WindowsMail on Vista.

The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail on
Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed up as
some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4

R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4


http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...f-d683c098e679

"The location is hidden, so you have to enable showing hidden files
and folders via Control Panel | Folder Options | View (and make sure
you uncheck the option to "hide extensions ..." so you can see the
eml files).

You can either browse to the message store location (default is
c:\users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail) or you
can just search for *.eml and make sure you include hidden files and
folders in the search parameters.

The WindowsMail.MSMessageStore file is a database only of the metadata
and contains no messages -- they are stored individually as the eml files.
"

Have a look around first, before doing something destructive.

"Compacting" email, as opposed to "Compressing", is a matter
of finally removing deleted emails from the email list.
Say I have 100 items in the Inbox, I delete 7 of them. Well,
they're not really deleted. However, when I "compact" the
Inbox, the stored number of items would drop to 93,
as the ones having a status of Deleted are finally
removed. This two stage process gives you an opportunity
to unDelete something. Otherwise, it doesn't serve much
purpose.

I don't use email tools like this, so I have no idea what
has happened to you.

Paul

R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4

WM by design is hard-coded to clean up after so many program openings.

Explain ' I found them but they can't be opened '
- What is the file extension for the email files that were
'found'...and where did you find them ?

Fyi...Vista stores email as individual eml files. MSFT's cleanup does
not change the extension of an email file.

The message you saw (since Windows Mail on Vista is not capable of
compressing email files) was probably more closely related to the below
(than what you reported above)
"Compact database on shutdown"
or
"Windows Mail can compact the message store. This may take up to a few
minutes."

It does seem odd that you've never seen a message to compact Vista's
Windows Mail in past use (it occurs automatically after every 100
program openings).
- How long have you been running Windows Mail on Vista......or is this
really a question about Windows Mail on Windows 8x or Windows 7 ?


--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.

philo wrote:
On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing
them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.


Emails are not stored in Windows Mail database..it is just an index
(think of it as a table of contents that tells the program where to find
something and the status/flag of a respective item). Opening it any
other application will not yield messages, just a bunch of gibberish and
gobbledygook.

Emails in Vista Windows Mail are stored as individual *.eml files...if
not present when viewing in Windows Explorer on Vista or Win7 (or File
Explorer on Win8) ....then two possibilities immediately come to mind
- emails were deleted (user manually, user in Windows Mail, or other
3rd party program)
- corrupt data or sector on hard drive.

Compacting the database is not coded to delete anything that has not
previously been set as deleted *and* emptied/purged.



--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On 03/01/2015 07:59 PM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing
them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.


Emails are not stored in Windows Mail database..it is just an index
(think of it as a table of contents that tells the program where to find
something and the status/flag of a respective item). Opening it any
other application will not yield messages, just a bunch of gibberish and
gobbledygook.

Emails in Vista Windows Mail are stored as individual *.eml files...if
not present when viewing in Windows Explorer on Vista or Win7 (or File
Explorer on Win8) ....then two possibilities immediately come to mind
- emails were deleted (user manually, user in Windows Mail, or other
3rd party program)
- corrupt data or sector on hard drive.

Compacting the database is not coded to delete anything that has not
previously been set as deleted *and* emptied/purged.






Considering it's a 150 meg file, to me that looks like the whole thing.

OTOH I guess that might be too large to open in a text reader...

philo wrote:
On 03/01/2015 07:59 PM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll
ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how
can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing
them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System
Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in
Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.


Emails are not stored in Windows Mail database..it is just an index
(think of it as a table of contents that tells the program where to find
something and the status/flag of a respective item). Opening it any
other application will not yield messages, just a bunch of gibberish and
gobbledygook.

Emails in Vista Windows Mail are stored as individual *.eml files...if
not present when viewing in Windows Explorer on Vista or Win7 (or File
Explorer on Win8) ....then two possibilities immediately come to mind
- emails were deleted (user manually, user in Windows Mail, or other
3rd party program)
- corrupt data or sector on hard drive.

Compacting the database is not coded to delete anything that has not
previously been set as deleted *and* emptied/purged.






Considering it's a 150 meg file, to me that looks like the whole thing.

OTOH I guess that might be too large to open in a text reader...

Size of the index doesn't mean much without knowing the entire size of
the Windows Mail folder in the users profile namespace AppData local folder.

g A text reader might balk a bit.

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On 03/02/2015 01:48 AM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 03/01/2015 07:59 PM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll
ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed
WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how
can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing
them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System
Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in
Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.


Emails are not stored in Windows Mail database..it is just an index
(think of it as a table of contents that tells the program where to find
something and the status/flag of a respective item). Opening it any
other application will not yield messages, just a bunch of gibberish and
gobbledygook.

Emails in Vista Windows Mail are stored as individual *.eml files...if
not present when viewing in Windows Explorer on Vista or Win7 (or File
Explorer on Win8) ....then two possibilities immediately come to mind
- emails were deleted (user manually, user in Windows Mail, or other
3rd party program)
- corrupt data or sector on hard drive.

Compacting the database is not coded to delete anything that has not
previously been set as deleted *and* emptied/purged.






Considering it's a 150 meg file, to me that looks like the whole thing.

OTOH I guess that might be too large to open in a text reader...

Size of the index doesn't mean much without knowing the entire size of
the Windows Mail folder in the users profile namespace AppData local
folder.

g A text reader might balk a bit.





I suppose the OP could concatenate the file from the command line to see
what's there.

philo wrote:
On 03/02/2015 01:48 AM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 03/01/2015 07:59 PM, "...winston‫" wrote:
philo wrote:
On 02/28/2015 08:38 PM, R.H. Breener wrote:
The Vista mail NG is dead, no reply on the other Vista group so I'll
ask
here. I got a windows popup to compress email when I closed
WindowsMail
on Vista a few days ago, so clicked
OK. My saved inbox messages vanished. I found them but they can't be
opened. Going to the net as per the popup when I tried to open
them, I
got a
MS doesn't recognize the file type. MS WM compressed them so how
can MS
not
know the file type? How do I open these? What good is compressing
them as
this did, called a backup, when they can't be accessed? They're
backed
up as some unknown file type? WTF?

I have some important
business email I can't access. This is very important. A System
Restore
didn't help. How do I open that compressed folder called "backup" and
retrieve those messages that were in the inbox?

TIA

http://tinypic.com/m/ir27wn/4




I'm sure there is a proper way to do it
but for any type of mail program I've ever used I found that the data
base can be opened in a text reader and all the text portions of the
email will be readable.


You can copy the file and rename it to end with .doc and open it in
Word.

No formatting will be intact but you can at least read the emails.


Emails are not stored in Windows Mail database..it is just an index
(think of it as a table of contents that tells the program where to
find
something and the status/flag of a respective item). Opening it any
other application will not yield messages, just a bunch of gibberish
and
gobbledygook.

Emails in Vista Windows Mail are stored as individual *.eml files...if
not present when viewing in Windows Explorer on Vista or Win7 (or File
Explorer on Win8) ....then two possibilities immediately come to mind
- emails were deleted (user manually, user in Windows Mail, or other
3rd party program)
- corrupt data or sector on hard drive.

Compacting the database is not coded to delete anything that has not
previously been set as deleted *and* emptied/purged.






Considering it's a 150 meg file, to me that looks like the whole thing.

OTOH I guess that might be too large to open in a text reader...

Size of the index doesn't mean much without knowing the entire size of
the Windows Mail folder in the users profile namespace AppData local
folder.

g A text reader might balk a bit.





I suppose the OP could concatenate the file from the command line to see
what's there.

A waste of time.

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹éŸˆœâ€*Ã*Æ’€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ ô " ¤  ¨ € & uB€"



--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:44:17 -0700, "...winston‫" wrote:

A waste of time.

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹é*Ÿˆœ**â€*Ã**Æ’*€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ* ô " ¤  *¨ € & uB€"

That's the first chapter of my novel. How'd it get in there?

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 02 Mar 2015, Stormin' Norman wrote
in alt.comp.os.windows-8:

Has anyone noticed the OP apparently doesn't give a hoot about
this topic? He has been MIA since the initial post.

He's done that with several other topics he's started. I don't bother
replying to him any more.

On 03/02/2015 03:29 PM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:44:17 -0700, "...winston‫" wrote:

A waste of time.

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹é*Ÿˆœ**â€*Ã**Æ’*€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ* ô " ¤  *¨ € & uB€"

That's the first chapter of my novel. How'd it get in there?




Yeah, That's kind of the way I write too.

On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:20:37 -0600, philo wrote:

On 03/02/2015 03:29 PM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:44:17 -0700, "...winston‫" wrote:

A waste of time.

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹é*Ÿˆœ**â€*Ã**Æ’*€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ* ô " ¤  *¨ € & uB€"

That's the first chapter of my novel. How'd it get in there?


Yeah, That's kind of the way I write too.

LOL!

Good one...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:44:17 -0700, "...winston‫" wrote:

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹é*Ÿˆœ**â€*Ã**Æ’*€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ* ô " ¤  *¨ € & uB€"

This line realy fouls up the display font on here!

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:44:17 -0700, "Winston ‫" wrote:

A waste of time.

A representative sample of **what's there**
"‹é*Ÿˆœ**â€*Ã**Æ’*€ 9•éùÀ?×ñ* ô " ¤  *¨ € & uB€"

That's the first chapter of my novel. How'd it get in there?


For the sleeping Breener, there are two files of interest
(as found in a vistax64 posting).

C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\WindowsMail.MSMessageStore

C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Backup\new\WindowsMail.MSMessageStore

So the tool may be keeping a backup file, you never know.
As to whether the backup one is any good, I suppose
it would depend on how much you've tortured the poor thing.

The next article mentions a "Reset" procedure. Maybe that
automates the movement of any backup file.

*******

And this one looks interesting. Hammer/Saw/Screwdrivers for
working on Windows Mail.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/62...-problems.html

And a tool for working on the database, after a fashion.
Presumably making calls to the same DLL files that Windows Mail
uses. Naturally, you would prefer Windows Mail to not
be running at the time. (I'd check the Task Manager, to
make sure some related cruft isn't still running, just to be
safe.)

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

WMUtil.exe --- presumably, the GUI portion
scxout.dll --- business end

What the Portable Executable scxout.dll imports
for its functions. It's using database functions
as defined in ESENT.dll.

PE imports
[+] ESENT.dll
JetTerm
JetEnumerateColumns
JetBeginSession
JetInit
JetMove
JetCloseDatabase
JetOpenTable
JetAttachDatabase
JetOpenDatabase
JetCreateInstance
JetCloseTable
JetInit2
JetSetSystemParameter
JetEndSession
JetDelete
JetDetachDatabase
[+] KERNEL32.dll

That's just to show you how that program can work - it
is using database calls in a Microsoft provided library,
to do stuff. The same routines Windows Mail would use
to Repair or Compact the MSMessageStore.

*******

It's possible WindowsMail.MSMessageStore is a database
(for metadata storage and not the messages) of this type.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Storage_Engine

Windows is supposed to use ESENT.dll to read the MSMessageStore.
Which would correspond to the most recent format.

http://www.forensicfocus.com/windows-search-forensics

These links don't provide "the answer", more some
background info if you needed some more search
terms, or if the WMUtil isn't helping, or any
restore from the backup isn't working, etc.

*******

There's *plenty* of information out there.
Just be careful, while following it. Keep copies.
Make sure you know where the important stuff is
stored. For example, if you really can't find
any .eml files on the computer, you're kinda ****ed.

Make sure the search tool you're using, isn't
one of the "useless" ones. I get caught on this
stuff all the time, like analyzing program source
files (*.cc, *.h) and having software routine names
not show up in a content search. When they really
are there. Apparently, all it takes is Unix/Linux CRLF
type of line ending issues, to prevent Windows from
reading a text file properly (yikes!). Even though Wordpad
doesn't have a problem, and can open Windows flavor or
Linux flavored text or source.

Paul