Inside Outlook Express
Files and Settings
OE Registry Keys
When you first install OE, four keys are created in the registry to store all of your personal settings. If you are not familiar with using Regedit to view and edit the Windows registry, please read Regedit Basics before proceeding.
- The Outlook Express registry key
- The Address Book registry key
- The Internet Account Manager registry key
- The Identities registry key
The Outlook Express registry key
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Software
|-------Microsoft
|----------Outlook Express
This key first appeared in the registry with Outlook Express 4, and is not used for much at all in OE5/6 except for keeping track of your version history. But if you installed OE5/6 as an upgrade to OE4, this key might still have your OE4 settings stored there. If your key has no other personal settings, and you have to actually look to be sure, it does not have to be included in any backup of an Identity's registry keys. If you see any personal settings at all in any of the sub-keys, you must include this key in any backup. This key is shared by all Identities, although only the very first Identity might have account information stored here.
The Address Book registry key
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Software
|-------Microsoft
|----------WAB
The first sub-key "Synchronization" keeps track of the last synchronization between the WAB and a Hotmail address book on the Hotmail server. You will see a sub-key for each Hotmail account in the current Identity whose address book has been synchronized. The "WAB Sort State" stores the sorting order you have established in the WAB. The WAB4\LastFind sub-key stores the history for the Find People function.
The final key, "WAB4\Wab File Name", deserves special attention, as this is where OE stores the path and file name for the *.wab file being used. You can change the location of the WAB only by editing the path stored here. (see also How to move your Address Book and Multiple WABs).
The Address Book key, like the *.wab file itself, is shared by all Identities.
The Internet Account Manager registry key
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Software
|-------Microsoft
|----------Internet Account Manager
When first created by installing OE, this key contains only an Accounts sub-key with the 5 default LDAP accounts for Bigfoot, Infospace, Infospace Business, Verisign, and WhoWhere. But when you complete the Internet Connection Wizard (labelled on the desktop as "Connect to the Internet"), two sub-keys for your default email and news accounts are added, normally named 0001 and 0002. Only the first Main Identity stores its account information under this key. If you setup an email and/or news account using the Internet Connection Wizard and have never created a new Identity, then your mail and news accounts are stored in this key. If you have created a new Identity and deleted the original Main Identity, this key is not used at all by your Identity.
The Identities registry key
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Identities
The Identities key contains a sub key for each Identity. When an Identity is created, Windows generates a long number called a Global Unique IDentifier (GUID), and creates an Identities sub key with that GUID for its name.
With the exception of the first Identity created when OE is first installed (named "Main Identity" by default), each Identity stores all of its information under the HKCU\Identities\{GUID} key. Only the first Main Identity stores its account information under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager. If you backup and restore often, or if you dual-boot, or if you clone your OE to another computer, it is recommended that you do not use the default Main Identity. Create a new Identity using File| Identities| Manage Identities and then import your mail messages from the old Main Identity. Following this, you can delete the Main Identity using the Manage Identities dialogue.
If you are absolutely certain that your Identity is not the original Main Identity (and simply renaming it does not change the way it is stored in the registry!), you can backup even more simply and safely. In that case, you need only export these keys:
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Software
|-------Microsoft
|----------WAB
|-HKEY_CURRENT_USER
|----Identities
|-------{GUID}
Warning! Before you restore your Identity's registry file, you must open OE at least once! You can cancel the New Account Wizard if it begins, then close OE. That assures that OE creates the default Main Identity. Then and only then should you restore your Identity registry file. After restoring, open OE, which will open as Main Identity. Switch to your newly restored Identity using File| Switch Identities. Then click File | Identities| Manage Identities and Remove the Main Identity. If you use multiple Identities, be sure to backup all the {GUID} keys.
Click for screen shots of the Identities registry keys.
