How to Repair Windows Live Mail on Windows 7: A Comprehensive Guide

If you’re experiencing issues with Windows Live Mail on your Windows 7 computer, don’t worry – there are several steps you can take to repair the program and get it back up and running. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of repairing Windows Live Mail, from troubleshooting common problems to performing a full repair of the Windows Essentials 2012 suite.

Troubleshooting Windows Live Mail Issues

One of the most common issues with Windows Live Mail is that the program’s files become corrupted, preventing it from opening or functioning properly. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as a system crash, a virus, or even just normal wear and tear over time.

If you’re experiencing issues with Windows Live Mail, such as being unable to open the program or receiving error messages when trying to send or receive emails, the first step is to try repairing the program. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Click the Start button and open the Control Panel.
2. Click on the “Uninstall a program” link (or “Programs and Features” if you’re using the classic Control Panel view).
3. Locate “Windows Essentials 2012” in the list of installed programs and click on it.
4. Click the “Uninstall/Change” button to launch the Windows Essentials 2012 setup application.
5. Select the “Repair all Windows Essentials programs” option and click “Close” once the repair process is complete.

This process will repair any issues with the Windows Essentials 2012 suite, which includes Windows Live Mail, and should resolve any problems you’re experiencing with the program.

Defragmenting and Repairing the Windows Live Mail Data

In addition to repairing the Windows Essentials 2012 suite, you can also try defragmenting or repairing the Windows Live Mail data directly. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Close Windows Live Mail if it’s currently open.
2. Open an administrative command prompt by pressing the Windows key X and selecting “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
3. In the command prompt, type the following command to defragment the Windows Live Mail data: esentutl.exe -d "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Mail.MSMessageStore"
4. If you need to repair the Windows Live Mail data instead, use the following command: esentutl.exe -p "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Mail.MSMessageStore"
5. If you encounter any error messages about files being locked, it may indicate that a Windows Live Mail process is still running in the background. In this case, restart your computer and try the steps again.

If you receive an error message about the Windows Live Mail message store file being in use by another program, you may need to take ownership of the file and grant yourself full control permissions. You can do this by following these additional steps in the administrative command prompt:

1. Type whoami to determine the username you’re currently logged in as.
2. Type takeown /f "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Mail.MSMessageStore" to take ownership of the file.
3. Type icacls "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Mail.MSMessageStore" /grant "MyMachineName\MyUsername":f (replacing “MyMachineName” and “MyUsername” with the information you obtained in step 1) to grant yourself full control permissions.

After completing these steps, you should be able to open Windows Live Mail without any issues.