Outlook Express for Windows 10 (and 8.1)

[Gibbs]

I really liked Outlook Express and the classic address book it had. Well, it has been revamped and now works in Windows 8.1 AND Windows 10. I have it on my desktop computer here at home ( Windows 8.1 PRO) and at work (Windows 10 Pro ). It is not a look alike or the OE Classic progam I have have seen that does not use the same database as the original OE6. This one not only uses the same db but I have it configured in Windows 8.1 so that it goes to the same drive / folder/ sub-folder where my other email is stored from my OE in XP. I have long ago moved the storage folder from where it was on my C: drive to a different drive and folder named Outlook Express and there I created separate folders for each of the email account I happen to log into. Did the same in 8.1 and used the registry to configure the storage location of each email account to go to the same drive/folder etc as it was in XP. Result is no matter if booted into XP or to 8.1 when I run Outlook Express it gets the mail that I have saved and looks exactly like it did when I had last used it in XP. If I save or delete email while running in 8.1 and then boot back into XP, and run the OE that email is all right there as it was when in 8.1

It works well in Windows 10 PRO as well.

 

[USMC4USA]

I'm confused. Your running outlook express program in Windows 8.1 / 10? How did you install OE into windows 8.1 / 10. Or what is the new name of the program? Does the standard windows 10 not include this compatibility? We would need to purchase Windows PRO in order to use our outlook express db files? I understand the email db file part, but I don't understand what email program your using in Windows 8.1 / 10.

 

[Gibbs]

I'm confused. Your running outlook express program in Windows 8.1 / 10? How did you install OE into windows 8.1 / 10. Or what is the new name of the program? Does the standard windows 10 not include this compatibility? We would need to purchase Windows PRO in order to use our outlook express db files? I understand the email db file part, but I don't understand what email program your using in Windows 8.1 / 10.

Go to www.runasxp.com and look at the newer Outlook Express download. I use it on my desktop at home that dual boots XP as well as Windows 8.1 Pro. It also worked very well on my HP laptop that has Windows 8.1 HOME on it and then I upgraded it recently to Windows 10 HOME and still works just as good.

The reason I use this program and not something else is because I dual boot I have long ago moved all the email accounts to another drive and folder, their OWN folder Outlook Express Databases, and then in that folder created sub folders for each of the email accounts. In XP when I "switched" accounts it would bring up the account that I had created and moved in it's entirety. Now, when I installed Windows 8.1 Pro on my computer I did it in a clean partition and created a dual boot scenario. My Documents also don't reside on the normal C: drive but a whole physical different hard drive in my desktop and when I had 8.1 PRO installed all I had to do was create shortcuts to Adobe, Word, Excel, My Picture, etc etc in the appropriate places and presto. Now I can read / write any info into the documents and folders I had before and never had to move anything in the process. I did have to install programs that allowed me to access those folder and files from within Windows 8.1 though, like Adobe Photoshop and of course the Outlook Express .

Beauty of this is when I check my email for any account, it pulls up the dbx files and folders from the one in that separte drive and no matter whether I am in Windows 8.1 or XP (as I am in now) no email is having to be lost or doubled up. If I change it in one OS it is also changed when I boot up in the other OS.

2 different OS, but the nice thing is all the personal documents, files, emails are "shared" between the two since they have common grounds between the two.

 

[frame52]

Hi GIbbs,
what can you tell me about this?
"Windows 10 users must know that automatic updates on Windows 10 removes Outlook Express.
Every time a Windows 10 pc performs Automatic Updates, Outlook Express will be removed and need to be re-installed. - See more at: http://runasxp.com/Thread-Outlook-Express-Windows-10-Update?pid=6594#pid6594 "

how did you manage to avoid it?

 

[Robbo]

Yes Gibbs, how did you avoid windows 10 auto updates removing your Outlook express ?

I really want to revert back to an outlook express type client, but have spotted this widows 10 warning..

Robbo

 

[Data]

Necromancy is real

 

[Robbo]

so you're easily sucked in by big numbers and.. shiny

 

[NickN]

I really liked Outlook Express and the classic address book it had. Well, it has been revamped and now works in Windows 8.1 AND Windows 10. I have it on my desktop computer here at home ( Windows 8.1 PRO) and at work (Windows 10 Pro). It is not a look alike or the OE Classic progam I have have seen that does not use the same database as the original OE6.

Are you aware that this requires you to disable security updates for Win10 so your computer is vulnerable to malware? OE Classic doesn't require that becase it has been developed from scratch and is not a hack of the same old program and in fact, they encourage you to have your system fully updated to protect against any malware and as for the database which is not the same as original - it is a good thing because it can be imported and exported and OE Classic database can handle 64-bit indexes (file size up to 8589934592 GB or 8388608 TB! (2^63) while Outlook Express 6 can only handle 2GB (2^31) and after that the database corrupts because the index overflows. The bugs in "Compact All" function in OE6 do not help (in OE Classic "Compact All" performs as expected).

Besides, OE Classic comes with loads of new features not found in OE6 as it is constantly being developed and improved. Do yourself a favor and download it from https://www.oeclassic.com/

 

[davehc]

Hi Nick. Welcome to the forums.
The tthead/last post was over a year ago and, I believe, finalised with the last post.

 

[NickN]

Hi Nick. Welcome to the forums.
The tthead/last post was over a year ago and, I believe, finalised with the last post.

True but it contains misinformation which I wanted to clarify. Many people are not aware of this.

 

[davehc]

No prob! Just read your post and agree. Seems the forewarning are not entirely correct.

 

[davehc]

Ok. Downloaded and tried it.
Just me, but I do not see any real advantage to going back there.

 

[Gibbs]

Well, here is my workaround to the above concern. I store multiple email accounts in my computer in a separate drive/folder called "Outlook Express Databases" and in there the name of the account. This requires just a bit of registry tweaking as after you establish a new folder, let's say D:\Outlook Express Databases\"name of folder"\ you go into where the new email account is stored, generally in this area (use your own username and the strange long string will,of course be different: C:\Users\Gibbs\AppData\Local\Identities\{C0A1E2BF-27C0-45E5-A421-14A15FED99E2}\Microsoft\Outlook Express YOU NEED to make the checkmark "Show Hidden Files" available to find this BTW. One in that folder you will see such things as deleted.dbx, inbox.dbx and others. Merely copy all these files and then paste then in the new location of your "D" or wherever your drive and email you wish to reside and you have the files saved to the new location.

Then, when you go into the registry regedit.exe you will find, under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER a new folder called Identities and go down the folder list to Outlook Express and then 5.0 in that right hand pane is the "store folder" edit that to reflect your NEW location, D:\Outlook Express Databases\"name of folder"\ (as an example) and exit regedit. From now on when you open Outlook Express it will get and store all that info as well as add any other new folders added right in that external drive location.

Once it is all working well just go back into "regedit.exe" Registry editor, go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER and click on "Identities" and right click and "export" that whole affair, and I suggest export it to the Outlook Express folder you just created in the new external drive/folder. It will be there for any future needs.

It seems only major updates affect the loosing of Outlook Express. There is a program, free, that can be downloaded from the same site you got Outlook Express from that after a major update, it looks in the C:\Windows.old file (created at major update) and gets the info to help restore your Outlook Express back again. Keep the 3 key codes sent to you as a text file. *.txt in that external drive if you need them. Once OE is restored from that program, just run that saved exported files you saved of the identities, and that will have all the info needed to put the store folder back into the system again.

 

[Christiaan]

RunAsXp seems to be down, but there is something new available without the inconvenience to be uninstalled during every Windows update : http://users.belgacom.net/gc604691/OutlookExpress6onWindows10.htm

 

[davehc]

This is an old thread. But, do you really feel you want to run an outdated mail program - and pay for it!

 

[Christiaan]

I indeed paid for the RunAsXp version about two years ago. And no, for me personally is it not outdated at all. It excels by its simplicity, ease of use and runtime speed. I do not need more features than what OE offers to me. Also, during the past 10 years I created a huge complex tree of folders and sub folders in the left pane resulting in more than 8000 *.dbx files ( 9,75 GB in total ). I wonder if I could ever import this into another email client without lost of the tree structure and/or emails. .

Because I could not accept that I had to reinstall the RunAsXp version after each Win 10 update or upgrade, I kept using XP to send and receive emails till I had no other choice than to migrate to Windows 10. I managed to build my own OE package with the XP SP3 file versions that does not get uninstalled and that does not require a registration code. The result is shown on the page "under construction" via the link that I mentioned within my first post above. All *.dbx files are now stored on my laptop with Win 10 and I can still access them via my home network from my old desktop with XP as installed OS.

 

[Bighorn]

Got this just now from the link in #3:

Run As XP - Application Compatibility Forums
Forum is currently closed for maintenance.
for any question, please contact us by email (e-mail address removed)

A Tip: WinXP did have the 64-bit Pro edition available.

 

[Christiaan]

Got this just now from the link in #3:

A Tip: WinXP did have the 64-bit Pro edition available.

The RunAsXp site is already down for a very long period of time and emails to (e-mail address removed) remain unanswered as well.

The 64Bit XP version uses a Outlook Express 32-bit version as well which will not run on Win 10 without implementing the "Microsoft Detours" patch that is used within RunAsXp. So, it makes no difference.

 

[davehc]

Quote:
I indeed paid for the RunAsXp version about two years ago. And no, for me personally is it not outdated at all. It excels by its simplicity, ease of use and runtime speed. I do not need more features than what OE offers to me. Also, during the past 10 years I created a huge complex tree of folders and sub folders in the left pane resulting in more than 8000 *.dbx files ( 9,75 GB in total ). I wonder if I could ever import this into another email client without lost of the tree structure and/or emails. .

Because I could not accept that I had to reinstall the RunAsXp version after each Win 10 update or upgrade, I kept using XP to send and receive emails till I had no other choice than to migrate to Windows 10. I managed to build my own OE package with the XP SP3 file versions that does not get uninstalled and that does not require a registration code. The result is shown on the page "under construction" via the link that I mentioned within my first post above. All *.dbx files are now stored on my laptop with Win 10 and I can still access them via my home network from my old desktop with XP as installed OS.

Fair comment.
Fwiw. you can import dbx files into the windows 10 mail program

 

[Christiaan]

Windows 10 does indeed remove Outlook Express during a major upgrade. As per test, I upgraded my test PC from version 1909 to 20H2 and unfortunately the installation using my own method was removed despite I do not provide an uninstaller executable. Windows 10 deletes the installation folder and all user settings plus accounts. The message store with all *dbx files was left untouched. Win 10 does however not remove OE during a cumulative update ( a KB update ), at least when using my own installer. The user settings and the account settings can easily be separately extracted from the registry as two different *.reg files, and it is always a good idea to have these as backup. The re-installation using my own Outlook Express package takes only about one minute and entering the account and settings from the backup *.reg files is no effort.

There are however some annoying pitfalls. Some functions do not work in XP SP3 compatibility mode and do work in Win10 or Vista mode, but others do work in XP SP3 mode and stop working in Win10/Vista mode. If there is enough interest, I will reveal all details about my own installer and all my experiences on the web page that I mentioned before. Personally I use Windows 10 LTSB 1507 ( and LTSC 1809 in the future ) who are not upgraded on the fly and do not contain all the bells and whistles from the other versions.

A summary of Windows 10 versions can be found at Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10_version_history

I have configured and tried "Mail" from Windows 10, but this looks like a toy for a smartphone. In any case, it does not interfere with the installed Outlook Express, both can live together.