GMail: Illegal Attachment Causes Bounced Messages when Sending EXE files

Tagged: Google

Certain files are not allowed to be sent through gmail. Here is how to get through this restriction.

Google has blocked the sending of certain types of files through gmail that have high abuse potential. This will be noticed mainly when uses try to send executable files such as *.exe files or archive files (*.zip) containing executable files.

If you try, you’ll email will bounce and you will receive an error like this:

: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[64.233.xxx.xx] said: 552
5.7.0 Illegal Attachment 38si976657nzk

If you need to do this anyway, you just need to rename your file to something that is not blocked. I typically rename everything to *.bak. Be sure to tell the receiver of your email to rename it once they receive it.

Renaming files can be tricky because windows hides the file extensions by default. Here’s how to rename them:

1. Open explorer and browse to the file you want to rename
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Click Folder Options
4. Click View tab
5. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types
6. Click OK
7. Now you should be able to see the extensions of your files.
8. Right-click on the file
9. Click Rename
10. Rename the file and change the ending. For example, putty.exe to putty.bak.
11. Now you can send it through gmail like any other attachment
12. The receiver of the email will need to rename it back so he/she/it can use the file correctly.

Point them to this recipe if your email reciever needs assistance.

Enjoy.