I upgraded to WinXP and my Outlook Express Inbox items disappeared ... are they lost?

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Have you verified that the dbx files are on the CD? Are they in a subdirectory or in the root of the drive?

Hello

I recently upgraded to Windows XP and OE 6.0 from Windows 98 and OE 5.0. Before I did that I backed up all my OE folders and they became *.dbx files. I have these files stored both on a CD and on my harddrive in a special directory.

My problem is that I cannot open these files from either the CD or harddrive directory. And when I try to “import” the *dbx files into my new OE 6.0 I get all sort of errors messages and OE express won’t allow me to import or copy or anything.

What do I do? This just has to be a simple fix but I am unable to determine what to do.

Richard Hardwick

Please respond to RiHardwick@comcast.net

What are the error messages you're getting?

Hi...
I have exactly the same problems - importing my .DBX files after installing Windows XP. I am really hoping that someone comes up with a solution....pleeeeze !!

files from the cd are read only try selecting all the files once transfered to the hard drive then right click and turn read only off.

i have worn out the google search engine,i am using xp pro sp2 i have just done a clean reinstall and backed up all files needed including all .dbx file for outlook express,my problem starts,every time i have done a clean install i copy and paste all the .dbx files into the correct outlook express folder,this time i did the same thing yet import message does not work it come uo with "the specified message could not be opened,it may be in useby outlook express" i then hit ok and it says"no message can be found in this folder try another folder" this is incorect as the .dbx files are there please help, the only thing i did different this time was i networked the folder from another machine instead of copying to cdr,also i have tried turning read only off and still nothing. Please help as there is over 1.5g of emails i need

Win 98 died on me. I couldn't find my CD. So, I just upgraded to Win2000. Thanks, Leo. I followed your instructions and reloaded my old data from the windows diretory. All I needed to know was that the extension was .dbx and I was on my way. This also helped me with other program info also..

I'm in my Dad's bad books. I upgraded his system to XP and lost all his e-mail messages and his address book. My Dad is 86 and this is his lifeline. Any way of getting that info back? I created a new mail profile for him. The default mail profile shows but says is empty. Any help would be much appreciated!

I clicked on "include hidden and system files" when I used seach and all old *.dbx files was found. When I searched usual way ("find all documents"), it didn´t find anything.

Dear Leo,

This is pertaining to the issue of importing old emails and address book from Outlook Express 5.0 to Microsoft Outlook 2002. I have tried all the help available on Microsoft Knowledge Base and other places over the internet. It all started after I purchased a new hard disk with 60GB capacity upgrading from my old hard disk of 4GB. I made a clean installation of Win XP on the new HDD.

The problem begun when I tried to import files from D:\Documents and Settings\HAZEL\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{0887FE5A-C877-4E63-B162-A845F3DB1038}\Microsoft\Outlook Express which have the files with extension as .dbx, which is the old hard disk connected to the system as Slave. Whenever I try to import these files in to the new harddisk which is C Drive and the Master disk on the system it always returns with an error.

What I do: Click File, Select Import and Export -> Import Internet Mail and Addresses -> Outlook Express 4.x, 5 -> Destination selected = Outlook Contacts Folder and Options = Allow duplicates to be created. Selecting the mail folder for Outlook Express 4.x, 5 D:\Documents and Settings\HAZEL\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{0887FE5A-C877-4E63-B162-A845F3DB1038}\Microsoft\Outlook Express and it returns the error “The mail folder could not be opened. If another application is using this file, please close it and try again”.

I also tried to copy all the files from the above location to local hard disk under C:\OE and despite that it returns the same error. I have also made sure that it does not have the read only attribute.

I would appreciate your help in this regard.

I look forward to an early reply. Thanks in advance.

Hazel Misra

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