Fixing "Command Failed to Execute" on attachments

I see lots and lots of discussions. This is EASY to fix.

I have Vista & IE8, BTW.

click on Start (or the circle thingy for Vista), All Programs and right
click Windows Mail (under All Programs, not on the start menu). Select
Properties.

The value "Start in:" is set to %UserProfile%. This does not work because
opening an attachment cannot save the attachment to a temporary file on that
folder.

I changed it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temp" and that fixes the
problem.

You can also just clear the field "Start in:" (remove the value) and that
fixes it also.

Thanks for sharing your findings.

I had posted this recipe for a workaround rather often. And Gary
meanwhile includes it with his standard suggestions.

As to my experience this does not really cure the problems. It only
*reduces* them. With all my tests JPG- and TXT-attachments still can not
be opened.
Sometimes it works with these file types initially but after a while the
problem is back.

How do the latter file types behave on your system?

[Marilyn]

Thanks for the note! Perhaps someone can capture the events that occur (when
opening mail attachments) using Process Monitor and post the log file
online.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896645.aspx

I have the same problem.But maybe this can help .
When i Start Mail from the Email-icon,I cant open attatchements.
When I do it from the all programs tab (and declare my trust)-then I can.
Regards

That's a known issue that is affecting some who installed IE8.
One workaround is to uninstall IE8, which reverts you back to IE7.
Also, you can always save the attachment, then open it outside of
Windows Mail.

Hi Rainald

With email-icon I ment the Email-icon in the startmenu-the second from
top.With all programstab I ment Choosing mail from all programs.And yes then
I can open .jpg and .txt files.(I am danish andthe layout may be different).
Anyway-I am confused.If I start form startmenu I cant-close-start form all
programs I can-close-start form startmenu I CAN open attatchements.
Where is the bug?

Thanks, Dave!

That enables me to save my photo attachments into Photo Gallery. BUT I
still can't thereafter Save my Fixes/edits on those photos. Any ideas how to
solve that? At this point- for me, at leastt- your new solution only gets me
the exact same result as when I right-click and "Save As".

None of these files helped, I can't open attachments or save them. I normally
use Mozzila but I have no idea how to remove IE8 or know if I have it -
doesn't appear in my add remove programs list.

How do I uninstall or remove Internet Explorer 8?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700

How about JPG and TXT attachments??

CBS: Thanks for the tip. I was successful in opening my email attachment by
opening "Windows Mail" from the start menu. Initially I too had been
starting mail by selecting the email icon when the error message would
generate "Command Failed to Execute". I also plan to try the solution
"davidh1" posted.

If you are running IE8, uninstall it which will take you back to IE7. For
Vista users, please note IE8 is not considered a program but an update. ( Go
to the control panel, under program click on "uninstall a program" .... on
the left side in the blue panel under task, click on View installed
updates.... go to IE8 and uninstall it.)

thank you so much for jumping in!
It would be really nice if you might help on getting closer.

I often thought that it would be necessary to monitor what's going on
and store the info in a logfile. Unfortunately this is above my head.

I've been having Procmon on my system for quite a while but never
managed to make use of it.
I just started it on my test-machine but I do not see where to start
:-( :-(

Thanks again and regards

Thanks for the suggestion.
As to my experience changing the way if starting WinMail does not really
help to cure the problem, however. It only reduces it to JPG and TXT
files.

Did you try to open attachments of these types?

Apart: What do you mean by "start ... from the Email-icon"?
Which icon? Where?

And what do you mean by "the all programs tab"?
Which tab? Where?

pls be so kind as to change the user name to your real name.
And pls write what you want to say in the *body* if the message in the
editor.

As to my experience changing the path will help with most types of
files.

But the bug will keep crawling in sooner or later and block JPG and TXT
attachments.

It would be nice if you would test with these files and report back.

Uninstalling IE8 is not a work around. It is giving up. :-)

After I removed the "Start In" value from the link, I dragged a copy of the
shortcut to my quick launch which is where I start my e-mail client from. If
I click on that shortcut to start my client, MOST of the time the problem
does not occur. Ocassionaly I'll try to open an attachment and get no
response and I just close the client and re-launch it and the problem goes
away.

So it's not a permanent solution, but better than saving the attachment to
disk and then opening it.

Running MS VISTA (now SP2) + (and the new Explorer 8). I really believe my
Windows Mail problem with opening attachments started after I upgraded to
Explorer 8. After reading all the comments in this thread, what I did after
failure of all the solutions posted, was to delete my shortcut to Windows
Mail and create a new shortcut. Tested with an email sent to myself with
various attachment formats and old emails from friends that prompted me with
the 'Command failed to execute' error message that now work. Now when I open
an email attachment I get the prompt "Do you want to open this file?" My
guess is that the upgrade to Explorer 8 corrupted the Windows Mail
application.

That was my solution!

Yeah!
But there is no other way if one wants to work error free.

Which destination do you have in the shortcut's "Start in:"-field?

Any common environment in the cases when opening does not work?

How about the JPG and TXT attachments??

This for sure.

So far I did not get across the JPG and TXT issues.
When it crashes with them mostly not even log off/on and/or a reboot
helps.

In 2 if my machine I reverted to IE7, in the other two I still have
IE8 - mainly because of experimenting with bug.

Sorry, I'm having problems with understanding the scenario :-( :-(

From where are you saving the files??
And what do mean by "save ... into Photo Gallery"?
One does not save images "into" this applications. One saves to folders.
Do you mean to say that you *OPEN* an attachment and Photo Gallery comes
up?

If you really *save* the files:
Did you check the permissions fir the folder where you save the files?

Otherwise: If you are talking about *opening* the problem might be that
the file is opened in a folder for temporary files.
It could be, however, that it's just type if file which does not allow
editing in the Photo Gallery. BMP-files for example can not be "edited"
(commented) in the Photo Gallery.

Try to open a file if the type in question from the folder it was saved
to.
If you can not edit the advanced properties, check the box in the lower
right corner.

Could pretty well be the case. But this mist probably has nothing to do
with the bus we are talking about.

As I said before:
I'm unable to make use of your suggestion {siiigh}.

Might you pls assist me a bit?

Don't shout full of joy too early.
The problem remains at least with JPG and TXT attachments.

Can you send the P'Mon log file (zipped) to my mail id?

It only SEEMS to work.
What's done this way is nothing else but my workaround (often posted by
Gary) to edit the "Start in:" path in the standard shortcut.

Mist types if files will work. But the problem is persistent with JPG
and TXT files.
Try these.
You may send a test mail with TXT and JPG attachments to yourself.
Test it several times, the problem may take a while until it appears.
it appears.

Another person, named Silverhawk, came up with the correct solution (in a
different thread). It appears that an automatic update of Windows Mail
caused the link used to open Windows Mail to not work properly. Delete the
link, and then create a new one from the basic program in the Start "All
Programs" menu. Here's how Silverhawk describes it:

I noticed that if I start windows mail from
the IE8 browser, then it appears to work ok. But if I start windows mail from
the start menu, that is when I have problems. With that all said. I went to
the start menu and removed the shortcut from the start menu, then I went to
the applacation source and started the program from there, and tried it again.
And everything seems to be working fine. I then re-pinned it back into the
start menu.

promulgated that partial fix quite some time ago. The fix is
only partial, because it doesn't help with JPG and TXT attachments.

It wasn't in my recently installed programs & doesn't show up on the list of
installed programs unless it was part of a "Windows Update" . So does that
mean I don't have IE8 - then why can't I get attachments.

BTW my other computer keeps trying ot install IE8 and I keep disallowing it
because I am afraid it will mess up email on that computer.

Finally those instructions for fixing IE8 seemed so complicated, will they
be issuing an IE 9 that doesn't cause email problems?

One thing at a time, and never mind IE9. No such animal yet.
To find out whether you have IE8 or IE7,
Open Internet Explorer > top, click Help >click About Internet Explorer >
what does the box say ? IE8 or IE7 ?
If you have IE7 after all, try the following Help & Support tutorials:

RE : Unable to open attachments directly from WM and WLM

" Should I try IE * and see if it works? "
Try what ?
Try to install IE8 ? Hell no.
Try the tutorials ? Hell yes.

" I saw another window where I could change the "Start in " location but
that
was under internet browser options."
Forget about that. That was for IE8 workaround.

So how are we supposed to get attachments? These fixes don't work.

Ok thanks for showing me how to findout I do have IE7. However those links
you gave me have to do with pdf and pps which were interesting cause I
could never open a pdf directly I could only save it and open it locally

Should I try IE * and see if it works?

I saw another window where I could change the "Start in " location but that
was under internet browser options.

Start by beginning a new thread about your specific problems. State your IE
version and full Windows version (e.g., Vista SP1; Vista x64 SP2) in your
first post.

Why are you looking under Installed Programs?
Step 4 of the uninstall instructions says to click "View installed updates".

What is the exact error message you get when you try to open attachments?
All attachments or specific attachments, like DOC, PPS, PDF, etc.?