Windows Mail won't start.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scott.Presnell
  • Start date Start date
S

Scott.Presnell

I have a home e-mail setup that includes a IMAP server that I've
accessing via Thunderbird and a web client (squirrelmail) for some
time.

We recently purchased a Vaio with Vista on it. We set it up as a one
user machine, and configured Windows Mail to read the account's of my
wife and myself. It took a little tweaking but I had it working
correctly (tweaking: don't read all of my home directory for IMAP
boxes, don't autosync all folders, etc).

This morning, Windows Mail will not start. Splash screen only, then
it times out with the "looking for solution", etc. and eventually
gives up. I checked the IMAP server log, and I don't see any attempts
to access at the time I started Mail (e.g. the fault seems to be
before contacting the IMAP server).

Last night, in preferences, I changed the names of the "Sent Items" to
Sent and "Deleted Items" to Trash to be in line with other clients
that access these mailboxes.

What is the best way to move forward in debugging this? I would like
to avoid having to recreate the accounts, but it I do, where/what do I
need to delete/set aside: can anyone tell me if this is mostly in the
filesystem, or will I have to edit the registry?

Thanks for any help o suggestions - Scott
 
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.
 
Back
Top