when i try to open an attachment in outlook express , i get: THE COMMAND FAILED TO EXECUTE

HELP

Hi lubaron,

Can you save the attachment and then open ?
What OS you have ?
Did it start after updating your OE or OS ?



SR.

Check this

You receive the following error message: The command failed to execute
When you try to save a mail attachment to your hard disk in Outlook Express, you may receive the following error message:

The command failed to execute.

This problem occurs when there is not enough free disk space on your hard disk to save the attachment. To resolve this problem, increase the amount of free space on your hard disk by using one or more of the following methods:

Remove any unnecessary files from the hard disk.
Empty the Recycle Bin.
Delete unnecessary files from the Internet Explorer 5 Setup folder. Deleting this entire folder is not recommended. While it does not affect the performance of Internet Explorer, you will not be able to reinstall or uninstall Internet Explorer or its components from the hard disk; you would have to download another copy from the Microsoft Web site.

What type of attachment are you trying to open when you get this error?

Sunray asked all the right questions, what version?

If WindowsUpdate is current, then you have Service Pack 2 installed with additional security and this talks about that, including the impact on Outlook Express and attachment handling:
Windows XP Service Pack 2: What's New for Internet Explorer and Outlook Express
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/ieoeoverview.mspx

i am running windows xp home with a 40 gig hard drv. of which ,am using less than 6 gig.
did not update anything or install anything b4 problem.
cleaned everything, when it first happened ,after seeing "This problem occurs when there is not enough free disk space on your hard disk to save the attachment" 2 weeks ago. did not work.
yes ,i can save the attachment to notepad and then open it.
i get the error , not trying to save it to hard disk ,but to simply open it ,it is a ".txt" file.

went to windows update and got sp2 problem, was solved on first restart , after update,,with the next restart ,,, came the problem

did not realise there would be so many ,, and quick responses ,, thanks

So you are having issues ONLY when saving txt attachment or any attachment ?

Are you able to open notepad created text files fine in your machine ?

SR

This might also shed some light here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/web/sp2_oe.mspx

SR

not saving the attachment ,but simply dblclicking on it and have it open in notepad,, since i can`t do that anymore ,i now have to save it then go to notepad and file and  open , then i see it . too much to go thru for my 84 yr old grand pa who uses it daily to check stocks info.

Understand how important it is to just open instead of saving..
Do let us know if this happens only with txt attachment or other documents aswell..

make sure your notepad is opening fine ..

Do check the link in my previous suggestion

Again , guess you have done all these

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q171/4/64.ASP&NoWebContent=1

resolved the 2 week old issue ; at 9:30 pm e.s.t.

sdpoke too soon,,, windows messenger seems to be the culprit;;; had version 4.7 ,, got v5.0 and installed ,, i could then open the attachments, shut pc down and restarted 4 times over va 15 minute period it worked. i then went into windows mess. preferences and unchecked , statr when windows starts ,,,, and returned to outlook , to check once more,,, it gave me again
the command failed to execute.

What is your version of Outlook Express?

Leslyn :)

ver.6.0

Can you check WindowsUpdate again to see what is needed?

Ok. Look in the Tools/Options on the Security tab. Be sure that the "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus." is NOT CHECKED! This seems to be turned on after updates of the program. Turn it off if it is on and you should have no further problems with your attachments.

Leslyn :)

that was the first thing i did 2 weeks ago. leslyn

If notepad is the only one not opening from double click, do you have your windows associating the .txt files with notepad?

Leslyn :)

notepad works fine by itself. when i dbl click a  text attachment in outlook. that is normally a file associated with note pad, then i get the command failed to execute.
but things have since changed. found windows messenger to be the culprit and ignored every other course of action but that. first i  downloaded aol im expecting it to ask to be the sole im ,,there by ,,pitching msn`s aside it would not .they both came up when i opened outlook. i then put this string:;;RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove ;;;in a command prompt and only aol`s came up i then uninstalled that too ... and now its working fine after 2 restarts.
thanks  everyone for the attempts. do i get my $10 back? lol

Check the Question and Answer Tips link below on finalizing question here.

Happy it's resolved for you, I don't want any points; but you do have the option to split points between the other participants who worked with you or ask CS for help.

Asta