Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

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gram2
Posts: 11
Joined: June 30th, 2006, 3:05 pm

Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by gram2 »

Yesterday a rare blue screen episode, Windows proceeded to delete "corrupt" files, I was able to recover use of Windows, but Mozilla no longer lets me open attachments, nor send mail. I get this message upon attmepting to send:

Sending of message failed. Unable to open the temporary file. Check your "Temporary Directory" setting.

Mozilla is not the only software rendered poorly operable. I am able to send and receive from the server online. I tried a "restore system" which helped not a whit.

I need a clue where this directory is and what the setting should be: smtp settings appear correct, re my recollection.
rsx11m
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Joined: May 3rd, 2007, 7:40 am
Location: US

Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by rsx11m »

Thunderbird is using the temporary-file location of the operating-system to, e.g., store attachments when they are opened or to collect data for encoding a message that has to be sent out. Thus, both observations along with the fact that other applications appear broken as well would suggest that this folder was somehow affected by the crash.

On Windows XP, that's C:\Documents and Settings\(user)\Local Settings\Temp - make sure the folder exists and that you have write permissions to it (right-click on the folder and select Properties, go into the Security tab).

Another check would be to open in the System Properties in Start > Settings > Control Panel, then go into the Advanced tab and click on Environment Variables. You should see variables TMP and TEMP there pointing to the location above (or %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp when you open them). A wrong location specified there may guide any application accessing it to a non-existing location.
gram2
Posts: 11
Joined: June 30th, 2006, 3:05 pm

Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by gram2 »

rsx11m

Thanks much. I did go to Local settings\Temp, and the file exists, completely empty. Properties indicated that "archive to temp file" was unchecked, and I checked it.

Environment variables revealed that tmp and temp files were directed to the correct file: local settings\temp.

An attempt to send email resulted in the same fail message. Will I need to restart first, to work?
rsx11m
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Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by rsx11m »

gram2 wrote:I did go to Local settings\Temp, and the file exists, completely empty. Properties indicated that "archive to temp file" was unchecked, and I checked it.

If it's completely empty then it means that no other application may be able to access it. You can check the "Date Modified" time stamp when selected "Details" in the folder view (the right-most icon in the Explorer toolbar). It should roughly coincide with your last attempt to open an attachment or to send a message (or any other application accessing it). If it shows a date just before your crash, then it hasn't been used since and something is wrong.

I don't have any "archive to temp file" when looking at my WinXP Pro SP2 setup, so that's a bit different for some reason. One possibility is that your file system may have a problem. You can right-click on your C-drive, select Properties, then Tools > Error Checking > Check Now, select "Automatically fix file-system errors" and click Ok, confirm the message, then reboot, to enforce a full disk check. It may be some registry issue blocking that folder from being accessed or misleading programs to use a different path, hard to tell...
gram2
Posts: 11
Joined: June 30th, 2006, 3:05 pm

Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by gram2 »

Success!! I owe you one rsx11m!

Just goes to show what is possible when you know what you're doing; I learned something, now just hope I'm not too old to remember it :^)

By the way, it wasn't "archive to temp file" box, it was "folder is ready for archiving", which is now checked, too.
rsx11m
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Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by rsx11m »

You are welcome, whatever solved it in the end. :-)
1BJZ4OS
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Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by 1BJZ4OS »

Thanks Guys , I had same problem and learnt this new thing but I found my problem was something else. It was file name. My file name was downloaded file from internet and had % signs and thunderbird didn't understand this and was giving same error message. Hopefully this tip will be usefull to someone.-Raj
auntysuz63
Guest

Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by auntysuz63 »

Raj - that was the exact thing that happened to me. It was a PDF file from a website. I solved the problem by saving the file to my computer, then attaching it to the email. It was saved and sent with absolutely no problems at all.
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DanRaisch
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Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
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Re: Check your "temporary directory" setting ???

Post by DanRaisch »

Locking this thread due to the age of the original posts. It will still be accessible to read but not to reply to.
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