Can't Delete Message in Outbox

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I have a message that appears to be "blocking" my other messages from being
sent. This is what it says in the body of the message:

"Message could not be displayed
Windows Mail encountered an unexpected problem while displaying this
message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try again."

I have tons of memory and disk space (brand new computer with 160G hard
drive and 2 Ghz RAM). My OLD computer had/has no problem with sending this
little .jpg message.

When I try to delete the e-mail message I receive the following message:

"An unknown error has occurred."

I click the "OK" button and now it says it is deleting the message but it
has shown that message for more than ten minutes now. I seriously doubt it
is really deleting the message. Can anyone help me get this message deleted
from my Outbox?
 
Bernice said:
I have a message that appears to be "blocking" my other messages from being
sent. This is what it says in the body of the message:

"Message could not be displayed
Windows Mail encountered an unexpected problem while displaying this
message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try
again."

I have tons of memory and disk space (brand new computer with 160G hard
drive and 2 Ghz RAM). My OLD computer had/has no problem with sending
this
little .jpg message.

When I try to delete the e-mail message I receive the following message:

"An unknown error has occurred."

I click the "OK" button and now it says it is deleting the message but it
has shown that message for more than ten minutes now. I seriously doubt
it
is really deleting the message. Can anyone help me get this message
deleted
from my Outbox?


You will have to delete it from the Outbox folder via Windows Explorer.
Tools | Options | Advanced tab | Manintenance button | Store Folders button.
Note the location of the messages stores.

Close Windows Mail.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder location you found in the
Store Folder dialog.

Locate the Outbox and find the message that won't send and delete it.
 
I did what you suggested and low and behold the message doesn't even show up
with the other messages in that location! Of course when I open Windows Mail
up again in the hopes it is now miraculously gone it is still there. It is
evil I tell you. EVIL! ;-) I just don't know what to do. I haven't been
able to send mail now for ten days and I'm getting desperate here.

Any other ideas?
 
Close WinMail and MOVE the whole mail folder.

Open WinMail and let it create a new store.

You can go thru the old messages and drag and drop them into WinMail (not
the folder).

Should solve it till a solution is found out why it does it. Don't think
it's just in Windows Mail but it's also in Windows Live Mail desktop beta as
well. Messages get stuck in the Outbox on it as well.
 
I don't mean to be ignorant but I'm confused. Where do I move the whole mail
folder to and are we talking about the entire WinMail folder or just the
Outbox folder?

When you say it will create a new store, what do you mean? And if I have
moved my messages somewhere else, how do I open them and drag them into
WinMail? Through Windows Explorer? Sorry to be so uninformed about this.
 
Bernice said:
I don't mean to be ignorant but I'm confused. Where do I move the whole
mail
folder to and are we talking about the entire WinMail folder or just the
Outbox folder?

Apparently from what I've been seeing and getting requests in email, blowing
it all away and letting it start over seems to be best. If you deleted just
the Outbox, the back up database kicks into action and of course mixed
results.

When you say it will create a new store, what do you mean? And if I have
moved my messages somewhere else, how do I open them and drag them into
WinMail? Through Windows Explorer? Sorry to be so uninformed about this.

Windows Mail will create the new store and you can drag and drop the old
emails from Windows Explorer into Windows Mail. See the info below.



Windows Mail has a newer (to them) form of database. Each email is stored
separately.

Do the following:

1) Open Control Panel then select Folder Options.
a) click on the Views tab
b) Select "Show hidden files and folders"
c) Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
d) click APPLY then OK.
e) Close Control Panel

2) From Windows Mail
a) Click on the Tools menu
b) click on Options
c) click on the Advanced tab
d) click the Maintenance button
e) click the Store Folders button.
f) make a note of the location of the message stores. It will be
something like:
C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail
g) close Windows Mail

3) Open Windows Explorer

When it opens, you will see a small black triangle next to the user account
name. Click it to collapse it.

For the following, the triangle will not appear till you put the mouse over
the element in question.

Move the mouse to the "Computer" line. A triangle will appear, click on it
to expand it.

You should see something like "Local Disk (C:)"

Click on the triangle to expand it.

Locate "Users" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate <username> and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate "AppData" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate "Local" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.
Locate "Microsoft" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Now, in the right window pane, locate Windows Mail.
Click on it.

In the left window pane, scroll upward till you see "Local Disk (C:)"

Now, in the right window pane, hold them left mouse button down on the
Windows Mail folder.
Drag it to the "Local Disk (C:)" and release the mouse button.
Select MOVE Here.......

Now, this may take a bit to get done, depending upon how much mail is there.
Give it time.

Now, when it's done, create a new folder name Windows Mail to replace the
moved one in the
C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft folder.

Now start Windows Mail.
It will be empty but that's no biggie.

Create a couple of folders in Windows Mail and name them Old Mail, Old
Sent.
Click on the Old Mail folder to open it.


Resize Windows Mail so you can see both Windows Explorer and Windows Mail.

In the Windows Mail folder you will see a Local Folders folder, click the
triangle to expand it.

Locate the Inbox folder.
In this folder you will see a lot of .eml files. These are the old emails.
Drag and drop ONLY the .eml files to the Old Mail folder in Windows Mail.

Do similar for Sent Items to the Old Sent folder.

Now, see if Windows Mail works for you.
 
Well the sledgehammer solution is to wipe out the database and its backup.

Delete the WindowsMail.MSMessageStore file in the Windows Mail directory and
then delete the backup copy in the \backup\new subdirectory and then try
starting it.

steve
 
Does this mean I would lose all of my folders and messages? And are what I
am calling "folders" what you guys are calling "stores"?
 
IT WORKED!!!! Oh THANK YOU!!! Can you tell I'm just a bit relieved to have
this fixed? LOL I moved the entire folder, opened WinMail, sent a couple of
test emails that worked magnificently, closed WinMail, went back to Windows
Explorer and dragged my folders and messages I needed into WinMail.

This was an unbelievably frustrating experience but it was also a really
good learning experience. Now I'm familiar with Windows Explorer in Vista
which I wouldn't have been if it hadn't have been if not for this maddening
problem. Always look for that silver lining you know! :-)

Thanks to everyone for their help! Hope I can return the favor for someone
someday.
 
I just tested and if you delete the two database files, then it rebuilds the
database and reincorporates the information of the files into the "recovered
folders". So you won't lose messages.

The alternative is to move everything out of the Windows Mail directory (all
files and directories) and then it will start over completely fresh. If you
take that alternative, then you can go to File | Import | Messages and point
to where you moved them. Or worse case scenario, drag the eml files back
into a WinMail folder. The messages are not going to be lost.

steve
 
Bernice said:
IT WORKED!!!! Oh THANK YOU!!! Can you tell I'm just a bit relieved to
have
this fixed? LOL I moved the entire folder, opened WinMail, sent a couple
of
test emails that worked magnificently, closed WinMail, went back to
Windows
Explorer and dragged my folders and messages I needed into WinMail.

This was an unbelievably frustrating experience but it was also a really
good learning experience. Now I'm familiar with Windows Explorer in Vista
which I wouldn't have been if it hadn't have been if not for this
maddening
problem. Always look for that silver lining you know! :-)

Thanks to everyone for their help! Hope I can return the favor for
someone
someday.

Glad you got it going. I wished I knew why it was doing what it is upon
starting but I've not seen the problem (or for that matter, much of any
problems with OE over the years or WinMail).

This problem reminds me on one Outlook Express has with the "Main Identity".
That is the Identity that is created when OE runs for the first time but
that one is just a mix up of reading the registry settings. This one is more
of a database error that is causing the problem.

Now to see if blowing it away and letting it rebuild cures it like OE's
solution of creating a new Identity and running with it works out.
 
I am having the exact same problems, complete with the same messages, as
Bernice. I had three messages stuck in my outbox, and I was able to drag and
drop two of them into the deleted items folder. Apparenlty, the culprit is
the last message, which gives this message in the mail body:
Message could not be displayed
Windows Mail encountered an unexpected problem while displaying this
message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try again.
I am not able to drag and drop this one. When I try to do so, or try to
delete it by right clicking and deleting, a box pops up that says:
Windows Mail
An Unknown Error has Occured
Should I try to get rid of it by doing what you've suggested that Bernice
try? Or would you recommend something else. FYI, mine too is a brand new
computer, so space isn't an issue. I got that error as well. Weird. Thanks
for any help you can offer!
 
Welcome to the club!
Frankly, I'd advise you to hold off on attempting to employ
the purported fixes that are floating around, because we
don't know yet what's causing the problem.

Gary VanderMolen
 
Okay, I will wait. It's weird, because I receive mail fine, and I can do
stuff in all of the other folders but that one message is the cause, somehow.
Thanks for the advice, I shall wait it out. :o)
 
I spent most of today with the same problem - a message stuck in my Outbox.
Same Error Messages. After reading all of the posts about the problem, my
eyes were blurry. Here's what I did and it worked - so far:

Turn off Scan Emails in Virus program.

Close Windows Email.

Open Task Manager, Processess Tab: End Process for WinMail.exe. Applications
Tab: if Windows Mail is running - End Task.

Go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer, Computer, Local
Disk (C), Users, Your name (or whatever you called yourself), AppData, Local,
Microsoft, Windows Mail.

Copy the whole Windows Mail Folder to a disc or another location (in case
this doesn't work for you and you need to recover it). You may want to rename
it Windows Mail2.

Go back to the original Windows Mail Folder (see above) and locate the file
named
WindowsMail.MSMessageStore. Delete only this file.

Close all windows. Restart computer. Open Windows Mail. (I open mine in IE7
- Read Mail.)

This worked for me. The message was finally gone from the Outbox and all of
my folders and messages were still there. I did not have to do anything with
the copy of Windows Mail that I had saved on disk. I'm not sure if what I did
worked or if I was just lucky.

Hope this helps.
 
Deleting the WindowsMail.MSMessageStore file did not fix the
problem for me. Also, you haven't fixed the root cause, so the
same problem will likely reoccur.

Gary VanderMolen
 
This is my response when I finally got it fixed along with what I did that
worked for me. Hope it also helps you! :-) I was responding to DGuess'
message which is below mine.

"IT WORKED!!!! Oh THANK YOU!!! Can you tell I'm just a bit relieved to have
this fixed? LOL I moved the entire folder, opened WinMail, sent a couple of
test emails that worked magnificently, closed WinMail, went back to Windows
Explorer and dragged my folders and messages I needed into WinMail.

This was an unbelievably frustrating experience but it was also a really
good learning experience. Now I'm familiar with Windows Explorer in Vista
which I wouldn't have been if it hadn't have been if not for this maddening
problem. Always look for that silver lining you know! :-)

Thanks to everyone for their help! Hope I can return the favor for someone
someday."
 
This is how I finally managed to fix the problem and everything has worked
fine since. Don't know why the problem was there to begin with, I'm just
happy it is now fixed and I can repair it if it repeats itself.

I opened Windows Explorer, Computer, Local Disk (C), Users, Bernice,
AppData, Local, Microsoft, Windows Mail.

I moved the entire folder to a different location on the Local Disk, closed
Windows Explorer, opened WinMail from the shortcut on my desktop, sent a
couple of
test emails that worked magnificently, closed WinMail, went back to Windows
Explorer and opened the Windows Mail folder that I had moved to an alternate
location on my Local Disk and dragged my folders and messages I needed into
Windows Mail that was in the normal Computer, Local Disk (C), Users, Bernice,
AppData, Local, Microsoft, Windows Mail location..

This was an unbelievably frustrating experience but it was also a really
good learning experience. Now I'm familiar with Windows Explorer in Vista
which I wouldn't have been if it hadn't have been if not for this maddening
problem. Always look for that silver lining you know! :-)

Thanks to everyone for their help! Hope I can return the favor for someone
someday.
 
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