Pegasus Mail is not launching under Windows? Find out here how to make Pegasus Mail run smoothly under Windows 10 and Windows 11, and how to launch it without errors or admin privileges—and without any compatibility mode fixes or performance penalties.
First, If You Wonder What You Can Do
If you wonder what you can do to improve your life right now, drink a glass of hot water.
I just did, I did, and it did!
Now, the slightly obsessive Chinese habit of drinking hot water (who has not had a Chinese friend in visible distress hastily slap an iced drink out of their hands?) has ancient roots and fascinatingly seems to get more ingrained with time; it is also not entirely unreasonable, of course.
One crucial moment apparently was a cholera outbreak in 1860s’ Beijing, which common wisdom attributed to her inhabitants not drinking enough hot water—much unlike the folks down south in Shanghai who had always been more diligent with their hot water and did not get sick.
Either way, if you wonder what you can do to improve the ancient and fascinating PMAIL on Windows to make it run as smooth as not quite boiling but hot enough water going down your throat, try this:
How to Use Pegasus Mail with Windows 10 and Windows 11
Time needed: 10 minutes
To set up Pegasus Mail to run smoothly on Windows 10 (not running it as administrator and without User Access Control prompts but full security):
- Open Windows Explorer.
Windows keyboard shortcut: Press Windows E to open Explorer.
Here‘s why: The following steps will create a directory inside your personal Windows 10 files to keep configuration and make for Pegasus Mail. - Click in the Explorer address bar.
- Type
%userprofile%.Note: This takes you to your Windows 10 user folder—the folder that contains Downloads, Music, and other standard directories—, where you will create a new folder for Pegasus Mail.
Alternative: As an alternative, you can type%appdata%, wich will take you to an program data directory, also insider your personal Windows 10 files. - Press Enter.
- Click New folder on the Home ribbon tab.
Keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl Shift N.
- Type
Pegasus Mail.Your choice: You can, of course, use a different name (say, PMAIL, for tradition’s sake).
- Press Enter again.
- Double-click the Pegasus Mail folder to open it.
Migrating: Copy or move all files from a previous Pegasus Mail email directory (e.g., C:\\PMAIL\MAIL) right into the one you just created to migrate your full account, emails and setup.
- Click in the Windows Explorer address bar.
- Press Ctrl C to copy the full path.
- Open the Windows 10 Start menu.
- Start typing
Pegasus Mail. - Select Run as administrator for Pegasus Mail.
Not this: Do not choose Pegasus Mail as ‘Admin’.
- Click Yes to allow Pegasus Mail System to make changes.
- Select the single-user option on the Setting up mailboxes screen under Welcome to Pegasus Mail.
Here’s what to look for: The text for the option reads Click here if there will only ever be one person running Pegasus Mail on this computer.
Multiple users. You can, just as well, of course set up Pegasus Mail for multiple users if you use a shared computer.
No “Setting up mailboxes”: If you do not see the Setting up mailboxes screen, delete the PMAIL.CFG file in your Pegasus Mail installation directory; this will not delete any mail or settings for your user, which you can migrate later. - Press Ctrl V to paste the path to your Pegasus Mail directory under Welcome to Pegasus Mail.
- Click OK.
- Optionally, set up an email account in Pegasus Mail.
Example: You can add a Gmail account, for instance.
- From now on, start Pegasus Mail as a normal program from the Start menu.
No admin privileges: You need not run it as administrator and will not be asked to allow it to modify your device.
How to Use Pegasus Mail with Windows 10 and Windows 11: FAQ
Pegasus Mail is not launching at all; what can I do?
Typically, Pegasus Mail will not launch if you
- run it without administrator privileges and
- it tries to modify files under C:\Program Files\PMAIL or C:\PMAIL.
To fix this, it is best to follow the steps above so Pegasus Mail
- can run without administrator privileges and
- without modifying any files outside your user directory.
This will make Windows happy and prevent it from stopping PMAIL from launching. You do not have to install any additional software or turn off user access privileges for Pegasus Mail.
Once it’s running… can I make Pegasus Mail my default email program?
Yes, Windows can use Pegasus Mail as your email default if you
(How to use Pegasus Mail with Windows tested with Pegasus Mail 4.80 and Windows 10 Version 21H2; updated March 2024)