Vista Mail Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter FiOS-Dave
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FiOS-Dave

I am using RC1, and suddenly, Mail is giving me a "recovering the
Windows Mail database" message, which closes, and nothing happens.
If I try to launch it again, I get a "Mail couldn't be started because
another instance is still running. Log off and restart.".
Which (of course) doesn't help.

Is there a"Repair" function for Mail? I would hate to have to re-install
Vista just for this error,or re-install Mail, and have to go through the
agony of importing all my messages, folders, IAFs, etc., again.
I am running this test system in parallel with my production system so
that I can detect errors and/or bugs that would appear in a working
environment.

Thanks,

Dave

P.S. to email me, remove "YOURSHORTS"
 
The database is corrupt and there is no way of fixing it. So you have to
get rid of it and start again.

The first thing you can try is to delete the database files in the root
directory of the message database. Then you can copy the backed version of
the database from the backup folder into the parent directory. Then see if
WinMail will run okay. If it doesn't then you have to clear the entire
message store directory and subdirectories (move them somewhere), and then
you can start WinMail and it will open new.

You cannot update from RC1 to the final version in terms of Windows Mail.
In fact, I wouldn't recommend updating any version to the final and expect
Windows Mail to update properly, as they made a number of changes up to the
end.

steve
 
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info.
I did have to clear the entire Message Store, however,
Mail did rebuild from the backup. I could see where there
were a number of recovered Local Folders that had some spurious
characters in there names, however, for the most part, it looks like
everything was recovered!

It's too bad that there isn't a utility to repair the Message Store,
as it may be only a byte or two that gets mashed.
I haven't had a chance to examine the file, so I don't know
if it is similar to the old DBX files, or is it a new format?
I've made a redundant backup of the pertinent files, just in case!

Thanks again,
Dave
P.S. to email me, remove "YOURSHORTS"
 
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info.
I did have to clear the entire Message Store, however,
Mail did rebuild from the backup. I could see where there
were a number of recovered Local Folders that had some spurious
characters in there names, however, for the most part, it looks like
everything was recovered!

It's too bad that there isn't a utility to repair the Message Store,
as it may be only a byte or two that gets mashed.
I haven't had a chance to examine the file, so I don't know
if it is similar to the old DBX files, or is it a new format?
I've made a redundant backup of the pertinent files, just in case!

Thanks again,
Dave
P.S. to email me, remove "YOURSHORTS"
 
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info.
I did have to clear the entire Message Store, however,
Mail did rebuild from the backup. I could see where there
were a number of recovered Local Folders that had some spurious
characters in there names, however, for the most part, it looks like
everything was recovered!

It's too bad that there isn't a utility to repair the Message Store,
as it may be only a byte or two that gets mashed.
I haven't had a chance to examine the file, so I don't know
if it is similar to the old DBX files, or is it a new format?
I've made a redundant backup of the pertinent files, just in case!

Thanks again,
Dave
P.S. to email me, remove "YOURSHORTS"
 
Thanks for the feedback. The new database is based upon the extensible
storage engine that Exchange and Active Directory use.

I'll be digging into it this winter some and hopefully will come up with
some repair utilities to fix some of the problems that are clearly emerging
already.

steve
 
You have to wipe the database and start over with it. You can save the eml
files.

steve
 
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