547565 - Thunderbird doesn't register itself as a mapi client, the installer does

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(MailNews Core :: Simple MAPI, defect)

Description

[PB]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20100111 Thunderbird/3.0.1

I can send a Thunderbird email from Word and Excel but not from Adobe Acrobat.  In Adobe when you try to send and email it opens Outlook even though Outlook email is not configured.  Outlook is configured but not the email.  This problem was present before Outlook was configured at all.  When you try to confirm Thunderbird as the default email in Windows 7 it does not confirm the setting.  Windows 7 seems to have problems allowing Thunderbird as the default email choice.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open Adobe
2.Press send an email
3.
Actual Results:  
Outlook opens in stead of Thunderbird

Expected Results:  
Thunderbird email client should open with the Adobe file shown in the attachment box

Comment 1

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

What happens if you right click on a file and use the send email menu  item ? do you end up in outlook or in tb ?

Comment 2

[PB]

It seems that Thunderbird does not automatically set up Adobe Acrobat or Word as the default email fully.  You manually have set other defaults in Windows 7 to get Adobe to work.  As for Word it required a re-install to fix the problem of it not recognizing Thunderbird as the default.  Word kept opening Outlook email even though it was not the default email selection.

Comment 3

[PB]

If you tried to send a Firefox browser page TB opens and sent it fine.  If you try to send inside Excel an Excel file it does it fine with TB.  If you click on a file it also sends it no problem in TB.  If you change the Windows 7 default email settings to TB it does it fine until you re-boot the PC, then it can't send emails inside Word again with or without TB or Outlook.  Outlook was never set up to handle emails at all.  If you can close then close Word which you can only due by closing the processes and set TB as the default email again it works.  When you re-boot it losses TB as the default setting again (but it only loses it inside Word, not inside Windows 7).

The only fix was to remove and then re-install just Word.  There was no need to re-onstall any program except Word.

Comment 4

[PB]

My mistake, re-installing Word did not work.  When I re-boot the PC, then open a Word document, and then press send (trying it without Thunderbird opened) pressing send opens TB but not a compose email window.  If I try pressing send with TB opened then nothing happens.  If I then try to close Word I get the error that Word cannot be closed until your email has been sent.

Comment 5

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

Sid any idea what I should ask to understand why adobe doesn't respect the simple mapi mapping ? shall I ask fro registry key values ?

Comment 6

[PB]

Go to >Control Panel > Programs > Default Programs > Custom > Choose a default e-mail program.  This then activates Adobe's e-mail feature.

There does not seem to be any solution to the problem of not being able to send a TB email from inside Word.  It does work with Outlook if you make Outlook the default e-mail.

Comment 7

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Some settings for "Default Mailer" seems not to be set in some situations;
  (a) Current "Default Mailer" is running.
  (b) Tb thinks "I'm already Default Mailer".
(a) may happen upon software upgrade of Tb. (b) may happen, if Tb's setting for Default Mailer is incomplete due to (a) or others but some settings are partially proper as Default Mailer.

PB(bug opener):

Will next resolve your problem?
(1) By other mailer(Windows Mail etc. with "ask for defaut mailer at startup"),
    make other mailer "default mailer" with OK reply, and check it by
    "send file via. mail" of Adobe Acrobat.
(2) Enable Tb's option for "ask for defaut mailer at startup",
    and make Tb "default mailer" with OK reply.

Comment 8

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

This is because Thunderbird does not register itself as default mailer for MAPI.

We need to register Thunderbird in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail as well as HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee873200%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

Comment 9

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

Thunderbird does register itself there, see http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/annotate/c8b0e716441e/mail/installer/windows/nsis/shared.nsh#l226. Registering in both HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER is not necessary.

Comment 10

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

Unconfirming again per Comment 9 and PB still needs to respond to Comment 7.

Comment 11

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

Does the code works well after installing Outlook Express? In my case Thunderbird did not set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail after installing Outlook Express.

Comment 12

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

I am not sure Adobe Acrobat supports whether extended MAPI or simple MAPI. If Acrobat supports only extended MAPI, thunderbird need to register in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Messaging Subsystem too.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc815368.aspx

Thunderbird does not support extended MAPI yet.

Comment 13

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

(In reply to comment #11)
> Does the code works well after installing Outlook Express? In my case
> Thunderbird did not set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail after

I meant HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail.

Comment 14

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

(In reply to comment #11)
> Does the code works well after installing Outlook Express? In my case
> Thunderbird did not set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail after
> installing Outlook Express.

The question in that case would be why has Outlook Express changed it? Thunderbird expects to set itself as default and not have to change anything unless it becomes non-default.

Comment 15

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

(In reply to comment #14)
> (In reply to comment #11)
> > Does the code works well after installing Outlook Express? In my case
> > Thunderbird did not set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail after
> > installing Outlook Express.
> 
> The question in that case would be why has Outlook Express changed it?

Oh, I am sorry for my explicit explanation. I set Outlook Express as default mailer, so OE changed the registry key, and then I set Thunderbird as default mailer on Thunderbird's preference window, but Thunderbird did not change the registry key.

Comment 16

[PB]

I greatly appreciate the extensive list of comments.  I will be in front of this computer in 6 weeks.  At that time I will try the suggested fixes and let everyone know if it worked.

Comment 17

[PB]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Some settings for "Default Mailer" seems not to be set in some situations;
>   (a) Current "Default Mailer" is running.
>   (b) Tb thinks "I'm already Default Mailer".
> (a) may happen upon software upgrade of Tb. (b) may happen, if Tb's setting for
> Default Mailer is incomplete due to (a) or others but some settings are
> partially proper as Default Mailer.
> 
> PB(bug opener):
> 
> Will next resolve your problem?
> (1) By other mailer(Windows Mail etc. with "ask for defaut mailer at startup"),
>     make other mailer "default mailer" with OK reply, and check it by
>     "send file via. mail" of Adobe Acrobat.
> (2) Enable Tb's option for "ask for defaut mailer at startup",
>     and make Tb "default mailer" with OK reply.

This did not work.  We even tried to reinstall both Thunderbird and Outlook after we tried the above.  None of these approached worked.  I have not tried the suggestions in comment 13.  

I believe the problem did occur during a Thunderbird update.

Comment 18

[PB]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Some settings for "Default Mailer" seems not to be set in some situations;
>   (a) Current "Default Mailer" is running.
>   (b) Tb thinks "I'm already Default Mailer".
> (a) may happen upon software upgrade of Tb. (b) may happen, if Tb's setting for
> Default Mailer is incomplete due to (a) or others but some settings are
> partially proper as Default Mailer.
> 
> PB(bug opener):
> See comment 17
> Will next resolve your problem?
> (1) By other mailer(Windows Mail etc. with "ask for defaut mailer at startup"),
>     make other mailer "default mailer" with OK reply, and check it by
>     "send file via. mail" of Adobe Acrobat.
> (2) Enable Tb's option for "ask for defaut mailer at startup",
>     and make Tb "default mailer" with OK reply.

Comment 19

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #15)
> (In reply to comment #14)
> > (In reply to comment #11)
> > > Does the code works well after installing Outlook Express? In my case
> > > Thunderbird did not set HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Clients\Mail after
> > > installing Outlook Express.
> > 
> > The question in that case would be why has Outlook Express changed it?
> 
> Oh, I am sorry for my explicit explanation. I set Outlook Express as default
> mailer, so OE changed the registry key, and then I set Thunderbird as default
> mailer on Thunderbird's preference window, but Thunderbird did not change the
> registry key.
1. what steps did you use to set OE as the default mailer?
2. which registry key did OE change when you set it as the default mailer?
3. what steps did you use to set Thunderbird as the default mailer?
4. which registry key did Thunderbird not change when you set it as the default mailer (Thunderbird did not change the registry key)?

Comment 20

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

The registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail.

Before I installed OE, the key value is "Mozilla Thunderbird" which was input by myself.

Steps I did:

1. Installed OE from Control Panel.
2. Launched OE and set OE as default mailer on preference dialog of OE.
3. The registry key value was changed to "Outlook Express".
4. Quited OE.
5. Launched Thuderbird and set Thunderbird as default mailer on preference dialog of Thunderbird.
6. The registry key value was not changed.
7. Quited Thunderbird.
8. Remove OE.
9. The registry key value was changed to a blank. (I think it's a 0-length string.)
10. Launched Thuderbird and set Thunderbird as default mailer on preference dialog of Thunderbird.
11. The registry key value stays a blank.

Comment 21

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #20)
> The registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail.
The value for this registry key determines the system level default mail client and not the user level default mail client. Applications reading that key for the user's default mail client are doing it wrong.

To set that key to Thunderbird you can on Windows Vista and above open control panel -> use Default Programs -> "Set program access and computer defaults" or on Windows XP click Start, point to All Programs, and then click "Set Program Access and Defaults". Then select custom and change the default mail program to Thunderbird. This will set Thunderbird as the default mail client for the system and set that registry key.

Comment 22

[Masatoshi Kimura [:emk]]

It's impossible to change the registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE unless the user has an Administrator privilege.
BTW, Outlook Express is not present on Vista or later. Are you using Windows XP? The reporter seems to use Win7 x64 and Office Outlook (not OE).

Comment 23

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #22)
> It's impossible to change the registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE unless the
> user has an Administrator privilege.
and it should not be necessary to change it unless there is a misbehaving application that is using it to determine the user's default mail client which is entirely possible.

Comment 24

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

(In reply to comment #22)
> It's impossible to change the registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE unless the
> user has an Administrator privilege.
> BTW, Outlook Express is not present on Vista or later. Are you using Windows
> XP? The reporter seems to use Win7 x64 and Office Outlook (not OE).

Ah, sorry. I tried on Windows XP. Do you know similar bug on Win XP? I will move on the bug.

Comment 25

[Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro)]

I found bug 390331.

Comment 26

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

To all problem reporters in this bug after 2010/01:
Your problem is one explained in bug 618678? (mozMapi32_InUse.dll in DLLPath of the cited Win's registry entry in this bug too)

Comment 28

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency from comment #26)

To all problem reporters in this bug after 2010/01:
Your problem is one explained in bug 618678? (mozMapi32_InUse.dll in DLLPath
of the cited Win's registry entry in this bug too)

Fixed in 2019, version 60.5 and 66.

Comment 29

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Hiroyuki Ikezoe (:hiro) from comment #25)

I found bug 390331.

fixed in late 2012, version 19

Comment 30

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Anyone still experience this issue?