Fix stuck messages in Windows Mail Outbox
A friend of mine called me the other day. He had troubles with a mail in Windows Mail running Windows Vista 32-bit. The mail was sort of stuck in the outbox of Windows Mail. He was not able to delete or send the email which was very unfortunate for him, as email was used regularly as part of his job.
He was prompted at every exit of Windows Mail that there was unsent mail and he was getting desperate, as he could not figure out what was going on
A quick research revealed that Microsoft actually created a Knowledge Base article describing that exact problem. The article suggests patching Windows Mail to resolve the issue. Mails can be deleted after applying the patch to the system.
The problem seems to occur when the stream entries for the messages are inaccessible before Windows Mail deletes the messages from the Outbox. One possibility would be a notebook running out of battery in this exact moment. If you got stuck messages in the outbox of Windows Mail download the patch and delete the messages afterwards. The patch is available for both the 32-bit and 64-bit version of Windows Vista.
Make sure you exit Windows Live Mail before you run the patch installer, as it may not work otherwise. You need to make sure as well that you download the right patch file that works with your system. If you run a 32-bit version of Vista, download the corresponding file, or download the 64-bit file if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows Vista.
If installing the update does not resolve the issue that you are experiencing, Microsoft suggests to run the following troubleshooting options:
- Locate the Windows Mail message store folder and delete it so that it is rebuild.
- Rebuild the entire Windows Mail folder and create a new folder.
Both methods require some manual work on your part. I highly suggest you try method one first before you try method two.
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