Error when open attachment of .doc, .xls, .ppt in WM message

[Guest]

Hi,

I have searched and read through the "cannot open attachment" issues already
here (to date), and not found a solution. I would like to give this issue a
"new try".

I have a brand new HP Pavillion DV9225 laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate,
preinstalled.

My issue is, with Windows Mail, in a e-mail message, an attachment that is a
Word doc (.doc), a Excel spreadsheet (.xls), or a Powerpoint file (.ppt)
cannot be successfully opened by its associated Office task.

I open up the e-mail message, double click the attachment (let's say
"fubar.xls") to open, the appropriate/correct Office task is executed to open
the file, but I get this error panel:

"Windows cannot find
'C:\Users\myuserid\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\UYSODHL1\fubar.xls'. Make sure you typed the name
correctly, and then try again."

Observations:
1) Norton Internet Security suite pre-installed and activated.
De-activated virus scanning for incoming e-mail. No change, still have issue.

2) I can successfully save the attachment to a specified folder, and
view/open it. But this is only a workaraound, I still am interested in the
solution.

3) If I right-click on C:\Program Files\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe, and
select "Run As Administrator", then Windows Mail task runs *and then I CAN
(!!!) open attachments that are .doc, .xls, or .ppt !!! This is also a
workaround, but I'd like a permanent solution.

It appears to me that Windows Mail by default does not have "enough"
permission to save the attachment file to a temporary file in the path listed
in the error message above. Therefore, the Office task cannot find it when
it attempts to open it.

4) If I right-click on C:\Program Files\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe, select
"Properties", "Compatibility", I cannot permantly set the task to "Run As
Administrator", which might have been a fix, as this option is "dimmed".

So given all this info, might there be a solution to this issue? Any and
all help appreciated!

Thanks,
-Gary K

 

[Guest]

I also have problems when trying to access doc. and xls.attachments and tried
wordpad, notepad, and adobe to read doc. without success as only gobbledygook
comes up. You are referred to Set Associations in the Control Planel for
support but i have found this difficult to find? Sorry I am of no help Gary
but perhaps someone else can ? Deejay

 

[Guest]

Deejay,

Thanks, but what that does is to associate a "file type" to a "program to
run" to open the file when a file of a particular type is selected.

In my case, I am past that. The associations are there and correct.

The Office program cannot find the file (attachment) because sure enough it
is not there if my Windows Mail is run without selecting "Run As
Administrator".

Try what I outlined in #3 of my original post and see if that works for you
(as a workaround).

Thanks again,
-Gary K

 

[Guest]

Anybody? Any thoughts? Suggestions? Fixes?

Am I the only user in the world with this issue?

Thanks,
-Gary K

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Are Word, Excel, and PowerPoint installed on your PC?
If so, in Windows Mail go to Tools, Options, Security,
and uncheck "Do not allow attachments..."

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Guest]

Hi Gary,

I verified that option has been unchecked. The issue persists even with
"attachments enabled".

Thanks,
-Gary K

 

[Guest]

Gary,

Yes, Office 2007 Home and Student is installed from the retail CD and
license key. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote.

Thanks,
-Gary K

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

The only other possibility I can think of is that your antivirus
program is not allowing access to the email attachments.
In a pinch, you could save the attachments to the hard drive
and then open them from there.

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Guest]

Hi Gary,

Yes, as I had written in my original post, I can: 1) Manually save the
{.doc,.xls,.ppt} attachment to a folder, and open it per normal, or 2) Right
click the "WM" icon and select "Run as Administrator" and then
{.doc,.xls,.ppt} attachments are successfully opened by the corresponding
Office 2007 program within Windows Mail.

But these are workaraounds, I would like to not have to think about doing
these special things just to open an MS Office attachment in a Windows Mail
message.

And I still am surprised that I must be the only person with this issue.
I'm using all the software as it came on the notebook (Vista and Windows
Mail) plus the Office 2007 Home and Student from the retail CDs (to allow the
permanent license).

If I e-mail myself a ".doc" from the same machine, then I can't open that
attachment, just as I documented in the original post.

I suspect there is something about my configuration that has to do with
Administrator privileges that are whacked. If I could permanently run WM
with "Run as Administrator" setting then it would work.

Thanks again,
-Gary K

 

[Guest]

Ok, I found what is causing this issue! It is Norton Internet Security after
all! And this is the pre-installed software on this new laptop ...

From the "Classic" Windows Start Menu, I did:

Start | Run | Msconfig
Select "Selective Startup"
Check "Load system services"
Apply | OK
Restart

.... and then upon restart/reboot, I run WM and can finally open
{.doc,.xls,.ppt} attachments.

Now I've got to go figure out how to convince Symantec I.S. to let me open
my attachments. This is so I can boot my system normally.

Thanks,
-Gary K

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have searched and read through the "cannot open attachment" issues already
here (to date), and not found a solution. I would like to give this issue a
"new try".

I have a brand new HP Pavillion DV9225 laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate,
preinstalled.

My issue is, with Windows Mail, in a e-mail message, an attachment that is a
Word doc (.doc), a Excel spreadsheet (.xls), or a Powerpoint file (.ppt)
cannot be successfully opened by its associated Office task.

Good post Gary..
I have new Dell Inspiron laptop and Windows Vista Business and Windows
Office Student version, TRIAL version. I just tested attached xls and doc
files sent from my desktop. I was able to open both without a
problem.......BUT,
I have a different experience with ALL attachments.

When I clik on the paperclip and then the attachment, it takes about 4 or 5
and up to 10 seconds before the screen appears which allows me to open said
attachment. That doesn't seem too bad, but it is still time wasted.
Yesterday that time went up to minutes!!!! That is why I would like to
know and understand the source of this delay. I am guessing it might be
some kind of scan being done. I have not disabled email scanning in my
Norton ....yet. Might try that to see if that changes anything. The
attachment seems to open pretty quickly once that second screen comes up and
is clicked.

Chuck

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Sorry, I can't duplicate your issue, as I have no problem opening
..doc attachments from within Windows Mail.
I'm using Office 2003 but that shouldn't make any difference.

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Yeah, I suspected your antivirus program. ;-)

Since about 2003 I have never allowed anything named
"Symantec" or "Norton" on my computers.

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Guest]

Chuck,

Let me try to better communicate what I did to "test" the theory that
Symantec Internet Security was the problem.

I use the "classic" view of the Windows Start menu. This way I can easily
find the "Run" command.

I click on Start|Run, then enter "msconfig", then "ok".
MSCONFIG runs.
Select "Selective Startup".
Click on the Startup tab.
For my system and configuration, I un-checked the items that were named
"Symantec".
Click "Apply", "OK".
Restart the system.
The system should now boot with no Symantec programs in memory.
Test your e-mail attachment functionality. If it works now, then you have a
clue what is causing the issue.

Best,
-Gary K

 

[Carol]

I too have the same problem with opening attachments on vista mail. Any help would be appreciated. On another site I was told you have to associate the application to windows mail not the .doc file. I am confused.

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Guest]

Carol,

1) Have you tried a "clean boot" in Vista to see if the problem goes away
or not?

2) Is your issue with "MS Office" files, or every attachment? What happens
when you attempt to open an attachment from a Windows Mail message?

3) Associating file types with Windows Mail does not sound correct.
Windows Mail should be passing along the attachment file to the "OS" (Vista)
to let the OS look up the correct program to execute, given the file type
(for example, a file type of ".doc" in an attachment should cause the OS to
look in its associations table and then run "MS Word" to open the attachment.
Just like when you double-click a .doc file directly.

-Gary K

 

[Guest]

Gary, send Microsoft an invoice for $500 for wasting your time with this
piece of crap. All the MBA grads at Microsoft created this ingenious Windows
Mail, they should be fired and Microsoft should have the balls to send out a
fix, instead of us searching all the crevices of this pit. Otherwise, the
place to complain is the Wallstreet Journal and CNBC news, so the stock
market can decide what to do with poor Vista sales from this product.

 

[Guest]

No help but you are not alone with this problem

 

[Guest]

I installed Norton AntiVirus and now I can open Attachments in Windows Vista
Mail. Previously, I had to email messages to Yahoo and open attachments that
way as a work around. When I bought Vista Upgrade it came with Norton
AntiVirus but I did not install it because I was trying to solve the Windows
Mail problem first before adding another software. Then I installed it
recently. Why doesn't Microfat come out and inform everyone that this
co-partnership with Norton AntiVirus provides the best solution. They
advertised that Vista was like a replacement to other Virus software and we
might save money not having to buy additional virus protection software.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Most people find Norton to be a disasyer with Vista and expecially with
Windows Mail.