I tried a system restore. Unfortunately, I'm told that the restore has failed because no changes have been made to the computer since the date in question. I've tried it with a couple of different dates.
I've gone through the Outlook Express folder time and again. Maybe there's some way of searching that I'm not familiar with, but I sure can't find them in the folder.
First of all, I ran the sfc /scannow command, as suggested, and came up with nothing. The program ran, then stopped, and nothing appeared to happen at all.
It turns out, after running a more thorough search on my computer, that the files are, in fact, still on the computer. They are tucked away in a hidden folder as dbx files. However, I cannot access them for some reason. I am 99% sure that that reason is that they've been corrupted by a virus that's on my computer. Has anyone out there been forced to shut down while on-line because of an error message that reads, "Generic Host Services for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to shut close." ? I've been having this problem for the past 10 days or so. Well, after conferring with someone from Dell over the phone, it's been confirmed that there's probably a virus. Which serves me right for letting McAfee expire, leaving me without my firewall, etc. I've already ordered a new McAfee package.
At any rate, I've learned that the program MailNavigator (www.mailnavigator.com) can help me retrieve these old mail files. This program is downloadable from the website. My question is this: does anyone out there know about MailNavigator? Can anyone vouch for this program? If I receive some good feedback from this community, I'll go ahead and download it. But I'm a bit more nervous than usual about downloading anything from the net than (for what are, I hope, obvious reasons).
If you know where the files are, you should be able to just import them back into OE. Try hitting File>Import>Messages. Navigate to where you found the hidden folder and see if that works before you try downloading anything.
If you read through the thread you can find an ALTERNATIVE solution suggested by Denny -- a different procedure than using the DBXtract software. I tried Denny's approach, and it partly solved my problem -- it restored one OE folder, but it didn't work for the rest of my folders (I have no idea why it only worked for the one). I was able to restore the rest of the folders by using DBXtract.
For your convenience, here is my explanation for how to use DBXtract:
I did some surfing/searching, and came up with a little FREE program called DBXtract that restores Outlook Express dbx files, and allows them to be put back into OE.
I just tried it, and it worked EXTREMELY well. Did I mention that it's FREE?
Here is a link to the program; it downloads in less than a minute using a dial-up modem:
The directions on the above page with the download link are pretty clear. Once you download (to your desktop) and open the file, the very simple interface has three sections: ACTION, INPUT, and OUTPUT.
Leave the default settings in the ACTION section unchanged (at least, that worked for me).
Next, in the INPUT section, key in the path to the dbx file you want to convert (i.e., c:/documents and settings/... etc.).
Next, create a NEW folder on your desktop as a destination/output folder for the recovered files. Key in the path to that NEW folder in the OUTPUT section. Then click on the EXTRACT button.
After a minute or two, depending on how big the dbx file is, the program finishes, and you can open the NEW Output folder you created. If you click on one of the recovered files, it will open exactly like an OE email, complete with all header information.
Now, here's the best part.
Create a new folder in Outlook Express where you want to put the recovered files, and double-click on it to open it.
Now you can highlight one or more (or all) the files in the recovered Output folder, and CLICK and DRAG them into the new folder in OE. Ordinarily, it's difficult or impossible to click and drag anything into OE -- but in this case it works. Like a charm. I just recovered about 250 emails -- good as new. The recovery process created some blank emails (easily deleted), and a few broken-up emails, but the recovery appears to be about 98%-99% complete.
Amazing.
No promises, but DBXtract worked great for me in solving a very pesky OE data transfer issue.
alevasseur14
2 Intern
•
593 Posts
0
February 25th, 2004 18:00
3shells
5 Posts
0
February 25th, 2004 19:00
I tried a system restore. Unfortunately, I'm told that the restore has failed because no changes have been made to the computer since the date in question. I've tried it with a couple of different dates.
Nick
alevasseur14
2 Intern
•
593 Posts
0
February 25th, 2004 20:00
Did you try looking in the Outlook Express folder where you messages are saved? Perhaps they are still there somehow?
3shells
5 Posts
0
February 26th, 2004 06:00
maxd
2 Intern
•
2.4K Posts
0
February 26th, 2004 16:00
sfc /scannow (note space before the "/")
Then try to create a SR point.
You may want to save your email and addresses and repair/reinstall Outlook Express before it does this again.
3shells
5 Posts
0
February 26th, 2004 20:00
Lots of news:
First of all, I ran the sfc /scannow command, as suggested, and came up with nothing. The program ran, then stopped, and nothing appeared to happen at all.
It turns out, after running a more thorough search on my computer, that the files are, in fact, still on the computer. They are tucked away in a hidden folder as dbx files. However, I cannot access them for some reason. I am 99% sure that that reason is that they've been corrupted by a virus that's on my computer. Has anyone out there been forced to shut down while on-line because of an error message that reads, "Generic Host Services for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to shut close." ? I've been having this problem for the past 10 days or so. Well, after conferring with someone from Dell over the phone, it's been confirmed that there's probably a virus. Which serves me right for letting McAfee expire, leaving me without my firewall, etc. I've already ordered a new McAfee package.
At any rate, I've learned that the program MailNavigator (www.mailnavigator.com) can help me retrieve these old mail files. This program is downloadable from the website. My question is this: does anyone out there know about MailNavigator? Can anyone vouch for this program? If I receive some good feedback from this community, I'll go ahead and download it. But I'm a bit more nervous than usual about downloading anything from the net than (for what are, I hope, obvious reasons).
Nick
alevasseur14
2 Intern
•
593 Posts
0
February 26th, 2004 21:00
3shells
5 Posts
0
February 27th, 2004 05:00
JohnHarold
12 Posts
0
February 28th, 2004 00:00
I had a similar problem, and I had a devil of a time solving it, until I came across a little free program called DBXtract.
I am not a computer tech, and have no interest in promoting this software, but it worked for me.
I described how it works on another thread in this forum. Here is a link to the thread:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&message.id=106029
If you read through the thread you can find an ALTERNATIVE solution suggested by Denny -- a different procedure than using the DBXtract software. I tried Denny's approach, and it partly solved my problem -- it restored one OE folder, but it didn't work for the rest of my folders (I have no idea why it only worked for the one). I was able to restore the rest of the folders by using DBXtract.
For your convenience, here is my explanation for how to use DBXtract:
I did some surfing/searching, and came up with a little FREE program called DBXtract that restores Outlook Express dbx files, and allows them to be put back into OE.
I just tried it, and it worked EXTREMELY well. Did I mention that it's FREE?
Here is a link to the program; it downloads in less than a minute using a dial-up modem:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx
The directions on the above page with the download link are pretty clear. Once you download (to your desktop) and open the file, the very simple interface has three sections: ACTION, INPUT, and OUTPUT.
Leave the default settings in the ACTION section unchanged (at least, that worked for me).
Next, in the INPUT section, key in the path to the dbx file you want to convert (i.e., c:/documents and settings/... etc.).
Next, create a NEW folder on your desktop as a destination/output folder for the recovered files. Key in the path to that NEW folder in the OUTPUT section. Then click on the EXTRACT button.
After a minute or two, depending on how big the dbx file is, the program finishes, and you can open the NEW Output folder you created. If you click on one of the recovered files, it will open exactly like an OE email, complete with all header information.
Now, here's the best part.
Create a new folder in Outlook Express where you want to put the recovered files, and double-click on it to open it.
Now you can highlight one or more (or all) the files in the recovered Output folder, and CLICK and DRAG them into the new folder in OE. Ordinarily, it's difficult or impossible to click and drag anything into OE -- but in this case it works. Like a charm. I just recovered about 250 emails -- good as new. The recovery process created some blank emails (easily deleted), and a few broken-up emails, but the recovery appears to be about 98%-99% complete.
Amazing.
No promises, but DBXtract worked great for me in solving a very pesky OE data transfer issue.