How to uninstall Windows Mail?

Question

How do I uninstall "Windows Mail" (not Windows Live Mail).

When I want to use IMAP (or POP), I normally use Windows Live Mail. I have no need for Windows Mail. (Windows Mail, in its old incarnation, used to be called "Outlook Express").

I have looked under Control Panel. I have done Google Search. Have come up with nothing so far.

Hence my question...

Update:

I had already looked under Control Panel → Programs and Features → Add/Remove Windows Components → and Windows Mail does not appear here.

Answer 1

Windows Mail is a Windows system component and cannot be uninstalled or removed, so Microsoft has not supplied any means for that.

To remove, try renaming WinMail.exe to something else, found in C:\Program Files\Windows Mail. You might first use autoruns to see if it's set to start automatically with the computer.

If all you want is to disable WinMail, see details in the article :
How to Enable or Disable Windows Mail in Vista.

The procedure is to open the Local Group Policy Editor -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Mail, right-click on "Turn off Windows Mail application" and click on Properties, then select "(dot) Disabled or Not Configured" and click OK.

Answer 2

The OP's question was how to remove WinMail from a computer. The other suggestions will disable or only rename the file. If you want WinMail permanently gone from your system, this simple BAT file will do it:

:: Take ownership of the folders
TakeOwn /F "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail" /R /D Y
TakeOwn /F "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail" /R /D Y

:: Grant full control to Administrators, the user running this, and SYSTEM
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R "Administrators":(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R %UserDomain%\%UserName%:(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R "SYSTEM":(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R "Administrators":(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R %UserDomain%\%UserName%:(OI)(CI)F
ICACLS "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail" /T /Grant:R "SYSTEM":(OI)(CI)F

:: Unhide WinMail.exe
Attrib -S -H "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe"
Attrib -S -H "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail\WinMail.exe"

:: Delete the WinMail folders
RD /S /Q "C:\Program Files\Windows Mail"
RD /S /Q "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail"

Answer 3

See If there is an entry in Control Panel> Programs and Features>Add Remove Windows Components, if not, then you can attempt to delete the program folder.

Answer 4

Here is an article on how to install Windows Mail on Windows 7, one could reverse engineer the instructions to remove it from your system.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=322047

Answer 5

After removing Winmail.exe , try creating a directory named "Winmail.exe" in its old location. That way, maybe the OS cannot put the file back because there is a directory there with the same name.

Answer 6

I uninstalled my Windows Mail, but I had to alter ownership and permissions to allow it. You will find the options for this within the "properties" of the Mail folder itself.