📎 AI Summary: The thread discusses how to back up and transfer Windows Live Mail (WLM) 2012 emails and settings when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The original poster seeks guidance on how to safely backup their multiple email accounts to a second drive and later restore them after reinstalling WLM on Windows 10. Respondents advise locating WLM data files in the user's AppData folder and note that reconfiguration of email accounts may be necessary due to compatibility issues, with some emphasizing that the migration process can be complex, especially for large numbers of accounts. Overall, the conversation reflects helpful technical guidance and acknowledges the complexity of transferring large email configurations between Windows versions.
I did the upgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10 Pro. Privacy concerns aside, I like Windows 10. I haven't had any problems with software and hardware compatibility. I use 27 different email accounts within WLM 2012, for a variety of reasons. Many of these email accounts have additional folders that I have added. The accounts consist of sbcglobal, live, msn, outlook and windowslive.
I'm using a Dell XPS-17 L702X laptop with two 500GB internal drives. I will place the WLM 2012 backup on my second internal drive, Drive D. I need to know exactly how to backup WLM to this second drive so that I don't lose any saved emails in the various accounts. I will then import everything from this backup to the clean installation of Windows 10. Is this possible, or will I have to install WLM 2012 on Windows 10 and then add and configure each email account?
Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance provided.
I've been a WLM user for several years now and have spent some time on WX with it and the new native WX Mail. I currently only use 2 Email accounts with my WLM 2011, and have 4 Email accounts on my WLM 2012 on WX. But, things should work the same with more accounts from what I've seen. WLM is a much more stable app than Outlook.
Also, thanks very much for posting your hardware specs--so often we are left to guess! Nice job. 😉
You simply need to go into your Windows File Explorer in WX (or Windows Explorer in earlier versions), and look for this path: LocalDisk C:\Users\%Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail **This is the magic jelly bean you need to backup all your WLM...
I've been a WLM user for several years now and have spent some time on WX with it and the new native WX Mail. I currently only use 2 Email accounts with my WLM 2011, and have 4 Email accounts on my WLM 2012 on WX. But, things should work the same with more accounts from what I've seen. WLM is a much more stable app than Outlook.
Also, thanks very much for posting your hardware specs--so often we are left to guess! Nice job. 😉
You simply need to go into your Windows File Explorer in WX (or Windows Explorer in earlier versions), and look for this path: LocalDisk C:\Users\%Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail **This is the magic jelly bean you need to backup all your WLM accounts, folders and files! I usually charge big $$ to tell people this. You can find yourself if you don't mind spending a few hundred hours scouring the web.🙂
I've also attached a screenshot here for you of what it looks like on my Vista PC with WLM 2011. From what I can tell, it has the same location on WX.
Microsoft Defender: No threats detectedScan details
On your last item, yes, you'll have to completely reinstall your WLM 2012 from what I've seen on Win7-->WX upgrades. Haven't done the Win8/8.1-->WX upgrade yet, but I expect it to be the same. One thing you may not know or not have noticed, if you are running Win7/8/8.1 and perform the upgrade to WX, Microsoft DELETESwhichever version of WLM you happen to be running on that computer (WLM2008-WLM2012), and converts all your E-mail accounts/files/folders into WX native Mail app. 😵 However, this conversion will not work very well. Especially if you have POP3 or IMAP4 webmail accounts from ISPs such as sbcglobal (or Cox, Charter, Verizon, AT&T, etc.). You'll have to go into manual server settings on each and every E-mail accounts and visit their tech support pages and find the right INCOMING & OUTGOING and security/encryption and port number settings for each E-mail account. This is a huge pain; especially with your number of E-mail accounts. 🙁 I would try 2 or 3 and just see how it goes. It took me days to get my 4 E-mail accounts working on my WX laptop. And I've been an E-mail administrator for probably 6 different companies.
One other thing you should be aware of...and this is important. None of the major ISPs (see partial list I've tested above), currently support IMAP/IMAP4 webmail clients with any versions of WLM. This also happens to be true of Outlook's recent versions, with the exceptions of Outlook clients running under local Exchange E-mail servers or Exchange Active-Sync webmail servers (and that is still quite spotty!). This may be a HUGE timesaver for you, as I've been working on this for 5 years with Verizon, my local ISP, and they keep promising to fix it but they never do!! If you're not locked into IMAP/IMAP4, on any of your ISP webmail accounts, I suggest you give that thought up right now!!
So, unfortunately, I think you'll have to reinstall all the settings for all 27 of your E-mail accounts on your WLM reinstall on WX. I don't know if I stated that properly above or not, as I tend to get into "techno-babble" all too easily.
Let me know if you run into any difficulties with the rebuild/import.
The thread discusses how to back up and transfer Windows Live Mail (WLM) 2012 emails and settings when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The original poster seeks guidance on how to safely backup their multiple email accounts to a second drive and later restore them after reinstalling WLM on Windows 10. Respondents advise locating WLM data files in the user's AppData folder and note that reconfiguration of email accounts may be necessary due to compatibility issues, with some emphasizing that the migration process can be complex, especially for large numbers of accounts. Overall, the conversation reflects helpful technical guidance and acknowledges the complexity of transferring large email configurations between Windows versions.
