Extract text from MSN mail settings files (MAILHOST)
To convert MAILHOST settings files to another format, you need MSN Explorer or other Settings software.
To convert other file formats to the "Email Configuration File" file type, you need software like MSN Explorer or a similar tool.
The .mailhost file is an obsolete configuration file used primarily by legacy MSN software, such as MSN Explorer or early Microsoft dial-up mail clients. It stores specific mail host parameters, including server addresses, ports, and connection protocols required to route email through Microsoft's legacy infrastructure.
Users typically encounter .mailhost files when recovering old hard drives or digging through legacy email backups. The main disadvantage of this format is that it is highly proprietary, completely obsolete, and functionally useless in modern operating systems. There is no standard modern application that relies on this specific configuration format, meaning you cannot easily import it into contemporary email clients like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.
Because it contains raw configuration data rather than standard documents or media, converting a .mailhost file into a modern email archive format (like PST or MBOX) is generally not possible. The best approach is to extract the underlying text or XML data to a standard TXT or CSV file so you can manually review the server settings.
This format is notoriously difficult to open or convert because it is a closed, proprietary file where only the original MSN software was designed to parse the data structure.
Convert.Guru analyzes your MAILHOST file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted DOWNLOADHOST, WWP and YBK files.
If you want to convert MAILHOST file to , you can use MSN Explorer or similar software from the "Mail Configuration Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert files to MAILHOST, try MSN Explorer or another comparable tool in the "Mail Configuration Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our MAILHOST converter.