Eudora doesn't run as before even though used same procedure as before

asqueue · 24 Aug 2017

Here's the relative information from before:

https://www.sevenforums.com/browsers...ml#post3334163

"Windows 7 Professional. I have been using Eudora for more than 10 years. Downloaded a new Eudora installation (7.1.0.9) after my computer got reimaged. I was able to copy and access all of the 10 years worth of data and email messages I had accumulated over those 10 years. I specified Eudora as the default mail program and everything works fine ..."

What I had done before was save the relevant directories (C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora and C:\data\email) to backup, install a new C:\ drive, and copy the two directories to the new C:\ drive. C:\data is where all of the messages from the last nearly 20 years were. That directory is pointed to by this line in C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora\deudora.ini:

DataFolder=C:\data\email

Well, that worked on more than one occasion before, but not most recently. I copied the two directories and then double-clicked on C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora\Eudora.exe. Previously this process opened Eudora with all my mailboxes in the left vertical pane and all the messages in the Inbox in the main pain. This time I got a virgin installation of Eudora, with nothing but the <Dominant> persona in the left pane and my mail account (it seems to have picked that up from C:\data\eudora.ini, and that means that the program must also have read C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora\deudora.ini. But nothing else. I kept getting error messages. In Eudora's error message field I see: "<Dominant>, Logging into POP Server, CAPA [09:32:45 PM] // SSL Negotiation Failed: Unknown Error Certificate bad: Destination Host Name does not match host name in certificate. But ignoring this error because Certificate is trusted. The connection with the server has been lost. Cause [200]." In the main pane (where messages normally go) I keep seeing an alert: "Server SSL Certificate Rejected. The server's SSL certificate was rejected for the following reason: Unknown Error. Do you want to trust this certificate in future sessions?" At the bottom of the alert are Yes and No. I selected Yes several times, which probably explains the "Certificate is trusted" notation from the error field. In the middle of the alert is a bunch of fields containing mostly hexadecimal data probably not meant for human beings. When I dismiss one of these alerts, another pops up.

Since that didn't worked, I uninstalled Eudora and downloaded a new installation from secursoft at https://eudora.secursoft.net/download?utm_source=bing. I tried replacing the new C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora\deudora.ini as before, and that didn't work. So I uninstalled Eudora and again downloaded a new installation. This time I went Eudora's Tools>Options and filled out everything by hand. The results were the same, that is, it didn't work, and I kept seeing those error messages and alerts.

Anyway, does anyone have any idea how to make Eudora work the way it used to? Failing that, I've heard that Thunderbird is a possible replacement. Can anyone point me to how to migrate Eudora messages and pertinent data to a new Thunderbird installation?

Anak · 25 Aug 2017

Hi asqueue, apologies that your original post back in May wasn't answered.

Some things come to mind:

When you use win7, what is the status of your user account; Standard user or the general Administrator? You may not have the proper permissions to allow Eudora to run properly, use the admin account if you're not already.

Uninstall Eudora then reinstall it directly on the C:\ drive, not in Program Files (x86). When the Eudora installer asks you where to install, change the C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora to just C:\Eudora, this should also give Eudora higher permission rights.

You don't list what browser you like to use and Eudora is supposed to work well when using internet explorer, but if you're using firefox or chrome make sure they're set as the default browser, if you're using IE it wouldn't hurt to make sure and set it as the default.

Being that Eudora is at least 7years old and is not being supported anymore you may well be better off moving to Thunderbird: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

Migrating Eudora to Thunderbird: bing search
Migrating Eudora to Thunderbird: google search

asqueue · 25 Aug 2017

Thanks, Anak.

My account is Default and it is specified as Administrator. That's what I've always used.

I will try your other two suggestions and report back. If nothing works, I will certainly look at those Thunderbird links you provided.

Anak · 25 Aug 2017

Okay on the user account, sure, take your time.

asqueue · 25 Aug 2017

Well, thanks. Reinstalling did not work. It still doesn't just start up with my specifications in place. It walks me through a setup process and then objects to what I enter. Immediately I see an alert (generated by Eudora?), labeled "Email": "There is no email program associated to perform the requested action. Please install an email program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel." What does that mean and how do I make such a specification. In Control Panel's Default Programs dialog, I set Chrome as the default browser. It also offers Paint, Windows Contacts, Windows Disc Image Burner, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Windows Phot Viewer, Windows Search Explorer, and WordPad, but no mail programs.

I think I better try Thunderbird. Well, I did, and what I find is that to migrate my data I need to run Eudora and export its address book. But I can't run Eudora!

Anak · 25 Aug 2017

To answer this question:

Please install an email program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel." What does that mean and how do I make such a specification.

See this tutorial: Default Programs - Associate a File Type or Protocol and also look at the second and fourth tutorials listed under Related tutorials at the bottom.

Sometimes you can get an older version of a program to run, if you want to try that there's older versions of Eudora here, you can try them all if you like, but I'd stick with the 6.x.x versions, if you try the beta versions stay with the higher beta version i.e. v8.0.0 beta 9 but that might not work because I just noticed the problem with the SSL certificates. Makes me think there's something wrong with the securesoft file. Try D/L'ing the older's version of 7.1.0.9 and install that.

Have you tried installing in Compatibility Mode ?

You mentioned you have copies of eudora's files, here's a way to import eudora files using rescue or mailbox cleaner .

asqueue · 26 Aug 2017

I didn't solve the problem of installing a new version of Eudora, but my problems ended up being moot. I got a new computer and installed the original C: drive. Eudora was there and it loaded just fine. So I'll just live with the present (and working) Eudora. If I have this problem again, I will come back here and open a new case. For now, I will mark the thread solved.

In the meantime, thanks Anak.

Anak · 27 Aug 2017

You're welcome asqueue.

I'm happy to hear that your problem resolved itself even though you went to the expense of purchasing a new computer; But maybe it was time to get a new one, with win10 as the operating system (OS)? There are users that are running Eudora on win10 and it runs well.

Your case like many others where old programs that once worked but now don't continues to solidify my belief that over time the many changes that occur to an OS degrade the performance of these older programs. Many try to keep up but even the good ones eventually fail mainly because they don't know the OS source code.
As a last resort a clean install is usually the "fix" for these situations, but that is more mentally and labor intensive in returning to normalcy than getting a new machine. There's no harm in going new.

If you start to have similar problems with Eudora on the new machine and it does have win10 installed you should start a new thread over on our sister forum: https://www.tenforums.com/ You could put a reference link to this thread as history / background. Even if it's with win7 you could point to this thread as history or remove the solved mark and continue.

One more item. Now that Eudora is working on the new machine don't forget to make several full backups / images / clones of the new system with a working Eudora especially before any major updates or additions, that way you'll only have to go back a month to straighten things out, you'll be glad you did if anything goes south with the new system.

asqueue · 30 Aug 2017

Anak said:

One more item. Now that Eudora is working on the new machine don't forget to make several full backups / images / clones of the new system with a working Eudora especially before any major updates or additions, that way you'll only have to go back a month to straighten things out, you'll be glad you did if anything goes south with the new system.

How do I do that (make a full backup such that I can recover Eudora if my system ever goes south again)?

Anak · 30 Aug 2017

Macrium is the imaging program most used here on 7F: Imaging with free Macrium

There's also: Best Free Drive Cloning Software
You might like Aomei on this list as it will do the 100mb system reserve partition with a prompt from the program, and that's important because the boot files are in there, with the others you have to make a separate disk or make sure it's included in the image.