Unable to use the protocol mailto in Win 11

Since upgrading to Win 11 my websites have all lost the ability to send mail from a webpage link. I am using Edge as my defauit browser.
I have searched for any switches that need to be set on both Edge Settings and PC Settings but none of which appear to be relevant have any effect on the behaviour.

I checked again on my older desktop which also uses Edge but limited to Win 10 - that still works.
I also checked on my iPad with Edge temporarily loaded and that works.

On all three I have checked using other browsers and there is no problem with them. So my conclusion is that the mailto protocol is incorrectly handled on Edge when coupled with Win 11. In the two desktops I am using OEClasic as my email client, but on the iPad I am using Mail.

You can check it yourselves using the two links at the bottom of a test page I am currently working on. FoFYT website - Trustees

EDIT: Works for me in Edge.

Have you (out of interest) tested to see if it is due to the link you have created where as there are two addresses? (Not at my PC for the minute to try the link. Will be in 15min)

Does this happen in any other edge opened page with a mailto: link?
Works with other browsers?

I opened Edge and went to the address. I clicked on the link and I was asked how to handle the request.



I opened the link a second time after previously telling Windows to open the link using "Mail"
Mail opened and asked me which email address to send from.

In short, it works for me.

Perhaps double check the default apps

Or open settings and search for "mailto:" and check the protocol in your settings

Snugglebugs said:

You can check it yourselves using the two links at the bottom of a test page I am currently working on.

Click to expand...

For my mail I use the Yahoo! Mail webmail page, which I open in Firefox (my default browser).

The Windows 11 PC I tested this on had never been used for MAILTO before, so everything was still at the 'default'. In Firefox the Webmaster Mailto link works straight away. In Edge it asks me to choose a mail client. When I choose Firefox and clicked 'Always' it worked, and had set Firefox as the default for the MAILTO protocol.

mailto requires a client, it wont work with web based email systems.

Rollback_Jockey said:

mailto requires a client, it wont work with web based email systems.

Click to expand...

It certainly does, at least with Firefox. It has registered Mailto as one of its capabilities in the registry.




how else could I have got this screenshot?

Rollback_Jockey said:

mailto requires a client, it wont work with web based email systems.

Click to expand...

Works in Edge also, once you tell it what client to use, as in my image above, and Bree’s

antspants said:

EDIT: Works for me in Edge.

Have you (out of interest) tested to see if it is due to the link you have created where as there are two addresses? (Not at my PC for the minute to try the link. Will be in 15min)

Does this happen in any other edge opened page with a mailto: link?
Works with other browsers?

Click to expand...

There are two links on that page. One with one address and the other has two. Both work OK outside theb Edge/Win 11 combination, so that is not causing the problem..

Rollback_Jockey said:

mailto requires a client, it wont work with web based email systems.

Click to expand...

Yes, I always use a client, never a webpage system.
I will work through the other replies and see if any help - in the meantime, thanks.

Snugglebugs said:

There are two links on that page. One with one address and the other has two. Both work OK outside theb Edge/Win 11 combination, so that is not causing the problem..

Click to expand...

Sure, that was typed before I had a chance to test your page.

It works for me in Edge, there is nothing wrong the the mailto protocol between Edge and Windows 11
Clicking on the mailto link on your page in Edge, opens my email client.

It must be something buggy with your OS setup hence my suggestions above.

antspants said:

It must be something buggy with your OS setup hence my suggestions above.

Click to expand...

I have been doing a lot of searching about this probelm and find that there are many messages about this exact problem, There is also another thread here from a year ago that I found last night and will read through. It is at File context menu ‘Send to>Mail Recipient’ no longer works

One question for Brink - in my Users/Tony/Roaming/MS/Windows/Send to fold er there is a entry Mail recipient. Opening that with Notepad it has just the word Mail. Should that be OUClassic? If so can I just edit the text? I wonder if the registry entries are wrong?

I will have to write a summary of all the things I have found. For example, the mailto protocol seems to use a lot of code common to Attach, Send to...., Send to Mail recipient, and Email from Windows Photo Viewer. There may be more! Another Protocal option is in Edge settings where is stated "Allow sites to become default handlers for protocols (recommended)" So is that causing a problem?
It is a dreadful muddle and we need a MS programmer to be involved. Is that possible. The MS Community forum is totally useless.

Snugglebugs said:

There is also another thread here from couple of years ago that I found last night and will read through. It is at File context menu ‘Send to>Mail Recipient’ no longer works

Click to expand...

I understand your interest in looking into this but quite simple, your mailto link works for me 9at least) in Edge/Windows 11. I don’t doubt that it may not work for some with Edge/Windows 11. microsoft seems to be the King of random.

It even asks me what email address in my mail client I want to send the email from (although that is client side not web coding)

What is the value of the following registry keys?

x BlueRobot said:

What is the value of the following registry keys?

Code:

reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Microsoft Edge\Capabilities\URLAssociations" /v mailto
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B} /s
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B} /s
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PROTOCOLS\Handler\mailto

Click to expand...

Answers in the same order: (I just copy/paste from CMD as I don't know if a file can be made)

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\Microsoft Edge\Capabilities\URLAssociations
mailto REG_SZ MSEdgeHTM

2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}
(Default) REG_SZ Microsoft HTML Mailto Pluggable Protocol

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}\InProcServer32
(Default) REG_SZ C:\Windows\System32\mshtml.dll
ThreadingModel REG_SZ Apartment

3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}
(Default) REG_SZ Microsoft HTML Mailto Pluggable Protocol

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}\InProcServer32
(Default) REG_SZ C:\Windows\SysWOW64\mshtml.dll
ThreadingModel REG_SZ Apartment

4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PROTOCOLS\Handler\mailto
CLSID REG_SZ {3050f3DA-98B5-11CF-BB82-00AA00BDCE0B}

Thanks, those settings appear to be defaults and the same as my own Windows 11 machine, which has no problems with mailto: in Edge. Have you checked the URLAssociations key on your other machines?

x BlueRobot said:

Thanks, those settings appear to be defaults and the same as my own Windows 11 machine, which has no problems with mailto: in Edge. Have you checked the URLAssociations key on your other machines?

Click to expand...

I will check those as well ASAP. Win 10/EDge and Win7/whatever

Suddenly today as I was getting ready to make more checks, it all works again! Mailto , send to Mail Recipient, the whole shebang!

The only change from yesterday is that today I got a Windows update - Windows Configuration Update (KB5035942)

Snugglebugs said:

Suddenly today as I was getting ready to make more checks, it all works again! Mailto , send to Mail Recipient, the whole shebang!

The only change from yesterday is that today I got a Windows update - Windows Configuration Update (KB5035942)

Click to expand...

It’s always random. What workd for one in Windows may not work for another. Good news for you

antspants said:

It’s always random. What workd for one in Windows may not work for another. Good news for you

Click to expand...

MS must have had a change of mind - today its NOT working, again!