VB6, MAPI, Outlook Express - hangs on Send new

[DonRI]

I have been writing a VB6 program using MAPI and Outlook Express to send email. Things have been working fine. I have sent dozens of emails from the application in the last few weeks.

Today, I tried to send email for the first time since last week. After I hit the Send button, I closed the application. I noticed that the "Connecting" window seemed to be hung. I waited for a number of minutes, but the window never closed. The same thing happened a number of times.

When I looked in Outlook Express, the message was sitting in the outbox. It was sent only after I opened Outlook Express.

None of the OE security/send settings have changed. The MAPI email just never completes being sent until OE is opened. The only thing that has changed on this pc is that a recent batch of Windows patches was applied earlier in the week. Has anyone had a similar problem this week after the application of new Windows operating system updates? Any suggestions? Thnaks.

Don

 

[KeithSeeley]

See if you've installed the recent patch listed in KB911567

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-016.mspx

In the FAQ section, it states:

"Does this update contain any other changes to functionality?
Yes. This update contains a privacy related change that Outlook Express 6 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, and Outlook Express 6 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 to ignore the "X-Unsent" field in email headers."

If this is the source of your problems I think the only workaround is to uninstall the patch.

 

[DonRI]

The application is running on a Windows 2000 pc. I tried uninstalling KB911567, but that doesn't make a difference. Don

 

[DonRI]

I think I found it.

It turns out that VB6 being unable to send email through Outlook Express may have been a side effect of installing the patches, rather than being caused by it.

I could find nothing on the internet about anyone mentioning a similar problem (naturally). So I started looking at all the changes I had made to settings to enable VB6 to send email via Outlook Express. One after the other, they all were still the same. Then I got to the last place to look...

When I started writing this program, I learned that I had to make McAfee Virus Scan aware that VB6 was going to be allowed to do emailing. In order to do this, you bring up the Virus Scan console, click on Properties, and then click on the Port Blocking tab. The "Prevent Mass Mailing Worms From Sending Email" option is checked. In order to allow VB6.EXE to be able to send emails, you highlight this option and click Edit. A line appears that allows you to type in the name of any exe file that will be an exception to this rule. So, two months ago, I added VB6.EXE to this list of exceptions.

Somehow, in the process of updating Windows and reestablishing the firewall access allow/deny rules for updated programs, the "VB6.EXE" that I added to the Virus Scan rule exception disappeared. I know I didn't delete it. But something must have happened in what I did to take the name of that exe file out of the list. I put it back in the list and now things work again. There's one night's sleep I'll never get back.