How to use v3 account in v4?

[bendedknee]

I upgraded to version 4.0.4 and the process reported that accounts had successfully migrated but none of them are there.

There are too many accounts to have to build one-by-one. I have backups but replacing ini files makes no difference.

How do I re-include all my old mail accounts into v4 from v3 backups?

[spc3rd]

Hi bendedknee and welcome to the PP Forums!

Sorry to hear of the problem you're reporting. Please have a look at the topics shown HERE and HERE. Specifically, reviewing Jeff's responses.

Do post back and let me know if the info provided in either of the topics was of any help in resolving the issue you're having.

Best regards,

[bendedknee]

Thank you so much for the quick reply.

What you are suggesting is exactly the same as I had already been trying. Still, I tried again following the steps outlined in the 2 posts you gave me.

It seems that the new install created a new roaming/pop peeper-v3 folder which contained the old ini. I used that ini and then tried 3 different backup versions even one from 2013. I tried overwriting and also deleting the file before trying the new/old ini/s.

None of those attempts made any difference at all and I made sure that the path to the ini is the one showing in Storage as outlined by Jeff.

For some reason PP is finding my mail accounts somewhere (updated below- I was writing this as I went along) else other than in that ini {I'm on win7 and there's no ini in the Program folder]. I guess this, based on this logic: I've now set up one account in the v4 program and it doesn't show in the ini file. I can delete the ini file from the path reported in Storage but when I restart v4 my new account is still showing there even though there is no ini file in the Roaming/POP Peeper folder.

It does see the old addrbook.csx that I put there from a backup but not the ini.

BREAKTHROUGH:
I've found the ini file that was being used by the previous version. It was in a long ago portable folder I had set up and it has today's date. Great.

But when I copy it to the path as shown in Storage, PP is still not seeing it.

So the question is now... where do I find where PP has put its new ini file [with the new account I just set up}? Better yet, how can I get PP to use the ini where it says it looks for it?

[bendedknee]

I've now also tried resetting default applications data via Storage. I can delete the Data Path but although I am able to select the Ini location, it will not delete.

In any case, I could not get it to reset so that PP will access the ini that is at the reported location.

[spc3rd]

Thank you for the detailed updates, bendedknee!

At this point, I have contacted Jeff and asked him to review your post here, as things can get a bit dicey when dealing with .ini file location(s), etc.

As you may have noticed, we've been rather flooded with support requests lately. It may take a little longer than normal for Jeff to reply to you, but rest-assured...he will!

Hang in there...we'll get you up and running!

Best regards,

[bendedknee]

No worries. The service is fantastic so I am not complaining at all. BTW I love Pop Peeper too.

[mjs]

It can sometimes be difficult finding AppData when navigating Windows Explorer in the usual manner.

You could try this:

STEP 1: Click Start, and type the following: %AppData%, Press ENTER. (more specifically, when you click "Start" far bottom left of your screen (in task bar) your cursor will be where it says "Search programs and file" this is where you type %AppData%)

This should take you to the Application Data folder. If it doesn't, what error do you get?

If it does you'll likely see the path: Local Disk: C > Users > user > AppData > Roaming, at the top in your file path bar of your Windows Explorer interface.

STEP 2: Double/Click on the Pop Peeper folder in that list (to open it).

You should see in that Windows Explorer window the file "Poppeeper" (there will be a little "gear" superimposed on the file image to the left) and will have "configuration setting" in the "type" column.

If you RIGHT/CLICK on this file you should see a "created date" that is the same date that you installed PPv4.

Both of the file "attributes" should be unchecked (especially "read-only" should be unchecked).

If you did all this, what is the DATE on the "Poppeeper.ini" file that you found using this method?

In the event this is not the date you would expect to see for PPv4 (based on when you installed v4) you can continue with the following:

If you want to try and find OTHER Poppepper.ini files that may exist ONLY DO STEP 1 ABOVE. Then type in "Poppepper" in the search bar of the Windows Explorer window.

You may find more than one 'Poppepper" file in that list that defines the file "Type" as "configuration settings". Note the dates on these Poppepper.ini files to help determine the ".ini" file you might want to to be used (you could try renaming any other ".ini" files you would not want used, but do not delete file(s) just in case. BE SURE AND EXIT the POPPEPPER APPLICATION IF YOUR DOING THIS renaming of ".ini" files you don't want used by PP). If you try this see if this helps (btw, you rename files by right/clicking on the file and select "rename" keep most of the name the same i.e. append the word "old" to the file name for example).

[Jeff]

Additional info that may help:
POP Peeper first looks in the local folder for the poppeeper.ini file. You said that you had copied the ini file to the AppData folder, so if you didn't *move* (delete) the original ini file, POP Peeper is still finding it. Why PP would be suggesting it's using the AppData file under Options/Storage is unusual.

When you copy ini files, make sure that POP Peeper is not running. Otherwise, it may save and overwrite the ini file when you close it.

If you had installed PP in the "Program Files" folder and using a "portable" installation, this is likely the cause of the issue. In this case, you'll find various data files in the VirtualStore folder and I don't think that using search in Windows Explorer will find these files. Look for:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\POP Peeper
note that some folders in that structure will be hidden by default so you need to make sure that Explorer is showing hidden files/folders.

[mjs]

Having to do with the post above and in the event you need to show "hidden" folders but are not familiar with this, one easy way to do this is type "folder options" in the START search box (similar to STEP 1 I posted above but instead type in "folder options").

Click on either "folder options" or "change search option for files and folders" in the "control panel" section at the top of list. Then click on the "view" tab, click on "show hidden files and folders..." (under "hidden files and folder") to select this option then click OK.

[bendedknee]

Guys, you are wonderful and very thorough. I appreciate it very much.

Unfortunately, the process leaves me where I was yesterday. Although everything suggests that PP is looking for the ini that's in C:Users\Peter\AppData\Roamiong\POP Peeper, it is actually not doing that (by my logic). Because when I replace that ini with an old one that has all the missing accounts, it makes no difference. In other words, it is not using the ini that is in that location.

Here's what it shows when I follow the first lot of instructions, although I had to go into Properties to find them.


I get the exact same path as it showed me yesterday and although the "created" refers to date of the original back up file, Modified is the same date as the file date.

However, Pop Peeper is not using that ini file even though it (and the system) says it is. Let me show what is in that ini file (many email accounts) and you will see that when I open PP again, it is accessing an ini file that has only one account that is not in the ini at that location and which was only set up after v4 lost the other existing accounts that are now in the ini at that location.


So I am still where I was before. How can I get Pop Peeper to REALLY use the ini that is in that Roaming location? Or is it easier to clean up and start again?

If so, I see that v4 has created several new folders for each of the existing accounts even though it ignores them. Is it sufficient just to clean install v4 and then manually change the ini and bring in backups of the newly-created-by-v4 account folders?

v4-created-account-folders w redaction.png (17.99 KiB) Viewed 8558 times

EDITED TO REDACT EMAIL ACCOUNTS FOR SECURITY REASONS - lakrsrool

[mjs]

It looks to me like you've got two different ".ini" files with the same "modified date".

The ".ini" file in the first image has a size of "1,430" bytes. The ".ini" file in the second image has a file size of "13,328" bytes (which is presumably your original ".ini" file with all the accounts present).

The two ".ini" files could not both be in the same location with the same name so:

Have you tried (exiting PP) and then renaming the smaller ".ini" file to say "poppeepersave.ini" for example (just to keep it available) and then making sure the larger ".ini" file (that has all your account records) is in the correct location for PPv4? (move it to the correct PPv4 location)

IMPORTANT: YOU SHOULD EXIT POPPEEPER (right/click on PP icon in systray and click "exit") BEFORE YOU DO THE ABOVE.

[Jeff]

As lakrsrool alluded to, I feel like there's more information that we need that we can't see. We can see the full path of the small ini file, but not the larger one. Presumably it's under a different username. Also, there are indications that there are still v3 data files mixed in with the v4 -- the folders "Sent" and "Outbox" (on the same level as poppeeper.ini) are from v3, not v4. Did you try restoring an older backup after upgrading to v4 (doing so can cause some issues).

Here's what you might do if you have multiple Windows users that need to access the same data:
- Exit POP Peeper if it's running
- Install POP Peeper somewhere outside of the Program Files folder. e.g. C:\POP Peeper\
- Copy the valid poppeeper.ini file to the same folder, C:\POP Peeper\
- Edit poppeeper.ini and search for "datapath" (no quotes); if it doesn't exist, add it directly below the [POP PEEPER] line:
DataPath = data
- Create the data subfolder:
C:\POP Peeper\data\
- Copy any v4 data files/folders to the data folder, e.g.
C:\POP Peeper\data\addrbook.csx
C:\POP Peeper\data\Linet Net\
(and you may have other folders -- one for each account)

- Start POP Peeper (C:\POP Peeper\poppeeper.exe)
- Go to Tools / Options / General and tick the box for "Run at windows startup" and press OK (otherwise, it will try to run another version and won't use the new data files that you've transferred)

[bendedknee]

Hello Mr Kafka!

None of those suggestions worked so eventually backed-up and moved all the stuff I had (not registry, though). Then I uninstalled with Revo and deleted everything from whereever I could see left-over folders. Then I reinstalled to c:\POP Peeper as suggested.

During the install process, I got an option to put everything in the one folder for portable. That's what I chose because I thought it would be good to get the hell away from Roaming.

Once installed, I copied over all the new v4-created account folders and the old, working-with-all-accounts v3 ini.

Then, more craziness! When I ran the PP program it came up empty (no surprise) but it was version 3!!!! The ini path showing in Storage was back at Roaming!

I uninstalled with Revo again and started over.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/130 ... m-root.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/130 ... nstall.png

This time I didn't get any option to put the ini anywhere so I expected it end up in Roaming.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/130 ... cation.png
... But NO.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/130 ... torage.png
This time, it WORKED! All the accounts show and work but when I checked Storage, it is now referencing the correct path for the old ini file. However the Data Path is Roaming. I will muck around to see if it will go the portable directory — in my own time not wasting yours.

BTW, it's a pain that I had to keep using Task Manager to close down the notifier whenever I need PP to be fully closed before deleting or moving ini/s etc.

I really appreciate the thoroughness of your responses as you tried to help me get this fixed. Thank you so much.

[mjs]

BTW, it's a pain that I had to keep using Task Manager to close down the notifier whenever I need PP to be fully closed before deleting or moving ini/s etc.

Pop Peeper (PP) should stop running (process go away) if you simply right/click on the PP icon in the systray and select "Exit" (this should stop the process thus using Task Manager to abort the process should not be necessary).

Happy to hear PP finally works, you might just consider leaving the data-path as "roaming" as this is the default anyway.

[Jeff]

Glad you finally got it working. I suspect that the poppeeper.exe process running in the background caused some (or, possibly many as a domino effect...) of the problems; such as why v3 was still running.

btw, to move the files to a portable folder:
- main menu: Tools / Options / Storage.
- Change the "Data path" to "data" (or any foldername of your choice, although "data" is preferred). Do NOT specify a full pathname like C:\POP Peeper\data\. By specifying just "data", PP will place it in C:\POP Peeper\data\ and you could move the entire folder somewhere else and PP will still be able to find it.

[bendedknee]

Really appreciate all the help guys. Thank you so much. Yes, I've got everything in the custom folder now so I can copy it to a thumb drive — I often have to look after my brother's house while they are away and Pop Peeper as portable is a great and easy way to keep track of all my email accounts. Thank you for a great program, too.

You can close this now.