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Default Mail App w/ Group Policy

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Wednesday, December 13, 2017 9:19 PM

I am trying to change the default mail app from Mail, to Oulook.

We have Office 2013 installed on all of our end points.

I followed the below instructions to no avail.

"There is also this: *Removed Link*

Which is below...

To configure the default e-mail client using Group Policy, create a custom .adm template. Then, add this template to your Group Policy Editor so you can configure the policy setting.

  1. Open a new text file in Notepad.

  2. Copy and paste the following text into the text file

    CLASS MACHINE
    CATEGORY !!Default_E-mail_Client
     POLICY !!Default_Client
     KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail"
     EXPLAIN !!Explain_Default_Client
      PART !!labeltext_Default_Client EDITTEXT
       VALUENAME ""
     DEFAULT "Microsoft Outlook"
       END PART
      END POLICY
    END CATEGORY
     
    [strings]
    Default_E-mail_Client="Default e-mail client policy"
    Default_Client="Default e-mail client"
    Explain_Default_Client="This policy configures Outlook as the default e-mail client"
    labeltext_Default_Client="Default E-mail Client:"
    Microsoft_Outlook="Microsoft Outlook"

  3. Save the file as DefaultEmailClient.adm.

  4. Close the file.

  5. Add the file to the Group Policy Editor.

    Note The steps to add the DefaultEmailClient.adm file to the Group Policy Editor vary. Please consult your Windows documentation for details.

  6. Under Computer Configuration expand Administrative Templates.

  7. Select the Default e-mail client policy node in the policy tree.

  8. Double-click the Default e-mail client setting in the right pane.

    Note If you do not see the Default e-mail client policy setting in the right pane of the Group Policy editor, make sure your Group Policy editor filtering settings are not hiding unmanaged policies. For example, in Windows Server 2003, click Filtering on the View menu. Then, click to clear the Only show policy settings that can be fully managed check box.

  9. Click to select Enabled.

  10. Specify the default e-mail client to be configured by this policy.

(The default is configured for Microsoft Outlook)

Note If you are unsure of the e-mail clients registered on a workstation, examine the subkeys under the following key in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail

The name of each subkey is the name of an installed e-mail client on the workstation.

Click OK."

All replies (3)

Thursday, December 14, 2017 5:54 PM âś…Answered | 1 vote

So I am not sure which part did it, or if it worked in tandem:

Add this to a GPO:

To configure the default e-mail client using Group Policy, create a custom .adm template. Then, add this template to your Group Policy Editor so you can configure the policy setting.

  1. Open a new text file in Notepad.

  2. Copy and paste the following text into the text file

    CLASS MACHINE
    CATEGORY !!Default_E-mail_Client
     POLICY !!Default_Client
     KEYNAME "SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail"
     EXPLAIN !!Explain_Default_Client
      PART !!labeltext_Default_Client EDITTEXT
       VALUENAME ""
     DEFAULT "Microsoft Outlook"
       END PART
      END POLICY
    END CATEGORY
     
    [strings]
    Default_E-mail_Client="Default e-mail client policy"
    Default_Client="Default e-mail client"
    Explain_Default_Client="This policy configures Outlook as the default e-mail client"
    labeltext_Default_Client="Default E-mail Client:"
    Microsoft_Outlook="Microsoft Outlook"

  3. Save the file as DefaultEmailClient.adm.

  4. Close the file.

  5. Add the file to the Group Policy Editor.

    Note The steps to add the DefaultEmailClient.adm file to the Group Policy Editor vary. Please consult your Windows documentation for details.

  6. Under Computer Configuration expand Administrative Templates.

  7. Select the Default e-mail client policy node in the policy tree.

  8. Double-click the Default e-mail client setting in the right pane.

    Note If you do not see the Default e-mail client policy setting in the right pane of the Group Policy editor, make sure your Group Policy editor filtering settings are not hiding unmanaged policies. For example, in Windows Server 2003, click Filtering on the View menu. Then, click to clear the Only show policy settings that can be fully managed check box.

  9. Click to select Enabled.

  10. Specify the default e-mail client to be configured by this policy.

(The default is configured for Microsoft Outlook)

Note If you are unsure of the e-mail clients registered on a workstation, examine the subkeys under the following key in the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail

The name of each subkey is the name of an installed e-mail client on the workstation.

Click OK.

Then I exported my system defaults (with the correct associations)

Use the DISM tool to export the current settings to an .XML file, as shown below.

Dism.exe /online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\Temp\DefaultApps.xml

Edit the XML file so that only the defaults you want are there, e.g. I removed all defaults except the ones related to email:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<DefaultAssociations>
<Association ApplicationName="Outlook (desktop)" ProgId="Outlook.File.eml.15" Identifier=".eml"/>
<Association ApplicationName="Outlook (desktop)" ProgId="Outlook.URL.mailto.15" Identifier="mailto"/>
</DefaultAssociations>

Opened the GPO > Computer Configuration > Policies > Admin Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer > Set a default associates configuration file.

Enabled that setting, and set the Default Associations Configuration File: c:\temp\defaultapps.xml

For it to run the way I have it setup, you need to copy that XML file to the local machine, but I believe you can use a network location for the configuration file.

Thursday, December 14, 2017 2:21 AM

Hi,

For Outlook issue, I suggest discussing it in our Windows Office forum. They are the best resource to troubleshoot this issue.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/home?category=officeitpro

Thank you for understanding.

Best Regards,

Tao

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Thursday, December 14, 2017 3:32 PM

It isnt really a Office issue, more of a Group Policy issue?