Overview

Sometimes you may need to do a restore of MailEssentials, but the backup tool (MeConfigMgr.exe) has lost its functionality because the installation is broken due to failed upgrades. This article provides the steps to restore a manual backup when the MeConfigMgr tool is not available.

Solution

If MailEssentials was backed up manually, you need to follow the steps below:

Note: 
Before stopping the MailEssentials services, stop the Microsoft Exchange Transport service or the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol service first. This is because the GFI MailEssentials Attendant, GFI MailEssentials AS Scan Engine, and GFI MailEssentials AV Scan Engine services will auto-start on their own when mail flow is detected.

1. Make a backup of clean copies of the files you will be replacing.

   Note: These clean copies can be reverted to if errors occur after placement of the backed up files.

2. Launch Services.msc.

3. Stop the GFI MailEssentials services (you can refer to the article Taking a Backup of GFI MailEssentials for the list of services).

4. Replace the files in their appropriate locations, as referred to in the backup article.

   Note: 
   Check if URepository.exe is started/running. It is a process used to move definitions into the engines, and it locks files. You may not be able to rename or copy the configuration (e.g., EmailSecurity\Data\avapicfg.mdb) when this is running. Generally, stopping the services should end this process, but it can be terminated safely from the Task Manager when the services are stopped.

5. Start the GFI MailEssentials services that were stopped in Step 3.

6. The original settings should now be in place. If there are errors, perform the steps again to restore the "clean" copies to maintain functionality until support assistance can be provided.

Testing

Check that all services are running as before then log on to the MailEssentials Configuration UI and confirm that your original settings have been restored to confirm a successful restoration process.