WLM 2012 hangs sending photo email

So WLM has this approach to sending photos that is quite special and seems to work fine, within its limitations. Top feature is the ability to resize any photo you mail out "on the fly", and the email itself is gone from your inbox in a blink. Things that make it not so great include the 3-month limitation on viewing those pics, and that you have to have a Microsoft SkyDrive (now OneDrive) account for it to work.

I have a customer who's been using the feature for a couple of years, and it worked well for him. But all of sudden last week the process stalls and hangs up WLM so that you have to reboot the computer. Here's what happens:

- you create a new (photo)email
- it opens a browse window so you can select your photo(s)
- you select the pic(s) and click [OK]
- insert email address & a subject and [Send]
So far so good. At this point what is *supposed* to happen next, is WLM connects to Skydrive and "publishes" the photo(s), then sends the email with thumbnail(s) linking to the file in the cloud. But the publishing stage hangs at 50%, no matter how long you wait. The Mail "Send/Receive" operation never completes, and you can't click on cancel or close or anything else that does anything, and the email never gets sent. Ctrl-Alt-Del.

I should add that if I log onto OneDrive via the Microsoft web site, I can see multiple copies of the photos I have been trying to send, so obviously they are making it that far.

I haven't found any cases of anyone else having the same trouble, but maybe I'm searching using the wrong terms. Does anyone have any ideas?

Chris