RECOVERED MESSAGES FOLDER

[Toyman]

I'm trying to get a friends Dell laptop back up to snuff. After doing a
Vista Startup Repair, most of the problems have abated (e.g. ran Chkdsk
before Windows loaded finding many unrepairable corrupted files, plus other
system problems). There are still a couple of things (may be more lurking
that I haven't ran across yet) I need to fix.

When the problems started a couple of weeks or so ago, email spontaneously
created a folder named "Recovered Messages", and put messages in dated
sub-folders instead of the primary folders (Inbox, Outbox, Sent, etc.). The
folders were created each time email was started.

Although the system appears to be working OK now - incoming messages are in
the primary Inbox, etc., email still creates the "Recover Messages" folder
each time I open mail - so maybe the system isn't right yet? I've copied
the Message Store to a thumb drive. Any ideas of what I need to do to
eliminate/prevent the 'Recovered Messages' folders from being created?

Toyman
____________________________________

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

This is a pernicious problem with Windows Mail.
It sounds like your Windows Mail message store structure is corrupted.
There is a very laborious way of resetting Windows Mail. Follow this
procedure:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/62560-windows-mail-problems.html
Scroll down to the section "PROBLEM TWO: How to Backup and Reset
Windows Mail ".

Frankly, you'd be much better off to simply upgrade to Windows Live Mail:
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview

 

[mac]

I'm trying to get a friends Dell laptop back up to snuff. After doing a
Vista Startup Repair, most of the problems have abated (e.g. ran Chkdsk
before Windows loaded finding many unrepairable corrupted files, plus
other
system problems). There are still a couple of things (may be more lurking
that I haven't ran across yet) I need to fix.

When the problems started a couple of weeks or so ago, email spontaneously
created a folder named "Recovered Messages", and put messages in dated
sub-folders instead of the primary folders (Inbox, Outbox, Sent, etc.).
The
folders were created each time email was started.

Although the system appears to be working OK now - incoming messages are
in
the primary Inbox, etc., email still creates the "Recover Messages" folder
each time I open mail - so maybe the system isn't right yet? I've copied
the Message Store to a thumb drive. Any ideas of what I need to do to
eliminate/prevent the 'Recovered Messages' folders from being created?

Toyman
____________________________________

The mail store has been corrupted in some way, most probably by one of the
most often used Antivirus applications?
Norton, McAfee or Trend Micro are known to cause many problems in WM, when
they are set to scan mail.

Consider disabling that feature.

Better still, remove from your system and install one of the free AV's
available on the net, I use AVG Free.

Let's have a go at your current problem?

Go to Tools>options>advanced>maintenance>message store.

Select and copy the location.

Cancel your way out of there.

Select the Recovered Message folders and delete them, then empty the deleted
items folder.

Close WM !!!!

Go to Control Panel>classic view (top left)>folder options>view tab>enable
Show hidden Files and Folders>apply/ok your way out.

Now go to the Start Button>Run, and paste the message store location, that
you copied earlier, to the run line>OK

This will open Windows Explorer to your message store find and delete all of
the Recovered Message folders.

Close WExp.

Do not Open WM yet !!!!!

Try using this utility to repair and compact the mail store, with WM closed

WMUtil http://www.oehelp.com/WMUtil/

Please read the instructions.

Hopefully, that should sort you out for now, but consider my opening
comments regarding the various AV Applications.

If you need any more help then get back to this thread.

 

[Microsoft Communities]

Steve,

A new twist happened overnight. After posting my message yesterday, I shut
down the laptop. Upon booting it this morning, I found all of the email
accounts & messages non-existent. Although I didn't do it, It looks like
the results of Gary's suggestion to delete Winmail and let the O/S rebuild
it.

After following your advice about opening the Message Store folder and
deleting the 'Recovered Messages', I copied the backup Message Store file to
its default location, but evidently that just displays message headers &
doesn't include the message bodies (I learned something - will use the
export function next time).

I'm waiting for my friend to find his ISP account password, to finish
restoring his account for him. Then I'll see if email is working.

I'm concerned about what happened between shut down last night & startup
this morning. Apparently something's still not right in the system. I
forgot to mention, before Windows loaded this morning, a command prompt
displayed with a message to run CHKDSK. I opted to skip it. When it ran 2
days ago, multiple corrupt files were found, etc. All seemed OK after
running Startup Repair for the Recovery disk.

Thanks to both you & Gary for the replies. I'll post follow-up after I get
the email account finished.

Toyman
____________________________

I'm trying to get a friends Dell laptop back up to snuff. After doing a
Vista Startup Repair, most of the problems have abated (e.g. ran Chkdsk
before Windows loaded finding many unrepairable corrupted files, plus
other
system problems). There are still a couple of things (may be more lurking
that I haven't ran across yet) I need to fix.

When the problems started a couple of weeks or so ago, email spontaneously
created a folder named "Recovered Messages", and put messages in dated
sub-folders instead of the primary folders (Inbox, Outbox, Sent, etc.).
The
folders were created each time email was started.

Although the system appears to be working OK now - incoming messages are
in
the primary Inbox, etc., email still creates the "Recover Messages" folder
each time I open mail - so maybe the system isn't right yet? I've copied
the Message Store to a thumb drive. Any ideas of what I need to do to
eliminate/prevent the 'Recovered Messages' folders from being created?

Toyman
____________________________________

The mail store has been corrupted in some way, most probably by one of the
most often used Antivirus applications?
Norton, McAfee or Trend Micro are known to cause many problems in WM, when
they are set to scan mail.

Consider disabling that feature.

Better still, remove from your system and install one of the free AV's
available on the net, I use AVG Free.

Let's have a go at your current problem?

Go to Tools>options>advanced>maintenance>message store.

Select and copy the location.

Cancel your way out of there.

Select the Recovered Message folders and delete them, then empty the deleted
items folder.

Close WM !!!!

Go to Control Panel>classic view (top left)>folder options>view tab>enable
Show hidden Files and Folders>apply/ok your way out.

Now go to the Start Button>Run, and paste the message store location, that
you copied earlier, to the run line>OK

This will open Windows Explorer to your message store find and delete all of
the Recovered Message folders.

Close WExp.

Do not Open WM yet !!!!!

Try using this utility to repair and compact the mail store, with WM closed

WMUtil http://www.oehelp.com/WMUtil/

Please read the instructions.

Hopefully, that should sort you out for now, but consider my opening
comments regarding the various AV Applications.

If you need any more help then get back to this thread.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I reread my recommendations in this thread and did not see anything
saying "delete Winmail".

 

[mac]

Steve,

A new twist happened overnight. After posting my message yesterday, I
shut
down the laptop. Upon booting it this morning, I found all of the email
accounts & messages non-existent. Although I didn't do it, It looks like
the results of Gary's suggestion to delete Winmail and let the O/S rebuild
it.

After following your advice about opening the Message Store folder and
deleting the 'Recovered Messages', I copied the backup Message Store file
to
its default location, but evidently that just displays message headers &
doesn't include the message bodies (I learned something - will use the
export function next time).

I'm waiting for my friend to find his ISP account password, to finish
restoring his account for him. Then I'll see if email is working.

I'm concerned about what happened between shut down last night & startup
this morning. Apparently something's still not right in the system. I
forgot to mention, before Windows loaded this morning, a command prompt
displayed with a message to run CHKDSK. I opted to skip it. When it ran
2
days ago, multiple corrupt files were found, etc. All seemed OK after
running Startup Repair for the Recovery disk.

Thanks to both you & Gary for the replies. I'll post follow-up after I
get
the email account finished.

Toyman
____________________________

I would be looking toward backing up all recoverable data, and wiping the
drive, start afresh, when CHKDSK raises its head, more than once?

YMMV?