windows live mail unsent messages in outbox

Actually, after posting that and starting a thread specific to my problem, I continued reading among the dozens of similar threads about this sort of problem -- and surprisingly enough I found one post in one thread that actually had a useful answer.

It turns out that WLM stores the Outbox emails as individual eml files in a folder

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Outbox

with WLM not running, you can navigate to that folder and simply delete the eml files.

Windows will complain that you need Administrator permission even if you are using an Administrator level account, but you can tell it to continue and it will let you delete the files. 

This will let WLM open properly -- depending on just how screwed up WLM itself was, it may still think there ought to be one or more files in the outbox, but after the eml files have been deleted it is then easy to follow the conventional advice of going to the Outbox in WLM to delete the emails (which at this point, it can't find but will let you delete anyway)

My sympathy!   Strictly speaking, I shouldn't choose "HELPFUL"--because I am past help, for the moment!  (My problem with UNSENT mail in OUT box, was "somehow" resolved, months ago, and I want to forget about it (knowing that I can use Yahoo Mail, or Outlook, or MAIL in Windows 8 on my laptop.)

But it IS necessary to keep pointing out weaknesses in Windows, not least in that dreadful first "Advisor", with his/her? dismissive, contemptuous "reply".  It also promotes solidarity among sufferers!

Why do we keep trying WLM?  In my case, because I delight in its wide range of fonts, and features (like "undo", "redo",) found in WORD.  But the Tabs and their functions are complicated, like so much in computing--for the amateur.

(I'll probably try to "unsubscribe" from this thread again, now; but even that does not probe easy!)

I hope you find more help somewhere.

Wonderful to see a problem posted in 2011 that STILL does not have any useful answer in 2015 - despite dozens of people posting useless nonsense that COULD NOT be useful to the person who posted the original question (Hint: don't just tell someone to go to their Outbox to delete the messages when they post that they have already gone to the outbox and there are no messages there)

I am facing a slightly different variation of what seems to be the same basic underlying problem. 

Windows Live Mail WON'T open except for what is supposed to be the "Send/Receive Progress" box -- which only shows the current task as "Send 2 message(s) using [my default account]" and a status of "0 of 1 tasks have completed successfully" -- it doesn't ever reach the program screen so I can't even try to delete the messages it thinks it is trying to send - and it doesn't time out (despite waiting far longer than the time limit)

"Amen" Bro...lol...

I do not have a "OUTBOX" to see what mail is there or I would delete it.   DO you have a "OUTBOX"

Open live mail.

Click folders

Click "Go to"

Select Outbox and click "OK".

Files in "outBox" will be listed.

edit / Remove as needed.

that is all