Restoring Windows Mail

[Guest]

Due to some problems I was having, I decided to reinstall Vista as a clean
install after backing up my drives. I will be restoring my documents, music,
pictures, etc., but not most of my C drive, since I assume that I'll have to
reinstall most of the programs anyway for them to be usable. I do, however,
want to restore my Windows Mail, including accounts settings, mailboxes I've
created, message rules, and saved emails. Can anyone let me know what to
restore from my C drive that will restore Windows mail to its original
condition? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your answer. The site leaves me a bit confused, however. It
talks about exporting Windows Mail files, but I didn't do that, I did a full
backup of my C drive. I guess what I want to know is where to find the files
to restore in my backup. I would like to bring back accounts, contacts,
message rules, email, signatures, etc. Can you just point me to the folders
and files to restore, or to some information on restoring from a full backup?

 

[Guest]

Shawn,

I forgot to add that I have done a clean reinstall of Vista, so can
overwrite the current (unused) version of Windows Mail on that computer. I
would like to just copy the entire Mail program, with everything in it, over
the currently installed new version.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

No need to replace the program files, just replace the data folder:

C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail

However, this does not restore anything that was stored in the registry.

 

[Guest]

I restored all the data in the backup set from
C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail to it's original
location. It looked like all the data would be in there, but Windows mail
would not start after that, and I got a messages saying that it could not be
started and "The application was unable to open Windows Mail message store".
It went on to say that it was being used by another program, but there is no
other program running that should be doing that. I haven't yet restored my
antivirus software. It gives a number (0x800C0155), but I don't know if
that's an error code or just a message number. Any further suggestion?
--
Larry S

No need to replace the program files, just replace the data folder:

C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail

However, this does not restore anything that was stored in the registry.

 

[Guest]

I also got a message saying that "Windows Mail could not be started because
MSOE.DLL could not be initialized. Does this provide useful information to
help solve this?
--
Larry S

No need to replace the program files, just replace the data folder:

C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail

However, this does not restore anything that was stored in the registry.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

The problem is that the backup method you used is not an approved
backup method. I gave you the location of the data folder, but there is
no guarantee that this method of restoration doesn't cause conflicts
with data values stored in the registry.

What you might try (no guarantees) is to delete the entire data folder,
which then causes Windows Mail to reset itself the next time it is started.
Then you can try the 'Import' function to see if it will import messages
from the old data store.

There is a backup procedure given here:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/62560-windows-mail-problems.html
Read the section labeled "How to Reset Windows Mail."
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

I restored all the data in the backup set from
C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail to it's original
location. It looked like all the data would be in there, but Windows mail
would not start after that, and I got a messages saying that it could not be
started and "The application was unable to open Windows Mail message store".
It went on to say that it was being used by another program, but there is no
other program running that should be doing that. I haven't yet restored my
antivirus software. It gives a number (0x800C0155), but I don't know if
that's an error code or just a message number. Any further suggestion?
--
Larry S

No need to replace the program files, just replace the data folder:

C:\Users|username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail

However, this does not restore anything that was stored in the registry.
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Shawn,

I forgot to add that I have done a clean reinstall of Vista, so can
overwrite the current (unused) version of Windows Mail on that computer. I
would like to just copy the entire Mail program, with everything in it, over
the currently installed new version.
--
Larry S


:


Larry S.;489117 Wrote:
Due to some problems I was having, I decided to reinstall Vista as a
clean
install after backing up my drives. I will be restoring my documents,
music,
pictures, etc., but not most of my C drive, since I assume that I'll
have to
reinstall most of the programs anyway for them to be usable. I do,
however,
want to restore my Windows Mail, including accounts settings, mailboxes
I've
created, message rules, and saved emails. Can anyone let me know what
to
restore from my C drive that will restore Windows mail to its original
condition? Thanks.
--
Larry S

Hi Larry,

Take a look at step 6 in the "How to Reset Windows Mail" section in
this tutorial. You can copy the contents from your backup drive from
this location to the same location on the drive you want to restore. It
should restore everything that was there when you made the backup.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/62560-windows-mail-problems.html

Shawn


--
brink

*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.*
WWW.VISTAX64.COM (\"HTTP://WWW.VISTAX64.COM\")
*Please post feedback to help others.*

 

[Guest]

Shawn,

I didn't delete anything, but just told restore to overwrite any files that
are there. I would think that the files would all have the same name, and so
be opened by default the next time Mail opens. I wonder if it has something
to do with Vista's "permissions", something I keep running into problems
with. It kind of looks like Vista was just made a lot more complicated than
it needs to be, especially around security! By the way, if it makes any
difference, I'm using Novastor backup to restore.

I didn't change any defaults in Mail, so it should be looking for the same
files in the same locations.

 

[Guest]

I seem to have fixed most of the problem by accident. After installing
several programs, and downloading an update to Windows, I was unable to get
into Windows at all. I finally had to use the CD to repair the system.
However, this seemed to enable Windows Mail to work. My email boxes, saved
emails, and accounts all appear, but not the message rules or signatures.
Since I use a number of email accounts and boxes, have these imported would
be helpful. Do you know if there any file to restore, or is this information
kept in the registry?

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

I seem to have fixed most of the problem by accident. After installing
several programs, and downloading an update to Windows, I was unable to
get
into Windows at all. I finally had to use the CD to repair the system.
However, this seemed to enable Windows Mail to work. My email boxes,
saved
emails, and accounts all appear, but not the message rules or signatures.
Since I use a number of email accounts and boxes, have these imported
would
be helpful. Do you know if there any file to restore, or is this
information
kept in the registry?

Only if you exported the accounts as IAF files. The data for the accounts
was in the old Registry.