Sendto shortcut not working on Windows
We have around 100+ Windows 10 clients on which we initially mass-deployed thunderbird 68.5.0. Deployment was made utilizing the MSI version of the installer, in a Windows Server group policy (GPO).
Everything seems to be working perfect. Thunderbird is set as the default mail handling application.
However, the send-to shortcut not only does not work, but seems to start a process flood of fixmapi processes. Eventually the system crawls and shuts down.
Do note that I'm carrying tests on a couple of rigs, where thunderbird has automatically been updated to 78.14.0 (64-bit).
I've seen that the same issue plagues the normally-installed Thunderbird. Solution that works (most times, not always) is to re-install a newer version. Could possibly be done in our case, not sure.
Any ideas on how to proceed and fix this?
All Replies (5)
This kind of MAPI issue can often be fixed by running the full installer in a particular way:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1323685
All releases are available here: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/
In your case, it should be sufficient to install the version that has the same 32 or 64 bit property as currently installed. Installing 32 bit is necessary when a sending app is also 32 bit.
sfhowes, as I've described in my original post I am aware of using a re-install to (possibly) solve this issue. However, I also described that this is a mass deployment via a group policy. In numbers, our small site has around 150 rigs and our large one around 1500. Meaning that manual installation of anything is impossible, so, in turn, we can not follow your suggested approach...
This is an old problem that does plague many mail client apps. However, in a business setup a solution has to be found that makes it possible for a very useful feature to work.
Initially we've instructed our users to not use sendto mail recipient at all. But some did leading to a fixmapi process bomb. So we mitigated this issue by removing the sendto link for thunderbird.
Do you believe I should open a bug for this?
EDIT: A minor comment here regarding the possible need to have a 32bit thunderbird client on 64-bit windows, if one wishes to mail from a 32-bit app (acrobat reader comes to mind). If this is true, then it's one of those extremely ridiculous things one have to live with...
Modified by Michail Pappas
I'm aware that doing hundreds of manual reinstalls is impractical, but I mentioned a remedy that is the simplest method to resolve this issue on a single computer, without resorting to complex registry modifications. However, you might have to resort to that option in light of the shortcomings of TB's MAPI implementation.
It might be worth submitting this as a bug, if for no other reason than to attract the attention of those who have dealt with the issue for many years. But I wouldn't expect too much effort to address the issue, given that the Send To function can be easily avoided by adding attachments the usual way, by drag and drop from File Explorer.
If there is/are registry key/values that can do the trick, I could easily implement them via GPO. Please provide any info/links that might be of help.
As for the Send to shortcut: that's part of the MAPI-related problem. More troubling (for example) is that we cannot send mail directly from Adobe Reader. We are working a lot with PDFs and mailing them directly from the reader. This has stopped working in Windows 10 as well (on Windows XP everything worked like a charm).
Here is one discussion about MAPI:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1601879#c28
I think that TB's version of MAPI requires that TB be 32-bit if the sending app such as Reader is 32-bit.