I had hardly used Windows Mail on Vista. The day I learnt that it’s no longer being supported by Microsoft, I downloaded and installed their new email program (Windows Live Mail) and have been quite satisfied.
But not many people share my views – to each his own. Windows Live Mail differs markedly from Outlook Express and Windows Mail in both the layout and the way it organizes messages and that has resulted in a lot of irritated users. Well, to each his own.
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Anyway, I thought wrongly that Windows Mail is absent from Windows 7. Actually the program is very much there… though “hidden”. And fortunately the Vista email program can be made to run on the new operating system. People have been kind enough to post step by step instructions on how to get Windows Mail on your new Windows 7 computer.
Sadly, the procedure is not so simple. And no! I haven’t tried this myself so don’t blame me if it doesn’t work. However, since these instructions come from well-known web sites, I suppose they are trustworthy.
How to get Windows Mail on Windows 7
I was able to dig up a few pages that detail how to get Windows Mail on Windows 7. Note: Microsoft strongly recommends that you shift to Windows Live Mail and will offer no support if problems arise. Anyway, as you probably know, help can always be found on the Internet.
- Windows Vista Forums: Enabling Windows Mail on Windows 7
- Windows Seven Forums: Windows Mail Vista on Windows 7
- My Digital Life: Download Windows Mail for Windows 7
Before you get all excited and rush to set up Windows Mail on Windows 7, please read some words of wisdom on the Microsoft Answers web site.
Thanks for the tip. It was great to get Windows Mail on Windows 7. There is a problem… can’t make it the default email client.
Thx.
I have a problem with Windows Mail Live.
I successfully (at least that’s what the the end message read) imported my Windows XP Outlook Express folders and emails to Windows 7 Windows Mail Live.
However, I cannot find the imported folders or messages.
Can you help me? Thanks.
@joe,
Have you looked in the “Storage Folders”?
HELP, I am lost! I have had an AOL email address for eons. Only one I’ve ever use. Recently purchased laptop with Windows 7 and installed Microsoft Office including Outlook. Can send mail via AOL page, but not respond to anything else. Please geek squad doen’t know either.
You can set up your AOL email account using IMAP or POP email protocols. I don’t have instructions for Outlook program but you’ll find the details for both Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail. Check AOL email help section.
Pls I want download Windows Mail for Windows 7.
@JH-pang,
Windows Mail is there on Windows 7. It’s just hidden. Refer the links I mentioned in the blog post to get the program up and running on your computer. However, I have no personal experience on how well it works.
I wanna download Windows Mail but I can’t seem to find it. What website can I download the windows mail? Please I badly need your help. Thanks in advance
@Mayo,
As mentioned, Windows Mail is there in Windows 7… unfortunately, its not very apparent. Please check the links I mentioned in the post.
Yes,you can install and run Windows Mail on Windows 7. I have installed Windows Mail on all of my Windows 7 laptops. The websites you listed above give various way to do this. But the easiest way is to just download Unlocker,which deletes any file ,then just delete the Windows 7’s Windows Mail file in Programs on C drive. Then after that I just downloaded the Windows Mail for Vista email program,which I found on the web and installed it to my Programs on C drive.I found a website that had a download for Windows Mail.
Now I have Windows Mail running as the default email program on Windows 7. And I also found that Windows Live Mail runs alongside Windows Mail as another email program without any problems. So you can run both Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail alongside each other on Windows 7.
But when I tried to run Outlook express on my Windows 7,that did not work. I transferred the Outlook express program files from my Windows XP laptop to windows 7 but although it installed it would not run on Windows 7. I got the error message Outlook express cannot run because Msos.Dill could not start. And there was no way I could find to fix this. I guess Outlook express may be blocked from running on Windows 7,even if you do manage to get it on your computer.
But Windows Mail,yes,that works fine,in fact I have all of the Windows Vista programs,Movie Maker 6,Windows Calendar and the Vista Sidebar running on my Windows 7. Probably because Windows Vista and Windows 7 are almost identical OS,so that is why all of the programs for Vista run on windows 7. If only we could get outlook Express running on Windows 7-Any ideas? Andrea Borman.