Corrupt message in Windows Mail Inbox

I have a message in my Windows Mail inbox which I tried to delete. But it
still appears in the message list, but comes up with an error message:
"Message could not be displayed
Windows Mail encountered an unexpected problem while displaying this
message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try
again."

The two suggestions are nonsense - I have plenty of memory (2Gb) and the
hard drive (450Gb) is only 1 quarter filled.

Any attempt to delete it fails. I considered moving everything else out of
the inbox & deleting the folder, then recreating it & moving the rest back -
but this option is not available for the Inbox (greyed out).

Any suggestions?

Darkie wrote:

> I have a message in my Windows Mail inbox which I tried to delete. But it
> still appears in the message list, but comes up with an error message:
> "Message could not be displayed
> Windows Mail encountered an unexpected problem while displaying this
> message. Check your computer for low memory or low disk space and try
> again."
>
> The two suggestions are nonsense - I have plenty of memory (2Gb) and the
> hard drive (450Gb) is only 1 quarter filled.
>
> Any attempt to delete it fails. I considered moving everything else out
> of the inbox & deleting the folder, then recreating it & moving the rest
> back - but this option is not available for the Inbox (greyed out).

I have these notes on a fix by MVP Steve Cochran. If they don't work for
you, you should post in the Windows Mail newsgroup.

microsoft.public.windows.vista.mail

*****
First thing is to remove McAfee or Norton AV and antispam from the computer
if they exist. You may need to visit their website to fully uninstall the
product. Then get something less invasive. There are a number of free
antivirus programs, but with any you have to disable email scanning. See
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

After that, the only solution so far is to wipe out the database. So go to
Tools | Options | Advanced | Maintenance | Store Folder to find the message
store location. Then move everything under that Windows Mail directory to
another directory. Then restart WinMail and it will open fresh with
nothing in the database. You can then add your accounts and if they work
correctly then you can use File | Import | Messages and choose WinMail
format and point to the directory to which you moved the files.
*****

Steve Cochran wrote a utility to automate the above, WMUtil:
http://www.oehelp.com/WMUtil/Default.aspx

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ