[SOLVED] Windows Live Mail Multi User Backup

Just 3 people in the family using the same computer, all using Windows Live Mail quite happily. Unfortunately I am unable to convince the other 2 to backup their contacts and Emails regularly.

When we used Windows Mail under Vista I wrote a simple Batch File to use ROBOCOPY to copy their Contacts and Emails to an External Drive, but since moving to Win 7 with Windows Live Mail I get "Access Denied" for all other users when I do a copy. I think this is down to UAC/Junction points. Turning UAC off doesn't work and in any case is dangerous unless I can turn it on and off in a batch job.

Is there a way that I can automate Contact and Email copying/exporting for Windows Live Mail users besides my own (I have full admin authority).

I use Acronis TI2011 but this doesn't cope with Windows Live Mail backup at all - a known shortcoming!

I suppose I could ban the wife and daughter from using WLM as one option!!

Try granting yourself access to their contacts folder under c:\Users with the TakeOwnership script available in our Freeware DB's File & Folder section. That should take care of the access denied at which point you should be able to script the backup.

Simply install the TakeOwnership script then open Windows Explorer to each directory for which you need permissions and right-click, then choose TakeOwnership from the context menu.

Note: If you Take Ownership of their entire user folder the script might run 15-30 minutes so if it will let you get to it you really just need the Contacts folder under their logins.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try