Reclaiming Live Mail contact from dead laptop hard drive

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Ozwalt

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Here's a tough one. I recently killed my windows 7 laptop (I don't want to talk about it). I pulled the hard drive and set it up as an external drive, so I can see all the files through my new windows 8 laptop. I downloaded and installed windows live mail 2012 on the new laptop, tracked down all my email files and manually transferred them over -- that worked like a charm. Transferring the contacts is not so easy, though.

The contact file appears to be "contacts.edb," but it's a hidden file. Even when I check the appropriate box to show hidden files, it still won't show. And if I search for the file, it doesn't show. BUT, if I search for the folder "DBStore" then the file "dbstore.ini" shows up, and when I select "open file location" the hidden files are visible in that folder, including "contacts.edb." Still with me?

I can't open the old live mail program to export this file -- if anyone can tell me how to do that, it would solve the problem, I think. I CAN drag it into the appropriate folder on the new laptop, but windows live 2012 pretends like it's not there. I've downloaded 3 different format conversion programs to convert an edb file to pst or csv or whatever, but none of them have worked. So, the only other thing I can think of is trying to get live email 2012 to look directly at the old file in it's old spot on the old hard drive, but I don't know if that's possible. If it's possible, I can't figure it out.

So, whaddya think of that? Clear as mud? Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
The Contacts should be at
C:\Users\user.name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Contacts\Default\15.5\DBStore
Copy the folder "Contacts", and its contents, to the exact same location in you new installation (to Windows Live). Should do the trick.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
The initial problem is this: DBStore is hidden, and I can't unhide it. I select view and then select show hidden files, but then nothing. I can only actually see the files if I do a search for dbstore.ini and then select open file location, but then copying the file over apparently doesn't work for some reason.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
I do appreciate your help Dave, but it's still not cooperating. I've now got hidden items checked, full control set in permissions along with ownership. But when I open the folder, there's still nothing there. There's got to be something else going on here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
There are 2 ways to change the email location:
  1. Open Live Mail->File->Options->Mail->Advanced->Maintenance->Store Folder->Change
  2. From the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail and change the Store Root to point to the new location.

Close Live Mail if it is opened then re-open it then click on Contacts then export as .csv file.

Here's the screen shot:
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
See if that works for you. But I am thinking that perhaps your contacts have been lost. If the above suggestion does not work, may I ask if you have a live login? Using that will normally return the data.

But. Hopefully you will now be successful. I keep a seaparte foler, off the OS partition, for my mail. Call it Mailbox _win_8 or what you will. In topgun's tip on the "Advanced" option, whenever I set up my OS, as a new installation, I point the live Mail program to this mailbox. It collects all previous info automatically - contacts in and out boxes etc.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Use several different computers during a day, so specs are irrelevant.
I don't see DBStore either if I only show hidden files. To make it appear you need to uncheck "hide protected operating system files" on control panel/folder options/view as well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro Prieview x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    MacBook Pro Core2Duo
    CPU
    T7600
    Memory
    3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon X1600
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Internal
    Screen Resolution
    1440 x 800
    Hard Drives
    40GB
    Keyboard
    Apple
    Mouse
    Apple
    Internet Speed
    Varies
    Browser
    Various
    Antivirus
    Defender
where are my contacts & emails

Hi,
I am new to this forum stuff so here goes.
My old laptop crashed. Motherboard apparently.
I salvaged the hard drive & hooked it up as an external hard drive.
I now have windows 8 64 bit. I have tried to follow some of your earlier leads to find the contacts & emails but it didn't work.
Can someone help me find all of my old emails (work stuff) & contacts as well?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8 64 bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
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