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How to open .eml files in Internet Explorer

If you have received a .eml file—most likely as an attachment to another email—you may have had some difficulty in opening it. A .eml file holds an email in MHTML format, which can be opened by Microsoft Outlook.

Yet you may not have access to Outlook. The Windows 10 Mail app will open .eml files, but as of version 17.8700.40675.0, annoyingly not provide any method to save or print the email—it’s display-only.

However, Microsoft Internet Explorer (though not Edge) will open the underlying format, MHTML. Therefore, one option to open an .eml file is to rename the file, changing the extension to .mht. Thus my_email.eml becomes my_email.mht, and will then open in Internet Explorer. If you only have to open .eml files very occasionally, this is probably the best option.

If you want a more permanent solution, you have to alter the registered MIME type for .eml in Windows, which requires editing the Windows Registry. In Registry Editor, navigate to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.eml key. Find the Content Type value and set its value to message/rfc822, which is the same MIME type as .mht. Alternatively, you can download a .reg file containing the setting; use at your own risk.

With this method, if you now ask Internet Explorer to open a .eml file, it should now display correctly, rather than attempt to “download” it. You should then be able to print the page to PDF, if all you want is an archive copy.

Solving the PrimoPDF “Invalid XML Document” exception

You need to delete the PrimoPDF settings XML file, which can be found in your Application Data folder.

  1. Navigate to %AppData%\PrimoPDF
  2. Delete PrimoSet.xml. You could back it up first, but I wouldn’t say it’s important.

After doing so, upon opening PrimoPDF again, the settings file will be re-created. Note that your previous PrimoPDF settings will have been lost, so make sure you set them correctly again.

Credit goes to itsupport.vizada.com (page no longer active) for pointing in the right direction.

KB2836988 for Windows 8 may cause BSOD on some AMD chipsets

After a recent Windows 8 update, my computer refused to boot properly, but attempted an Automatic Repair, which was unsuccessful. The system would flash a blue screen of death and reboot with no more illuminating error message. I also encountered this when booting from the Windows 8 DVD – sudden blue screens with no error messages.

My Windows 8 installation is on a SSD on a system with an AMD chipset, and I had to switch the SSD to IDE mode access to get any sort of stability. After I did this, Automatic Repair had a longer attempt to fix it, but still ended unsuccessfully with a message informing me to check WINDOWS\System32\Logfiles\Srt\Srttrail.txt. Removing the SSD and examining this file on my laptop showed me the following error message:

Boot critical file E:\Windows\System32\drivers\amdsbs.sys is corrupt

Replacing that file with a fresh copy did not appear to help. To get Windows to boot properly, I had to boot to a command prompt (clicking the Advanced Options button from the screen with the Srttrail.txt error message) and use the dism.exe tool with this command:

dism.exe /image:D:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

where D: is the Windows drive.

After doing this and rebooting, on the next boot Windows detected a failed update and reverted changes. I was then able to enter Windows.

The update at fault appears to be KB2836988 and I suspect it may be causing problems with systems using the AMD 700 series chipset. Other people seem to be experiencing similar problems. We will see whether Microsoft do anything to address the problem; in the meantime, I’ve turned off Automatic Updates, and am avoiding that particular update for the moment.