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Sandboxed (using Sandboxie) Thunderbird won't open links from emails

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I have Thunderbird 68.6.0 (32-bit) & Sandboxie 5.33.3 (64-bit) & Google Chrome, 80.0.3987.149 (Official Build) (64-bit). When I open Thunderbird within Sandboxie, I see my emails. If one of them has a link & I click on it, nothing happens. If I open Thunderbird not sandboxed (i.e. by Disabling Forced Programs within Sandboxie), I can open links just fine in Chrome. This, of course, defeats the whole security reason of using a sandbox. Sandboxie claims that this is a Thunderbird issue.

Any ideas of how I can solve this? Thank you in advance!

I have Thunderbird 68.6.0 (32-bit) & Sandboxie 5.33.3 (64-bit) & Google Chrome, 80.0.3987.149 (Official Build) (64-bit). When I open Thunderbird within Sandboxie, I see my emails. If one of them has a link & I click on it, nothing happens. If I open Thunderbird not sandboxed (i.e. by Disabling Forced Programs within Sandboxie), I can open links just fine in Chrome. This, of course, defeats the whole security reason of using a sandbox. Sandboxie claims that this is a Thunderbird issue. Any ideas of how I can solve this? Thank you in advance!

All Replies (4)

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I see this as Thunderbird works fine until you include sandboxie into the mix. unless the sandboxie folks can identify an actual but in Thunderbird, my feeling is the problem is sandboxie.

They have been involved in a number of bug in the past. Note for URLS interactions Thunderbird and Firefox use the same source code. SO Firefox and Thunderbird are basically interchangeable at the bug level on that issue.

I suggest you have a look at some of the existing bug and their resolutions. See https://www.google.com/search?q=sandboxie+site:bugzilla.mozilla.org

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Matt said

I see this as Thunderbird works fine until you include sandboxie into the mix. unless the sandboxie folks can identify an actual but in Thunderbird, my feeling is the problem is sandboxie. They have been involved in a number of bug in the past. Note for URLS interactions Thunderbird and Firefox use the same source code. SO Firefox and Thunderbird are basically interchangeable at the bug level on that issue. I suggest you have a look at some of the existing bug and their resolutions. See https://www.google.com/search?q=sandboxie+site:bugzilla.mozilla.org

Thank you so much for your quick reply! I thought it might be something that Thunderbird had done because it hadn't happened with older versions...BUT Sandboxie has put out newer versions too. And, your right, it only happens when Thunderbird is sandboxed & they (Sandboxie) have had lots of bugs since they were acquired by Invincia & then Sophos. Sandboxie is open sourced now & maybe someone will fix it.

Thanks again!!

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The way files (and I assume links) are passed to the operating system has changed in recent versions. a different windows API is now used to that used in the past. But it is actually a more appropriate API that is being used now. part of adopting to the changes in windows before the old ways are retired by Microsoft I assume..

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I have been running Firefox in Sandboxie for quite a while. Webroot causes issues when running Firefox especially if Sandboxie is involved. To correct the issue, this is what I do.

Shut down Webroot when When installing or updating Firefox. Restart the system. Open Webroot (View Status) Click Settings for Identity Protection Select tab Application Protection Look for any entries that involve Firefox. Change setting to Allow. At one point I had about 7 entries.... Uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox and now only a single entry.