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firefox does not recognize default mail application in win7 64bit

  • 4 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by ignucius

ignucius
ignucius
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i installed zimbra desktop on a fresh windows 7 64bit. and i chose zimbra desktop to be the default email client. m$ internet explorer opens zimbra desktop when i click on a mailto link. but in firefox i can only choose "thunderbird", "yahoo mail" and "google mail" as default email clients when i click on a mailto link.

i tried this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/984225 but it does not solve my problem.

i have windows 7 64bit, firefox 29.0.1 and zimbra desktop 7.2.5 installed.

i installed zimbra desktop on a fresh windows 7 64bit. and i chose zimbra desktop to be the default email client. m$ internet explorer opens zimbra desktop when i click on a mailto link. but in firefox i can only choose "thunderbird", "yahoo mail" and "google mail" as default email clients when i click on a mailto link. i tried this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/984225 but it does not solve my problem. i have windows 7 64bit, firefox 29.0.1 and zimbra desktop 7.2.5 installed.

Chosen solution

hey again,

thanks for your reply. with Process Monitor i was able to debug the problem and figure out a solution.

Zimbra Desktop does not set the registry key HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto/UserChoice but firefox does read that key.

so to sum up what i did, here a list:

  • delete mimeTypes.rdf as described here
  • either delete HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto and all its subkeys or change HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto/UserChoice/Progid to "ZimbraDesktop.Url.mailto"
  • within ZimbraDesktop set ZimbraDesktop as default mail client
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All Replies (4)

Gingerbread Man
Gingerbread Man
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  1. Click the ≡ Menu Button and choose Options.
  2. Click the Applications icon.
  3. Next to mailto, click the drop-down menu and choose Use Other.
  4. Click the Browse button and pick the mail client executable (.exe file).

Change the program used to open email links

ignucius
ignucius Question owner
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hey gingerbread man,

i already tried that but it does not solve the problem at hand. it sure opens the desired email client and the application has the focus but it does not open a new email message window with the email address of the mailto link in the TO field. what kind of kills the purpose of the mailto link. is there a way to set command line options / arguments? if i could run "zdclient.exe -url "mailto:<email@address>"" it would work.

in the registry under HKCU/Software/Clients/Mail (HKLM/Software/Clients/Mail) is an entry that sets the default email client but firefox is not honoring this setting. zimbra desktop even comes along with a MAPI dll, but i have no clue how to use that in firefox.

any other suggestions?

Gingerbread Man
Gingerbread Man
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If the application is properly registered, Firefox should recognize it. What happens when you do the following?

  1. Click the Windows logo orb on the taskbar to bring up the Start Menu.
  2. In the search box, type the following then press Enter: mailto:user@example.com

There are whole bunch of places in the registry where things could be messed up. For starters, check the following:

  1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command
  2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command
  3. HKEY_USERS\<random string of numbers>\Software\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command
  4. HKEY_USERS\<random string of numbers>_CLASSES\mailto\shell\open\command
  5. HKEY_USERS\<random string of numbers>\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\mailto
  6. HKEY_USERS\<random string of numbers>\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\MAILTO\UserChoice
  • The random string of numbers is specific to your Windows account. If you can't locate the exact key manually, you can use Process Monitor to find out which keys Firefox is querying.
ignucius
ignucius Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

hey again,

thanks for your reply. with Process Monitor i was able to debug the problem and figure out a solution.

Zimbra Desktop does not set the registry key HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto/UserChoice but firefox does read that key.

so to sum up what i did, here a list:

  • delete mimeTypes.rdf as described here
  • either delete HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto and all its subkeys or change HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Shell/Associations/UrlAssociations/mailto/UserChoice/Progid to "ZimbraDesktop.Url.mailto"
  • within ZimbraDesktop set ZimbraDesktop as default mail client