Ian Jackson wrote:
My neighbour's Vista PC packed up, and he bought a new W8.1 machine.

The place that supplied it was supposed to have transferred over all the
stuff that was on the Vista PC, but there is no working email. For this
and for other reasons, he asked me if I could have a quick look at
things, and try and sort it out.

He has a 16GB memory stick, which is believed to have the transfer data
on it.

However, he also has the original Vista hard drive, which is OK (it
wasn't the cause of the failure). So instead of the trying to use the
memory stick, would it be possible to use a USB adapter on the hard
drive, and transfer the Vista email directly to the W8 PC? [I think it
was either Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail, and that there are three
password-protected accounts.]

Also, I'm confused about which email client you're supposed to use with
W8. Google brings up loads of information - much of which is
contradictory. So far, I haven't tried the W8 Outlook app, and
personally I think they might be better off using something 'sensible'
like Thunderbird.

So, if I installed Thunderbird, could I assess the Vista disk directly,
and export the email files to the W8 PC (of course, then import them
into Thunderbird)?

If you install Windows Live Mail 2012 on Windows 8.1 and have access to
the entire Windows Mail message store from the Vista machine (assuming
Vista's Windows Mail was in use) then Windows Live Mail can import all
messages from the Vista Windows Mail message store folder.

Likewise if you used Windows Mail on Vista, the contacts were present
and stored in the userprofile\contacts folder. The contents of this
folder can be copied and pasted into the logged on Windows 8.1 user
profile useprofile\Contacts folder and imported directly into Windows
Live Mail 2012.

The Windows 8x Mail app is called - Mail, Calendar and People
- supports IMAP and Exchange Active Sync (EAS)

Outlook.com is a web site but it is also referred to as the domain (like
yahoo.com) for MSFT email accounts of the type (Outlook.com,
Hotmail.com, Live.com or MSN.com).
- thus contrary to what other might say one can go to Outlook.com and
send/receive mail for and Outlook.com email account but also take
advantage of the other online services when having and Outlook.com type
email account.
- Outlook.com email accounts can be setup using POP3, IMAP, or EAS
protocol in any email client that supports those same protocols.
Optionally, one can just use the web interfaceby logging on at
http://outlook.com with their MSFT account username/password to send and
receive email.

Once logged on to Outlook.com one has access to other , and free, MSFT
services (OneDrive; online Office Apps - Word, Excel, Powerpoint,
OneNote; Contacts, Calendar, Sway, Docs.com



--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps