Fixing "Command Failed to Execute" on attachments

[davidh1]

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and right
click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu). Select
Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work because
opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a temporary file on that
folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and that
fixes it also.

Enjoy.

Dave

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and
right click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu).
Select Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work
because opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a
temporary file on that folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and
that fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can not
be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while the
problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP]

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that occur (when
opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post the log file
online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Hi Ramesh,
thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going on
and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to start
:-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Rainald

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post
the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Supporting Windows® 7, Vista & XP http://www.winhelponline.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can
not be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while
the problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[CBS]

Hi
I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then I can.
Regards
CBS

Hi Ramesh,
thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going on
and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to start
:-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Rainald

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post
the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Supporting Windows® 7, Vista & XP http://www.winhelponline.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------

davidh1 wrote:

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and
right click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start
menu). Select Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work
because opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a
temporary file on that folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes
the problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and
that fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can
not be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while
the problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[Rainald Taesler]

I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then I

can.

Thanks for the suggestion.
As to my experience changing the way if starting WinMail does not really
help to cure the problem, however. It only reduces it to JPG and TXT
files.

Did you try to open attachments of these types?

Apart: What do you mean by "start ... from the Email-icon"?
Which icon? Where?

And what do you mean by "the all programs tab"?
Which tab? Where?

Rainald

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

That's a known issue that is affecting some who installed IE8.
One workaround is to uninstall IE8, which reverts you back to IE7.
Also, you can always save the attachment, then open it outside of
Windows Mail.
--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

Hi
I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then I can.
Regards
CBS

Hi Ramesh,
thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going on
and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to start
:-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Rainald

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post
the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Supporting Windows® 7, Vista & XP http://www.winhelponline.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------


davidh1 wrote:

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and
right click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start
menu). Select Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work
because opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a
temporary file on that folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes
the problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and
that fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can
not be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while
the problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[This fix worked...many thanks!!!]

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and right
click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu). Select
Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work because
opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a temporary file on that
folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and that
fixes it also.

Enjoy.

Dave

 

[davidh1]

Uninstalling IE8 is not a work around. It is giving up.

After I removed the "Start In" value from the link, I dragged a copy of the
shortcut to my quick launch which is where I start my e-mail client from. If
I click on that shortcut to start my client, MOST of the time the problem
does not occur. Ocassionaly I'll try to open an attachment and get no
response and I just close the client and re-launch it and the problem goes
away.

So it's not a permanent solution, but better than saving the attachment to
disk and then opening it.

Dave

That's a known issue that is affecting some who installed IE8.
One workaround is to uninstall IE8, which reverts you back to IE7.
Also, you can always save the attachment, then open it outside of
Windows Mail.
--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

Hi
I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then I can.
Regards
CBS

Hi Ramesh,
thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going on
and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to start
:-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Rainald


Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP wrote:

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post
the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Supporting Windows® 7, Vista & XP http://www.winhelponline.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------


davidh1 wrote:

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and
right click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start
menu). Select Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work
because opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a
temporary file on that folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes
the problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and
that fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can
not be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while
the problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Hallo stranger,
pls be so kind as to change the user name to your real name.
And pls write what you want to say in the *body* if the message in the
editor.

As to my experience changing the path will help with most types of
files.

But the bug will keep crawling in sooner or later and block JPG and TXT
attachments.

It would be nice if you would test with these files and report back.

Rainald

 

[CBS]

Hi Rainald

With email-icon I ment the Email-icon in the startmenu-the second from
top.With all programstab I ment Choosing mail from all programs.And yes then
I can open .jpg and .txt files.(I am danish andthe layout may be different).
Anyway-I am confused.If I start form startmenu I cant-close-start form all
programs I can-close-start form startmenu I CAN open attatchements.
Where is the bug?

 

[Michael5M]

Hi Folks;

Running MS VISTA (now SP2) + (and the new Explorer 8). I really believe my
Windows Mail problem with opening attachments started after I upgraded to
Explorer 8. After reading all the comments in this thread, what I did after
failure of all the solutions posted, was to delete my shortcut to Windows
Mail and create a new shortcut. Tested with an email sent to myself with
various attachment formats and old emails from friends that prompted me with
the 'Command failed to execute' error message that now work. Now when I open
an email attachment I get the prompt "Do you want to open this file?" My
guess is that the upgrade to Explorer 8 corrupted the Windows Mail
application.

That was my solution!

Hope this helps...

Comments?

Michael5M

 

[Van Pahrump]

Thanks, Dave!

That enables me to save my photo attachments into Photo Gallery. BUT I
still can't thereafter Save my Fixes/edits on those photos. Any ideas how to
solve that? At this point- for me, at leastt- your new solution only gets me
the exact same result as when I right-click and "Save As".

Vaqn

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Uninstalling IE8 is not a work around. It is giving up.

Yeah!
But there is no other way if one wants to work error free.

After I removed the "Start In" value from the link, I dragged a copy
of the shortcut to my quick launch which is where I start my e-mail
client from.

Which destination do you have in the shortcut's "Start in:"-field?

If I click on that shortcut to start my client, MOST of
the time the problem does not occur.

Ocassionaly I'll try to open an
attachment and get no response and I just close the client and
re-launch it and the problem goes away.

Any common environment in the cases when opening does not work?

How about the JPG and TXT attachments??

So it's not a permanent solution, but better than saving the
attachment to disk and then opening it.

This for sure.

So far I did not get across the JPG and TXT issues.
When it crashes with them mostly not even log off/on and/or a reboot
helps.

In 2 if my machine I reverted to IE7, in the other two I still have
IE8 - mainly because of experimenting with bug.

Rainald

That's a known issue that is affecting some who installed IE8.
One workaround is to uninstall IE8, which reverts you back to IE7.
Also, you can always save the attachment, then open it outside of
Windows Mail.
--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

Hi
I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then
I can. Regards
CBS



:

Hi Ramesh,
thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going
on and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my
head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to
start :-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Rainald


Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP wrote:

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and
post the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]
------------------------------------------------------------------ ----
--------
Supporting Windows® 7, Vista & XP http://www.winhelponline.com
------------------------------------------------------------------ ----
--------


davidh1 wrote:

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs
and right click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the
start menu). Select Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not
work because opening an attachment cannot save the attachment
to a temporary file on that folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that
fixes the problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the
value) and that fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It
only *reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments
still can not be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a
while the problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

Rainald

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Van Pahrump wrote:

Sorry, I'm having problems with understanding the scenario :-( :-(

That enables me to save my photo attachments into Photo Gallery.

From where are you saving the files??
And what do mean by "save ... into Photo Gallery"?
One does not save images "into" this applications. One saves to folders.
Do you mean to say that you *OPEN* an attachment and Photo Gallery comes
up?

BUT
I still can't thereafter Save my Fixes/edits on those photos.
Any ideas how to solve that?

If you really *save* the files:
Did you check the permissions fir the folder where you save the files?

Otherwise: If you are talking about *opening* the problem might be that
the file is opened in a folder for temporary files.
It could be, however, that it's just type if file which does not allow
editing in the Photo Gallery. BMP-files for example can not be "edited"
(commented) in the Photo Gallery.

Try to open a file if the type in question from the folder it was saved
to.
If you can not edit the advanced properties, check the box in the lower
right corner.

At this point- for me, at leastt- your new
solution only gets me the exact same result as when I right-click
and "Save As".

Could pretty well be the case. But this mist probably has nothing to do
with the bus we are talking about.

Rainald

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Hi Rainald,

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that
occur (when opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post
the log file online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

As I said before:
I'm unable to make use of your suggestion {siiigh}.

Might you pls assist me a bit?

TIA
Rainald

 

[harmonite64]

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and right
click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu). Select
Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work because
opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a temporary file on that
folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and that
fixes it also.

Enjoy.

Dave

 

[harmonite64]

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and right
click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu). Select
Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work because
opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a temporary file on that
folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and that
fixes it also.

Enjoy.

Dave

THANK YOU MR. DAVIDH1 !!!!

 

[Rainald Taesler]

THANK YOU MR. DAVIDH1 !!!!

Don't shout full of joy too early.
The problem remains at least with JPG and TXT attachments.

Rainald

 

[Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP]

Hi Rainald,

Can you send the P'Mon log file (zipped) to my mail id?

winhelponline [at] g m a i l