Windows Mail --> Local Folders

3. In Vista: Open Local Fodlers, (found via the same pathway in Step 2) --> Copy ALL folders, including accounts and personal folders you've created.

4. Paste these into the equivalent Local Folders in Windows 7.

This method imports all your accounts, folders and emails in one hit. All you have to put in is your ISP user name and password when you first send/receive emails.

Then if you have to import the rest from Outlook, even though it will create a Recovered Folders folder, as a sub-folder of Local Folders in the main interface of WinMail, at least all your other folders will be set up to move those other eamils to. Once they're all in place, delete the Recovered Folders folder entirely.

Cheers PB

I did download a couple of Windows updates and can't remember anything else. I'll check for malware too. I'm not coming from Vista. I got rid of it a long time ago. When I got my HP Blackbird it came with Vista and there was no option to get XP. I had so many problems with this expensive computer that it was unbelieveable. I even had to send it back 3 times and it weighs 88 pounds. I can't count how many times I had to reinstall Vista and start from scratch.

7 came out when I finally had everything working well after a year and a half. As a result, when 7 came out I was so gun shy that I left Vista on and dual booted for about six months just to be safe. Then I finally got rid of Vista. I really see Windows 7 as the Service pack that should have fixed Vista. It's what Vista should have been and it should have been a free fix in my opinion.

mathewgx · 21 Jun 2010

Does anybody know how to minimise winmail to quick forder instead of the taskbar ?

I think that it was possible in vista.

mick823 · 21 Jun 2010

So if you both have the same problem going offline in WM, perhaps everyone who is currently using WM in Windows 7 also has that problem; they just haven't yet tried to go offline in WM.....

roncerr,

I think you may be right about the online/offline issue being present from the beginning. I checked all 3 of my PC's and the FILE>WORK OFFLINE returns a grayed out screen and then an automatic restart of the WM program.

poppa bear · 21 Jun 2010

kewl1 said:

I did download a couple of Windows updates and can't remember anything else.

I really see Windows 7 as the Service pack that should have fixed Vista. It's what Vista should have been and it should have been a free fix in my opinion.

You could run Windows update machine, but only load available updates one at a time, noting the KB number, and test WinMail after each one is installed. It's a bit tedious but probably the only way to isolate the one causing the problem

Re Windows 7 being a SP... my sentiments exactly! When Windows 7 was still being tested in the beta stage, I likened it to Win98 2nd Ed, which was free, and corrected the 20,000 plus errors in the original Win98. Their marketing philosophy is "get it on the market and correct the errors later... and keep our fingers crossed they don't exceed 50% of the available functions." The problem is they now charge Joe Public for the privilege of correcting their errors.

Re WinMail graying out on clicking Work offline/online, I have systematically replaced each sub-folder of WinMail, one by one, with the folders in WinMail Vista, to try and isolate the one that controls that switch. However, after exhausting all possibilities, it still would not work, which means it is probably a registry issue. My guess would be that one of the reg keys for WinMail in Vista is missing. Anyone feel like trying to track it down?

Could also just be that WinMail in Windows 7 as an operational application is a hybrid program, and hence there may be some functions that will never work.

Cheers PB