Windows Live Mail (I know, I know!)

[jfm]

Anyone knows a way to import or set up a WLM client so it's exactly as it was ?

I usually just copy paste the whole folder content with success but more than often I end up with an (imported folders) instead of a clean import...

Got about 50G of data in there, I can't just to replace everything manually.

@fabs ?

Thanks.

 

[carmen617]

I've never found a reliable way to avoid getting that imported folder, but once you get it you can just drag all the subfolders up to the newly created inbox, and rename the ones that have had their names truncated. It's not elegant but it's not time consuming and it works fine. After you have the subfolders in place you can just close the imported folder.

 

[glricht]

Take a look at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/115976-windows-live-mail-export-import-email-accounts.html

Fabs will do this too.

 

[jfm]

Take a look at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/115976-windows-live-mail-export-import-email-accounts.html

Fabs will do this too.

Thanks, but the procedure is for IMAP accounts, wich you don't even need to import anything actually. Configure & Sync.

Here I'm asking a mix of POP accounts (50G of data, 20 different inbox with subfolders.), I just can't drag n drop that amount of data.

Each time I've used @fabs , ended up with that imported folder, I'm asking caus I might be missing something in the procedure.

Side note, the system it was configured on is not working, so all I have are the folders of WLM.

 

[fabs]

Sorry @jfm but I do not have found any reliable way to avoid such imported folder either. There must be some dark stuff within the .edb files that may have some hard coded stuff in them. I have no way to edit them and understand how they work. Only Microsoft can do that and the do not support WLM anymore.

 

[jfm]

Sorry @jfm but I do not have found any reliable way to avoid such imported folder either. There must be some dark stuff within the .edb files that may have some hard coded stuff in them. I have no way to edit them and understand how they work. Only Microsoft can do that and the do not support WLM anymore.

Thanks for the answer, I ended up using your software, and it's still the best results with all the accounts imported.

While you're here Monsieur Fabrice, est-ce normal que les transferts de fichiers en général soient beaucoup plus longs avec Fabs qu'avec une copie manuelle ?

 

[fabs]

While you're here Monsieur Fabrice, is that normal that file transfers are much slower than a manual copy ?

I think it is better to continue this conversation in English: this is not a French forum after all

What do you mean by much slower? Is that a big difference?
This may due to anti-malware real time scan while copying files. I guess it looks more at what a program is doing with files that it could do it with just the windows explorer.
Just a thought.

 

[SAFCasper]

Not a solution but just wondering...

"50G of data, 20 different inbox with subfolders" -- why are they still using WLM and not a "real" email client like Outlook?

WLM is designed as a free, basic solution for home users. This sounds like a serious power user/business client.

 

[Your PCMD]

50G of porn? That's a lot.

 

[jfm]

Not a solution but just wondering...

"50G of data, 20 different inbox with subfolders" -- why are they still using WLM and not a "real" email client like Outlook?

WLM is designed as a free, basic solution for home users. This sounds like a serious power user/business client.

Yes I know (title quote!), the goal was to correctly import in WLM to export in Outlook in the end.
Wich worked at 90% of the accounts/mails so I'm happy.

I told my client I was actually surprised that WLM could even open with that quantity of data in there.

@fabs to be honest Fabrice, I've used Fabs here and there on many different jobs, I'm not making it my "main" transfer tool because of the slow transfer rate, but it might just be an impression I'm getting, noone else complain of slower speed than a manual copy ?

 

[fabs]

to be honest Fabrice, I've used Fabs here and there on many different jobs, I'm not making it my "main" transfer tool because of the slow transfer rate, but it might just be an impression I'm getting, noone else complain of slower speed than a manual copy ?

There have been some complains but it was a while back (in that Fab's AutoBackup 5 days). Recently, I have added some optimizations to reduce ram use and more generally speed up the program when dealing with small files. The GUI is not updated while copying such files, this way, it does not have to display what its doing and refresh the windows. That means it leaves more resources for CPU and RAM doing what really matters. You should try the newest version.

 

[NviGate Systems]

I know that Windows Live does create a unique ID that it uses to store data. For example if you drag and drop the AppData/Windows Live folder from and old install to a new install any contacts you had will show up. Someone did some research on this a while back, not sure if that would mean if the ID could be replicated or "cloned" maybe....

Here is one page I found, but there was another, I'll post if I find info. (This is for contacts but perhaps the outlying structure will work for mail too. perhaps we need registry entries from the original install too)

http://triplescomputers.com/blog/ca...t-windows-live-mail-contacts-to-new-computer/

 

[fabs]

This is for contacts but perhaps the outlying structure will work for mail too. perhaps we need registry entries from the original install too
http://triplescomputers.com/blog/ca...t-windows-live-mail-contacts-to-new-computer/

There is actually no problem with contacts, they move fine from WLM 2012 (Windows 7) to another one with a different user profile name.
I have not seen any kind of GUID in the path for email databases, so this is clearly not a path to follow. Perhaps this was right for older versions of WLM but the last does not seem to work that way.

 

[GTP]

because of the slow transfer rate,

Have never experience slow copying. Obviously it takes a while to copy large files like video etc.

 

[NviGate Systems]

OK, I did some research and Live Mail actually stores everything you need to restore an account in the registry. The key below, [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail] is where Live Mail looks for all settings. It also sets the Store Root, which is the root directory where all the various data sets are.

The Store Root is in hex but if you want to edit it just load it in regedit and you can edit the human readable version. It's a generic one variable works for all, %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\.

The key to look for is Default Mail Account. This points to an .oeaccount file inside the Store Root.

So if you were to export this main key group, backup the Store Root, and after a new install of Windows & Live Mail, restore registry backup, move new files into Store Root, it should fire up as usual...

I have not had a chance to test this yet. If it works,
I could even automate it.

Keep in mind the text code below is not the full dump of the group of keys just the important bits.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail]
"Store Root"=hex(2):25,00,55,00,53,00,45,00,52,00,50,00,52,00,4f,00,46,00,49,\
  00,4c,00,45,00,25,00,5c,00,41,00,70,00,70,00,44,00,61,00,74,00,61,00,5c,00,\
  4c,00,6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,5c,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,\
  00,66,00,74,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,20,00,4c,00,\
  69,00,76,00,65,00,20,00,4d,00,61,00,69,00,6c,00,5c,00,00,00
"RtlLogOutput"=dword:00000001
"Default User"=hex:
"DatabaseVersion"=dword:00000012
"Running"=dword:00000000
"First Calendar Run Done"=dword:00000001
"Migration Attempts"=dword:00000001
"VerStamp"=dword:00000000
"Settings Upgraded"=dword:00000012
"LDAP Server ID"=dword:00000003
"DatabaseCorruptTime"=hex:a0,1f,86,f4,7e,22,d2,01
"V7StoreMigDone"=hex(0):01,00,00,00
"Compact Check Count"=dword:00000001
"LastBackup"=hex:e0,07,0a,00,00,00,09,00,16,00,2e,00,15,00,a2,00
"Last Search Index"=dword:00000001
"SearchFolderVersion"=dword:00000012
"SearchFolderLaunchesUntilRebuild"=dword:00000005
"Default LDAP Account"="account{F69BD682-E505-40DE-A415-DC3E5EDF120C}.oeaccount"
"First Run Done"=dword:00000001
"TreeExpanded"=dword:00000001
"Nav Pane Width"=dword:000000b8
"Nav Pane Shortcuts"=dword:00000001
"Last Mail Folder"=hex:18,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"Mail Is Ready"=dword:00000001
"AppRuns"=dword:00000001
"DesktopSearchIndexed"=dword:00000001
"Salt"=hex:c1,48,4a,f3,6f,60,dd,40,ad,ef,be,62,ff,a1,ae,44
"Default Mail Account"="account{47A9B1C7-58C5-480E-90F9-056A41237298}.oeaccount"

 

[fabs]

The Store Root is in hex but if you want to edit it just load it in regedit and you can edit the human readable version. It's a generic one variable works for all, %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\.

This value is almost never changed, so, in most cases, there is no need to edit it as it works no matter what the user profile is.

The key to look for is Default Mail Account. This points to an .oeaccount file inside the Store Root.

This is already processed this way. The default account is set back to what it was when restored.

So if you were to export this main key group, backup the Store Root, and after a new install of Windows & Live Mail, restore registry backup, move new files into Store Root, it should fire up as usual...

This is where the problem is. I was sure it was doing this with the registry but I have just seen a mistake in the part that restores the registry dump when the user running Fab's AutoBackup was the one being restored. I put a delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail" routine after the merge process instead of putting it before it. This is what caused this behavior. Now, it first restores the WLM user registry, sets the "Store Root" value to "C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Windows Live Mail\" (it is a simple string value after restore/transfer instead of binary but it does not matter here) and now it works like a charm. Just have to put back the email password and it is ready to go.

This will be in the next update that will be released soon. Thanks for pointing me to the right direction!