SearchProtocolHost.exe & "There is no email program..."

Question

Can anyone help with this issue please;

I'm frequently getting an error dialog box popping up with the title "Email" stating:

"There is no email program associated to perform the requested action.

Please install an email program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel."

Background to this is that I installed Office 2016 Pro Plus and then uninstalled Office 2007, (on Windows 10 64 bit).

There is nothing else in the dialog box to help identify what is happening, however Task Manager reveals Searchprotocolhost.exe running with the dialog box listed as a child process.

Checking the default programs panel and the Mail slot was indeed empty, so I selected Office 2016, but that didn't help so then I tried "mail" but that didn't help either.  I don't know if this is actually related to the issue anyway.

Event log shows this recurring which may be related:

Log Name:      Application

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Search

Event ID:      10023

Description:

The protocol host process 10044 did not respond and is being forcibly terminated {filter host process 10780}.

[update] so I noticed that the indexing options applet in control panel shows two entries for Outlook, one with the old 2007 icon.

I cannot set a flag to exclude it and I cannot remove it from the list.  Its stuck there.

I can remove the Office 2016 one though, so I've done that.  Maybe that will fix it somehow.

I then ran a rebuild which it did successfully.  I have no idea what it could be rebuilding since Office 2007 is uninstalled.  Maybe it was rebuilding the Office 2016 indexes... lol

Will see if that makes any difference.

Anyone had this issue before?  Any solution?

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Answer 1

Ok, so this seems to have fixed it, the dialog box no longer appears and I don't receive any search errors in Outlook.

I do still have the strange Office 2007 entry in the indexing options, but it doesn't seem to cause any issues that I can tell.  Hopefully it wont in the future.

To recap;

I did the registry hack suggested by Ariel, which partially resolved my problem.

I then ran Office repair, (quick option), after which the problem is resolved.

Whether Office repair would have resolved all issues by itself is not known.

Answer 2

Ok, I've tried running the Office Repair tool, just the "quick" option.

I then rebooted.

Now, clicking the "modify" button in indexing options does not result in the "*There is no email program..."*dialog box popping up, so that's an improvement.

I will wait to see if the problem of the message randomly popping up has gone away too.

I still see two entries for Outlook in the options, as before.

Answer 3

[EDIT] Well, I thought I'd give your procedure a go as it does seem related to my issue and your profile has some cred.  Unfortunately it didn't help, I've just rebooted and the annoying message popup is back.  Please see the notes below for more info.

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I rebooted after the registry update without any issue.

Indexing options in control panel haven't changed, its still showing both the old Outlook 2007 icon stuck in the list and if I click "modify" I can see the new Outlook 2016 available for selection. 

However, now there is a new, additional issue that I hadn't noticed yesterday;  when searching within Outlook using the 'all mailboxes' scope setting I receive a message on the search bar: Something went wrong and your search couldn't be completed. There are search results returned, so I don't know what this message means, if the results are complete or not.

Next; if I go back into control panel, indexing options and add Microsoft 2016 back in, then run the search again, the message about 'Something went wrong...' no longer appears.

It seems I must have Outlook 2016 included in the indexing options to avoid this message about 'Something went wrong...' and (presumably) have a complete search.

One more thing, regardless if I go via control panel or Outlook file/options to get to indexing options; when I click on 'modify' I receive the "*There is no email program..."*dialog box popping up.  This happens every time I click on 'modify'.

Oddly, if I go to indexing options via Outlook file/options it shows the Outlook 2016 icon for both entries.  (see pics).

Can someone please advise what should be showing in this panel for a default Office 2016 installation on Win 10 64bit (not connected to an exchange service).

Answer 4

Hi Zapio,

Let's try to isolate the issue and see what's causing you from getting this error message. Are you trying to open Outlook app in your device? if so, we recommend that you edit the registry for mail by performing the following steps:

1. Press Windows Key + R.
2. Type Regedt32.exe, then hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
3. Navigate the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail
4. On the right pane of this location, right-click PreFirstRun and select Delete.
5. On the left pane, right-click the Microsoft Outlook subkey under Mail, then select Delete.
6. Restart your computer.

After performing the following steps, please check if it helps you to prevent the error message and use Office 2016.

Let us know if you need further assistance.