Manual recovery of Outlook Express 5 files

[BP]

I have a Windows 98 PC that will not boot into Windows, only goes to the
command prompt. How do I recover all of the Outlook Express Identities and
emails from this machine? All of the Microsoft help shows backup from the GUI
menus.

[BP]

I forgot to mention I am going to try and reinstall Win98 over the current
windows to fix.

[Michael Santovec]

For some reference see:
Backing Up, Recovering and Restoring Outlook Express versions 5 & 6
Files and Settings
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm

Your messages are going to be in *.DBX files. Your address book in a
*.WAB. Those are the files that you want to save.

Your account settings, messages rules, etc. are in the registry. You
can use this command

regedit /e REGSAVE.TXT

to export the registry to a text file.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D36BF60F-753F-47B5...@microsoft.com...

[Gary S. Terhune]

Seeing as you can't boot to Windows, and seeing as you can't write to a CD
in DOS, and seeing as the DBX files that contain your messages are likely to
be larger than can be stored on a floppy, you'll need another HD to back up
the files. In fact, my recommendation would be to install a new drive and
install Windows to that, then retrieve all your personal files from the old
drive.

However, in answer to your question, here's how you collect your DBX files
(the files that contain the messages). We'll assume that you have another HD
installed and that it's seen as D:\:

At the C:\ prompt:

cd c:\windows\applic~1\identi~1
dir

Depending on how many Identities you have, that number of folders will be
displayed by the DIR command. Each one has a bracketed, long set of digits
for a name. Write them down, then create a folder on the new HD (D:\) for
each Identity using the MD command:

d:
md OEBACK
cd d:\oeback
md folder1
md folder2

Etcetera, until you have sufficient backup folders for each Identity. Now go
back to the Identities folder and copy the files over. Again, each Identity
has a long number for a folder name:

cd c:\windows\applic~1\identi~1
cd [identity folder 1]
cd micros~1
cd outloo~1
copy *.* d:\backup\folder1

Repeat for each Identity. As for the Identities themselves, they're located
in the Registry. In DOS, you use REGEDIT to export key(s) as necessary, but
I forget exactly which keys need to be exported. Maybe someone else will
chime in with that info.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:D36BF60F-753F-47B5...@microsoft.com...

[BP]

I copied all of the identity folders off but could not get the regedit to
work. I have reinstalled windows 98 over the existing copy and got he PC to
boot correctly but with a vanilla desktop. I will try to open outlook express
tonight and see if it pulls the original information back. If not want to try
and reload a ghost copy I made when I first built my pc then try and pull the
identity files back into their folders. Do you think this will work?

Thanks for your help..

[Gary S. Terhune]

If you need to rebuild the Identities, if OE doesn't remember them, and the
messages are not already there, the simplest thing to do with the DBX files,
which I hope are what you recovered, is to Import them using
File>Import>Messages.

You *did* recover DBX files, correct?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:1D1F5307-E8CE-4C1A...@microsoft.com...

[BP]

Yes I have the latest dbx files. Ill try it tonight
Thanks

[PA Bear]

References:

Backup & Restore OE Data
http://www.insideoe.com/backup/index.htm
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx <=includes info on Windows Mail in Vista

Importing OE Data (all DBX files, including Folders.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importOE5

Importing a single DBX file
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx (last paragraph)

About OE Files & Settings
http://www.insideoe.com/files/index.htm

About OE Registry Keys
http://www.insideoe.com/files/regkeys.htm
--
OE-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlookexpress.general

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)

[BP]

Can I import the latest copy of my DBX over the old one that was there when I
setup outlook express? My ghost image had my files setup but i want to
replace with the new backups?

[Gary S. Terhune]

That will create duplicates. I'd create a backup of the ghosted stores, then
delete all messages and then Import the newest store.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:81E1E337-3B4B-4521...@microsoft.com...

[BP]

What/where do I "delete"? just the dbx files via file explorer or do i delete
from within OE

[Gary S. Terhune]

Delete the messages in OE. You can leave the folders. There are other ways
to do this whole thing, but this is my preferred method.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:B79B1784-13C4-4E6F...@microsoft.com...

[BP]

Looks like it worked except I do not see any emails in my inbox for my
different identities which I thought there were a few, but I can deal with
that. All of the sub folders have emails from 4/30 in them so they are the
new ones and look correct.

Thanks for your help I learned alot. especially backup OE!

[Gary S. Terhune]

Don't know what to tell you about the Inbox. Glad you got the rest sorted
out.

FYI, I think what you refer to as "identities" are what OE refers to as
"accounts". Each one for a separate email address. "Identities" refers to
separate users of OE, each with their own set of folders, including Inbox,
each with a separate DBX store folder. If you recovered DBX files from only
one folder, then you have/had only one Identity.

Does that sound right to you? Did you recover files from only one folder
with a long folder name consisting of a long string of digits?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"BP" <B...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:823554AA-27C1-4A04...@microsoft.com...

[dynfes...@gmail.com]

Apply outlook express recovery from OE-Mail Recovery item

Find more about this article at http://www.oemailrecovery.com/outlook-express-recovery.html