Importing Mail Rules into WLM after Reinstall of Win7

minka · 15 May 2012

I have been searching and searching for this for hours and I just cannot seem to find the answer!

I recently had to reformat my hard drive. Before doing so, I exported all of the registry mail rules and saved them on a flashdrive. Now, after reinstalling Windows and WLM, I am trying to figure out how to get the rules imported/reinstated without having to recreate them all again.

I merged them; i.e. clicked on the registry files I exported and saved prior to the reformat, and they are now in the registry themselves, but what else am I supposed to be doing because when I open WLM, there are no rules.

Am I very wrongly

assuming that that's what would happen or does merging the registry files do something different?

Thank you soooo much!

Night Hawk · 15 May 2012

Since the Windows Live Mail is online your main account settings are determined there except the WLM local install. The best move prior to any drive wipe and clean install is to use the Windows Easy Transfer tool to make a backup of all user files and settings for all the programs that were on.

Once the fresh copy and all programs are back on you simply restore the backup and see the settings as well as user files the way they had been. As far as merging any registry backups from a previous install the best move is to first create a fresh System Restore point just in case that doesn't go well for you.

wanchoo · 16 May 2012

I don't know what you can do now with the .reg files that you had exported but I know what you can do so that the situation does not repeat again in the future.

Just go to Mail Options and open the Advanced Tab. Then click on the Maintenance Button. In the Maintenance Property Sheet click on the Store Folder Button and change its location to preferably an external drive or at least to another partition in the same hard disk.

Once this is done after any further reformat or restoration of an earlier image, go back to the changed location and you shall get everything back.

Night Hawk · 16 May 2012

About.com has a guide for restoring any reg backup you made to look over at How to Import or Restore Windows Live Mail or Outlook Express Mail Rules

By the method seen there you have to follow several steps.

minka · 16 May 2012

Thanks! I actually followed the About.com instructions to create the .reg files and did what it stated to restore the rules into WLM; i.e. double-click on "Mail Rules.reg" in Windows Explorer; click Yes; and click OK. However, once I did this, I can, in fact, see the files in the registry but nothing is showing up in the actual program. No rules are showing and all my mail that is saved on the server gets re-downloaded but remains in the Inbox.

The instructions listed for getting the rules from Outlook to WLM I have actually used when I first switched from Win XP to Win 7 and it worked! (I was quite proud of myself! LOL) It's just tripping me up now trying to "go from" Win 7 to Win 7 after a reformat.

So, I admit I'm still a bit lost.

Night Hawk · 16 May 2012

If you are still seeing the same mail downloaded from the mail server the first thing to do is log into the account while at the Live site there to clear out the inbox. You can move any mail you want to keep into drafts or creete a new folder online.

Once that is seen to there the only thing you will see from then on being downloaded would be any new mail that comes in afterwards. Simply sign in at https://login.live.com to access your account directly.

After a fresh install of 7 on previous occasions I would simply login online first and then reinstall the WLM locally for Live Mail and any other accounts I want to see mail imported from. As for the about.com guide there this would be the method to use from now on since it seems to work out for you.

Unfortunately since this is being done afterwards you will now likely have to start over fresh as far as setting up the rules again until you can see a fresh backup made.