Make Portable Thunderbird You Default Mail Client
I constantly recommend portable apps to clients as they are the easiest to backup compared to outlook and other programs.
The only problem is that they struggle to work as a default mail client as they are portable. Here is a hack which solves this problem and makes everything work nice and smoothly.
Copy and paste the code below into a .reg file, then edit the path to match your TBP installation.
Works on Win XP SP3, Vista, Windows 7
=== start .reg code ===
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Changes to make TB Portable the default e-mail client
; Make your TB Portable the default mail client: Tools > Options. Don’t skip this step.
; Edit YOUR ThunderbirdPortable.exe path below. MINE is E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\ThunderbirdPortable.exe
; Run this patch and you are done.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\open\command]
@="\"E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\ThunderbirdPortable.exe\" -mail"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\properties]
@="Thunderbird &Options"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\properties\command]
@="\"E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\ThunderbirdPortable.exe\" -options"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\DefaultIcon]
@="E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\App\\thunderbird\\thunderbird.exe,0"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command]
@="\"E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\ThunderbirdPortable.exe\" \"%1\""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail]
@="Mozilla Thunderbird"
; This fixes MAPI
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{29F458BE-8866-11D5-A3DD-00B0D0F3BAA7}\LocalServer32]
@="E:\\Program Files\\ThunderbirdPortable\\ThunderbirdPortable.exe /MAPIStartUp"
=== end .reg code ===
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I just gave this a shot. Everything works great, except the MAPI section. This appears to not work properly. If when I execute an email function in my application that, it can’t find a MAPI compliant email program. If I install standard TB it works just fine. There must be another registry key around for MAPI. Have any ideas?
not sure mate.. mayb try asking on the portable apps forum..
- It says – it’s not a reg file… (Vista SP1)
is your default program for that extension windows registry? You have to open the .reg file with windows registry or it wont work..
doesn’t work with the send to menu in windows 7.
only way i found was to install TB, set as default and tell it to use my portable TB profile.
this works well for both thunderbird and FF