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Export Windows Live Mail to Thunderbird from old hard drive

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė sfhowes

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My problem is as follows.

1. My old Windows 7 desktop died; however my technician was able to retrieve the hard drive and place it inside an external hard drive enclosure. (No data was lost.)

2. I now have a brand new Windows 10 Desktop with a new hard drive.

3. I want to transfer my Windows Live Mail (WLM) emails from the old hard drive to Thunderbird on Windows 10.

4. This is a problem because Windows Live Mail is no longer supported and cannot be installed on Windows 10 to assist with importing/exporting email messages.

5. How do I go about importing the WLM storage files to Thunderbird on my new Win10 desktop from my old Win7 hard drive in the circumstances?

Apparently Microsoft never considered this contingency as they seem to have no solution handy. :-/

My problem is as follows. 1. My old Windows 7 desktop died; however my technician was able to retrieve the hard drive and place it inside an external hard drive enclosure. (No data was lost.) 2. I now have a brand new Windows 10 Desktop with a new hard drive. 3. I want to transfer my Windows Live Mail (WLM) emails from the old hard drive to Thunderbird on Windows 10. 4. This is a problem because Windows Live Mail is no longer supported and cannot be installed on Windows 10 to assist with importing/exporting email messages. 5. How do I go about importing the WLM storage files to Thunderbird on my new Win10 desktop from my old Win7 hard drive in the circumstances? Apparently Microsoft never considered this contingency as they seem to have no solution handy. :-/

Chosen solution

The first link deals with Apple Mail because you accessed the page from a mac. Try this link:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird#thunderbird:win10:tb68

You don't need access to the WLM program, as the article explains that the messages in eml format are located in this folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

You're free to follow MS tech advice, or follow the (corrected) link to the WLM installer that works fine here in W10:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/Windows-Live-Mail.shtml

Skaityti atsakymą kartu su kontekstu 👍 1

All Replies (3)

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This article explains how to transfer mail and contacts from WLM to TB:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird

If you're using TB 60, you can use the ImportExportTools add-on mentioned in the article. For TB 68 (or 60), use ImportExportTools NG.

How to install add-ons.

To point 4., WLM installs and runs here on W10.

Modified by sfhowes

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Unfortunately, your first link appears to deal with importing Apple Mail and webmails, not the MS Windows Live Mail client.

The other links about Import Add-Ons seem to assume that you still have access to the Windows Live Mail client. (I don't.)

The advice I have from Microsoft tech support is that the Windows Live Mail Client is discontinued and is no longer offered as a download, meaning I can't install it on my new Win10 desktop.

So... I believe I will either need specialised instructions on how to manually retrieve the WLM email storage folders that are buried in my old hard drive. Or else a suggestion for some third-party software that will do this for me.

Modified by Mr Calvus

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Chosen Solution

The first link deals with Apple Mail because you accessed the page from a mac. Try this link:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switching-thunderbird#thunderbird:win10:tb68

You don't need access to the WLM program, as the article explains that the messages in eml format are located in this folder:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

You're free to follow MS tech advice, or follow the (corrected) link to the WLM installer that works fine here in W10:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/Windows-Live-Mail.shtml