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Hyperlinks in email messages no longer work after Windows update

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by clamage45

clamage45
clamage45
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Until today, hyperlinks in email messages worked fine. Clicking a link caused the page to be opened in the default browser. Last night, Windows updated itself to Windows 10, version 20H2, including various cumulative updates. Included were some .NET updates and updates for Adobe Flash Player, although as far as I can tell, Flash Player is not installed. Nothing else changed. My preferred browser is still set as the Windows default. I went through the hyperlink troubleshooting steps here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/hyperlinks-in-messages-not-working#w_problems-with-received-or-saved-mails and found nothing. I did not do the reinstall Thunderbird step, however.

Any suggestions?

Until today, hyperlinks in email messages worked fine. Clicking a link caused the page to be opened in the default browser. Last night, Windows updated itself to Windows 10, version 20H2, including various cumulative updates. Included were some .NET updates and updates for Adobe Flash Player, although as far as I can tell, Flash Player is not installed. Nothing else changed. My preferred browser is still set as the Windows default. I went through the hyperlink troubleshooting steps here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/hyperlinks-in-messages-not-working#w_problems-with-received-or-saved-mails and found nothing. I did not do the reinstall Thunderbird step, however. Any suggestions?

All Replies (2)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Sometimes, the default mail or browser setting can be reset by running the full installer, in this case for your (Chrome) browser, and setting it as default during the setup. Otherwise, another simple method is to set the default browser to Edge in W10 Settings, then set it to your preferred browser.

clamage45
clamage45 Question owner
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Thanks for the suggestion! I used the W10 settings to change the default browser to Edge, then clicked on a link in an email message. Edge popped up with the web page. Edge was not previously running.

Next, I set the default back to Brave, my preferred browser. Clicking on a link in email did not work. (Nothing happened.)

Next, I set the default browser to Firefox, which was already running. I clicked on a link, and got an error message saying Firefox was already running and did I want to close it first. Hmmm.

Next, I set the default to Chrome, which was not running, and clicked a link. Chrome popped up with the web page. Keeping Chrome open, I clicked on another link, and it opened in a new tab. Hmmm again.

Next, I set the default back to Edge, opened Edge, and clicked a link in email. Edge opened a new window, not a new tab.

So it seems Windows has changed the way it passes links to the default browser, and different browsers respond differently. Oddly, Brave is based on Chrome, but does not behave like Chrome for this case.

If I'm correct, it would not be the first time Windows broke an interface.

Anyhow, it seems clear that the problem is not due to Thunderbird. My next step is to take this problem up with Brave.