Hyperlinks stopped working in Windows 8 Mail app

[Clint]

:huh: I don't understand.

 

[Toff]

Clint
Apparently I had the same problem the OP had, but it seems that apart from hyperlinks being unclickable it also affects other things, like authorization buttons for Win8 apps when you have to click "Yes" or "Sign In" to make that app connect (e.g. Xbox Live, Twitter etc.). I was struggling trying to solve this, and this thread pointed to that CLSID entry, deleting which helped me solve my problem.

 

[Clint]

:thumb: OK thanks, The only problem I'm having is the Hyperlinks.

 

[razoredger]

Hyperlinks stopped functioning for no apparent reason on my laptop. I have Windows 8 installed since it's release, so this issue is new. Today I also noticed that Internet Explorer Metro App would not launch at all and clicking on search results links in Bing search app did nothing.
IE 10 would launch if I went into c/programs and clicked the exe. But it only launched desktop mode. Through forum browsing I solved that issue and I think collaterally solved the hyperlink problem in Mail app and IE app.
Apparently, when IE is no longer the default browser, it only launches in desktop mode.
I reset IE as default browser and now the IE Metro app works. At the same time, hyperlinks in the Mail app and Bing search app also have resumed functioning.
So resetting IE as default browser was the solution for me. No need to touch registry.

 

[airdenamrk]

I have the same problems with links not opening whitin the Start Menu Apps. Windows 8 Pro is installed from scratch, so it's not a direct upgrade from any other versions of Windows. Everything worked fine, until one day I got the exact same issues. So that was weird and I tried to do the rule out method and I finally found out that the issue, in my case, is caused by a program called Microangelo On Display. This is a program that changes or rather removes the shortcut arrows and UAC shield symbols from the icons. I tested it on a freshly installed version of Windows 8 and, in my case, there is no doubt that this interaction and the changes that program is doing, is the root of the problem. So I thought I was smart and reversed the actions, made by Microangelo On Display and the uninstalled the program. I deleted leftover folders/files from the program and did a whole reset of IE10 and made sure that it was set as my standard browser. Despite all that, I'm still left the the issue of links not opening in any apps.

*** Update ***
In fact, as mentioned previously in the thread, deleting the registry keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID did solve the problem. All the links works perfectly again in all apps. I did it on two PC's. One of the PC didn't have any entries (other than empty folders) whitin the CLSID, so I just deleted the empty strings/keys and left the main CLSID be. And as another one suggested in the thread to seperatly delete, on the other PC, I deleted the entries whitin CLSID, which was related to Microangelo On Display and voilá, everything worked great again immediately (no need for restarting).

 

[robandot]

Hi,
My problem seems similar except when I click a link in Mail, Gmail inbox is opened as well as the target web site (2 tabs, inbox in front), any suggestions please

 

[pizzaman79]

I think we should distinguish two situations here:

1. some of the links that are formatted as a link do work. Technically these are coded as <a href....> However links that are just entered as plain text http://link.wherever are not clickable

2. no link at all is clickable

You can not distinguish these two by checking a mail in your web based gmail, as it automaticcaly makes the plain text links clickable. However, when clicking the drop down menu right of the reply button, there's a "show original" option, where you can check if the link in the e-mail is plain or formatted. Alternatively you could try sending yourself an email with two links, one in plain text and one formatted. You probably need to actively remove the link on one of the test links and maybe disable an option to automaticcaly parse links. It's that hard to keep a link unformatted, yet I get plenty of unformatted links in my incoming mail...

I'm guessing that the "CLSID registry key fix" and the "make Internet Explorer the default browser fix", are fixes for situation 2, am i correct?

There's also issues with the program that handles the mailto: links, like the post from Robandot above. These are not related, and I suggest he tries one of the threads about these kind of issues.

 

[meteo1234567]

Finally, I have solved the issue. (Spend me about 5 hours ...)I use debug tool to trace the Windows run-time library line by line and compare the result with a new installed Win 8 device. I can say the issue should be a 'REGISTRY' related issue.



My solution is:


1. open regedit
2. delete 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID' key. (You may need to do a backup before killing it.)
3. reboot.


Enjoy it !

I also post the solution here:
URL links in mail app wont open in Metro IE10 - Microsoft Community

tks 4 ur help, but can't find that reg entry on my windows 8 x64... is that reg key just for 32 bits?

 

[robinpe]

In my Win8.1 there isn't a numerical line beginning with an 8, what now?

 

[adamf]

Hey Robin, what are you talking about? This thread is a year old and the answer is as pizzaman9 said - the windows mail app doesn't parse plain text into urls. It just doesn't do it and that is that.

What is the "numerical line beginning with 8"? Where do you expect to find such a thing and what do you thing it would do?

 

[robinpe]

Adam, I always do a search on this site first to see if there's a similar problem from the past. This post was pertinent to my problem. It maybe a year old so possibly I was wrong in reviving it.
The 8 refers to #10 post.
The specific link in my email was to activate an app. It should have been hyperlinked!
E.g. the following is hyperlinked: http://www.eightforums.com/software-apps/53581-how-do-i-install-apps-sd-memory-card-new-post.html. But it wasn't in my email.

 

[orlando]

Indeed, I found that deleting the entire HKCU/Software/Classes/CLSID restores the functionality of the e-mail app and Bing app links to IE10. However, I was afraid that this fix might be too extreme. So, I backed up the key, and the deleted the CLSID individual keys in groups to find the offending group. I started with all keys beginning with "1" all the way through "F". I found it was the group beginning with "8". So, I restored the original complete HKCU/Software/Classes/CLSID key, then deleted each individual key beginning with an "8".
It ended up being {871C3580-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}.
I have no idea what program created this key. I Googled it to no avail. Most likely something leftover from my Windows 7, upgraded from Vista, upgraded from XP, etc., or perhaps some kind of trojan?
There may be other keys that would cause this problem, but it only took about an hour or so to find the offending CLSID key. Just a suggestion for those who might be "chicken" like me!

Being chicken like you I decided to do the same thing, however I found the registry key you gave starting with 8 couldn't be found. I did however find another beginning with 8 and took a chance. I backed it up then deleted and rebooted. Worked, I now have links showing in email and only had to delete one key. No idea if the rest is ever going to be needed but they are there if they do. Thanks for the tip saved a lot of time.

 

[fletch33]

Being chicken like you I decided to do the same thing, however I found the registry key you gave starting with 8 couldn't be found. I did however find another beginning with 8 and took a chance. I backed it up then deleted and rebooted. Worked, I now have links showing in email and only had to delete one key. No idea if the rest is ever going to be needed but they are there if they do. Thanks for the tip saved a lot of time.

well sadly i dont have an "8" at all and starting to go through them with no luck yet.

none of my forums including this one have working links and it is driving me crazy

 

[orlando]

Being chicken like you I decided to do the same thing, however I found the registry key you gave starting with 8 couldn't be found. I did however find another beginning with 8 and took a chance. I backed it up then deleted and rebooted. Worked, I now have links showing in email and only had to delete one key. No idea if the rest is ever going to be needed but they are there if they do. Thanks for the tip saved a lot of time.

well sadly i dont have an "8" at all and starting to go through them with no luck yet.

none of my forums including this one have working links and it is driving me crazy

Well, turns out that Forum links still didn't work but all other links sent do. In the end I got so fed up with Mail I just decided to created an Outlook account and deal with all my mail online. Then the next bit of crazy nonsense started as it created all my folders again, so I now have two sets with one full of old email and the other set empty. All the old rules for posting mail into specific folders are ignored so have had to create them all again. How can you create a mail system that is worse than the last one
, even the smileys are crap.

 

[robinpe]

I have just recently dual booted W.10 along with my W.8.1. The email links in 8.1 have never been hyperlinked, (not even 'blued' out) & have never worked. However, the same links in identical emails in W.10 are hyperlinked, blued-out, & open IE just fine, so it's something wrong with W.8.1.

 

[Viiictor]

hi guys. i have this problem like other millions of peoples. i read this thread and delete whole CLSID from registry editor. but this solution is temporary and the problem will be back after about 3 days or less. is there any solution that can solve this problem forever ?