Using browser mailto:// links, Registry Key appears wrong - Solution here...

Hi,

Been loving using Thunderbird for years, but when I switched from the regular installed version, to PortableApps, one thing I could never get working again, was clicking a mailto:// link in any browser, it always tried to turn the requested email into a newsgroup message.

Any way I have found an answer, and it has to do with the way that a Registry key is being written by the System.

Now this by nature may not be able to be directly fixed by Thunderbird Portable releases, but here's hoping!
But I post here also in case there is some way for others meanwhile to find out about this solution.

May be something could be put top level about this, if it is already up there somewhere, my apologies but I missed it completely.
Or maybe in the relevant part of Thunderbird's Options if that is not too hard to retrofit?

Any way over on:

mailto: links open "create newsgroup"

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1323436

tjlovejr proposed this solution earlier this year, (below), and I have found that it works well.

When the mailto: Registry Key is established not surprisingly Windows does not expect a proxy .exe for the application, as all PortableApps utilize.

This is the kind of thing that is standardly written in a full normal (non-portable) installation:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Thunderbird.Url.mailto\shell\open\command

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -osint -compose "%1"

Now when using PortableApps on your normal (regular) machine, when the PortableApps version is used and set to receive mailto:// requests,
we (as we might expect) get a direct path to the final exe being used.
So something like:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Thunderbird.Url.mailto\shell\open\command

"X:\PortableAps\PortableApps\ThunderbirdPortable\App\Thunderbird64\thunderbird.exe" -osint -compose "%1"

What needs to be in there:
-- Is actually something like (note the

 -osint 

is dropped) and change X to your normal drive letter for PortableAps (on your regular machine):

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Thunderbird.Url.mailto\shell\open\command

X:\PortableAps\PortableApps\ThunderbirdPortable\ThunderbirdPortable.exe -compose "%1"

If this is not done, PortableApps Thunderbird thinks that you need to set up a NewsGroup account as the posting referenced above says, and never tries to initiate an email composing window at all otherwise .

Is there any way that PortableApps itself can handle this correctly please?

I well understand it may not be possible though.

Thanks,
Paul