how can I recover my mail from a crashed system?

[alexB]

Hi there,

I did have this notorious problem which plagues so many people: mail gets
stuck in Deleted Items Folder (others cannot delete it form Outbox, etc) but
the problem took care of itself in a rather weird way and now I have a
different one.

To begin with this is my second typing of this post since when I tried to
check spelling on the first one I realized that the speller was not
activated, so I had to "save" it in the draft folder, close the window and
take care of that. I found the draft folder empty after the speller was
activated. This is problem # 1. I am to check if it will persist further.
This is my first day of work. I had to reinstall Vista last afternoon after
I downloaded an upgrade for my NVidia e-Force 7600 GS Graphics Card (made
for Windows Vista, etc, etc, etc). It is all MS production. My screen went
black and never recovered. Fortunately I have other partitions, I signed in
to one of them, salvaged as much stuff as I could and installed Vista
Ultimate (instead of former Business). I am a developer and I do have a lot
of stuff on my plate to take care of in terms of adjusting it to the new OS
even if it is in essence the same OS. I am about 30% through. But there is a
problem. (This is perhaps my seventh install for various reasons in the past
4 months).

For months I have been saving my important email messages including personal
photographs sent by family, airline reservation codes, etc in a special
custom set folder called "Documents." It is now gone. I have a claim number
for a flight two weeks from now I want to recover. I have no idea how I can
do it. I presume it is somewhere in windows.old\users folder but I need help
with the procedure.

As a developer I do appreciate the fact that Vista is a quantum leap forward
as compared with WinXp but still the amount of problems is atrocious. This
Windows Mail mess is very detrimental to MS reputation. It should have been
fixed months ago. Many people get run around with it. Some people have no
inclination or brains to get into technical details or are too busy. It is
just terrible.

Hoping for help.

Thanks

 

[???? ?????]

????? ???? ?????? ??? ????

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Take a look in
\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\...
Each email is in an individual file, with the filename ending in .eml.

 

[alexB]

What did this ??????? idiot mean by posting this garbage?

 

[alexB]

Take a look in
\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local
Folders\... Each email is in an individual file, with the filename ending
in .eml.

Thanks Gary, I am sure I will find the folder. How to import it (or at the
very least view it in a mail editor)?

 

[alexB]

Take a look in
\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\...
Each email is in an individual file, with the filename ending in .eml.

Sorry for the previous post. There is another issue.

\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\...

AppData folder is not immediately accessible. It is hidden. I do have a viewer to get there but I cannot do it at this point. It is a part of my C# application which has noit been released yet. It has a debug exec. Currently I am installing VS2005 and after I am done I can use that for this purpose, however even if I find the folder the issuse of opening the file will have to be resolved (I assume I can do it). The next thing is how to transfer it to the new windows mail folder. If I simply copy the file in there--will it work? It has to be registered in mail DB file, hasn't it?

Thanks

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

One of the first things I do when setting up a new Windows system is
to make hidden folders visible, as well as making file extensions visible.
In Folder Options go to View, and you will see the pertinent options.

For a quick view, you can open .eml files in Notepad. They contain
only plain text.

On the destination system, simply create a new folder under Local Folders,
and drag or copy all the old .eml files there. On the next start, Windows Mail
will find and re-index those emails. It will probably stick them in a
'Restored' folder, from where you can move them anywhere you like
(from within Windows Mail).

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Take a look in
\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\...
Each email is in an individual file, with the filename ending in .eml.

Sorry for the previous post. There is another issue.

\windows.old\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders\...

AppData folder is not immediately accessible. It is hidden. I do have a viewer to get there but I cannot do it at this point. It
is a part of my C# application which has noit been released yet. It has a debug exec. Currently I am installing VS2005 and after I
am done I can use that for this purpose, however even if I find the folder the issuse of opening the file will have to be resolved
(I assume I can do it). The next thing is how to transfer it to the new windows mail folder. If I simply copy the file in
there--will it work? It has to be registered in mail DB file, hasn't it?

Thanks

 

[alexB]

One of the first things I do when setting up a new Windows system is
to make hidden folders visible, as well as making file extensions visible.
In Folder Options go to View, and you will see the pertinent options.

For a quick view, you can open .eml files in Notepad. They contain
only plain text.

On the destination system, simply create a new folder under Local Folders,
and drag or copy all the old .eml files there. On the next start, Windows
Mail
will find and re-index those emails. It will probably stick them in a
'Restored' folder, from where you can move them anywhere you like
(from within Windows Mail).

Gary, thank you very much.

 

[alexB]

Gary, many thanks again,

Could you give me the name of the file and folder where it is located for
the editor which opened the .eml files in the folder I finally reached. All
my emails are there intact.

And I do not mean notepad.exe, I mean the specific editor for Windows Mail
..eml files.

Thanks.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You're welcome.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

As far as I know, the editor is built into the main executable, WinMail.exe,
which resides in the Windows Mail folder under Program Files.

 

[AlexB]

Thanks again. I will find it tomorrow.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You're welcome.