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smedley · Guest

I didn't realize Outlook stores email account information in the registry, so when I reloaded Windows, I lost this information. This wasn't a problem except for one account that I couldn't remember the password for. I have a backup of the registry and copied the account information from the backup into the current registry, but this didn't work. Is there a way to recover the password from the registry backup?

I'm using Outlook 2003 on WinXP.

TIA

Thegrideon_Support

What kind of registry backup are we talking about? Exported using RegEdit .reg file, System Restore snapshot, NTBackup System State, Registry files copied from old system, something else...
Most common RegEdit exported .reg file usually contains no password information in it.

Guest

Thanks for the reply.

I used a third-party backup program to create the registry backup, but it looks like a RegEdit export and has a .reg file extension. I'm guessing the backup program used an export to create the registry backup.

In the backup copy of the registry, you can see the account information, including the "POP3 Password." The backup password data looks similar to what you see in the current registry for other accounts. Could the backup password data be valid but use a different seed or key?

My hope was to copy the backup password data into the current registry and use Outlook Password to reveal the password. When I did this, Outlook Password showed that password as blank (Outlook did the same). A check of the registry shows data in the password entry.

Thegrideon_Support

“POP3 Password” value is not a real password – for Outlook 2003 it is just a link to special password storage. Most backup tools drops “password storage” information from backup for some technical reasons.
You can compress your registry backup and send it for examination to

. May be we will find some way to help you.