MigRecover Utility for Microsoft’s Windows Easy Transfer
The MigRecover Utility is an extraction tool for Microsoft’s Windows Easy Transfer and is vital in a multi-language environment or where you’re downgrading from a 64 bit Windows edition to 32 bit.
In my own case I only have a 32 bit release of Windows 7 Ultimate RC and had upgraded a workstation from 64 bit Windows Vista so this has been a life saver!
Big credits go out to the original developer of this fine extraction tool and to show my support I’m hosting this file as torrent’s vanish and temp. download links regularly break. Please show your support by helping out in the comments where people run into issues, I’ll help where I can but it worked a treat in recovering a 22GB SaveData.mig containing photos and documents from the last decade on my machine.
Download MigRecover Tool (USMT4)
Update: GUNHED provided a link in the comments to the latest version, kudos!
Archives
Instructions
Update: I’ve hacked together the following steps from the MigRecover readme.
- Rename your MigRecover archive to SaveData.MIG
- Move your SaveData.MIG to C:\
- Extract the MigRecover.zip archive to C:\, this will create a folder called C:\MigRecover on your system, and contain the files necessary to run the utility
- Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, then right click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator
- Type the bolded text, and press <Enter> MD C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
- Type the bolded text, and press <Enter> CD C:\MIGRECOVER
- Type the bolded text, and press <Enter> MIGRECOVER.EXE C:\SaveData.MIG C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
- The data will be extracted, if successful, to C:\MigRecover\Recover folder
Update: If the above instructions have not worked or you are receiving corrupt file errors I recommend you contact Microsoft Support. Please note, you will very likely will be charged a fee for this service by Microsoft Support.
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The perfect comment is interesting, on-topic and/or highly amusing.
Executing the program as indicated in the instructions I get a series of errors like this: Error while creating the destination file: c:\MigRecover\Recover\File\C:\Users\R
icky\Downloads\ilfatto20090923.pdf\ilfatto20090923.pdf
I think problem is in doble presence of “C:\” in the path.
Please help.
Regards
Riccardo
Hey Riccardo, I’ll take a peek at my file paths and put them up here I think it will help. I don’t have access to my home machine but on return from vacation will check out the C folder within the File directory to see if it has the double colon or not…
Okay, so I installed extracted MigRecover to C:\MigRecover\. I then moved my SaveData.MIG file to the root directory on E:\ (so it can be accessed by E:\SaveData.MIG). Ensure the folder you want to extract the MIG file is not read only and you should be humming.
There have been reported issues when extracting from different languages, I’m confident this is due to different language filename characters not being supported, if possible go English to English or French to French when you’re upgrading to Windows Vista/7 and not bounce between languages unless required.
Hello !
My syntax :
Z:\MigRecover>migrecover “Z:\Transfert de fichiers et paramètres Windows – Éléme
nts de l’ancien ordinateur.MIG” c:\tmp_recover\recover
Result:
Error while creating the destination file: c:\tmp_recover\recover\File\C:\Docume
nts and Settings\Papa\Bureau\Trombine\trombine5.jpeg
Extracting files. 19% completed.
If I target to a wrong directory, same message. My MIG files seem locked !
OS is Windows 7. Old OS is Windows XP-SP3
Hi Michael,
i have the same problem as riccardo :
(restoring a mig file from windows 7 RC (32) to Vista SP1 32 :
Extracting files. 0% completed.
Error while creating the destination file: Z:\recover\File\C:\Users\Connie\AppDa
ta\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\QuickFreedom\Boot\iBSS211.dfu
Steps:
i copied the mig file on Z:\cecina.mig
extracted migrecover in C:\migrecover
from Z:
C:\migrecover\migrecover Z:\cecina.mig Z:\recover 123
( 123 was the pass )
I’ve updated the post to include instructions that helped me extract my SaveData.MIG.
Hi,
I am getting the same error : Error while creating the destination file. Looks like it is a Bug in the program. Could anyone find a solution for this?
Michael,
Is there any way to recover the password from my .mig file. I created the file when converting from XP to Windows 7. I must have “Fat Fingered” the password when I created the file.
Thanks, Lamar
Michael, is the source code of this tool available? If yes, where i can take it? Thanks you
Michael,
I am experiencing the same problem as Riccardo. The utility attempts to create files in the destination folder with a drive letter embedded in the file name. The drive letter is coming from the original file location from where it was first transferred. I don’t think you can embed a drive letter in the middle of a filename in Windows (or MS-DOS).
Regards,
Hugh
Michael,
Same problem as Ricardo and others. I am not sure if you are able to update the program to remove the embedded drive letter but it would sure make a lot of people happy if that is what works to recover our files.
Thanks for giving some home!
Jon
Hi…..Im getting the next error…..Error while trying to open the source MIG file. Error: 0×00000002 ….. ???
Could anyone solution for this?
Thanks
JHON, put ” ” around the file path. Solved that issue for me. I’m now getting the drive letter issue tho.
Can someone come with a why the letter problem is happening – Microsoft wont help – our only help is this software.
I’m looking for the souce code of this tool or the mig file specification to fix this problem or to write a new tool. Michael please help us.
If anyone at Visser or elsewhere finds a solution to the problem of the utility trying to create a path with a “:” in it, I’d love to hear about it.
–
Stuart
Hey Riccardo, the source code is closed. The MigRecover Utility came from Microsoft Support so that’s your best avenue to persue for any updates, I’ve just taken a snapshot from the latest torrent’s available before they dissapear.
Error 0×00000002
This worked for me:
You are working in the folder: C:\MigRecover> and you followed all instructions above
Then this command:
migrecover.exe ..\SaveData.MIG \MigRecover\recover
This looks for the SaveData-file in your root, 1 level higher
and it points to 2 subdirectories lower for extracting.
With other words: Thank you very much for this tool.
I recovered my data, photo’s, …
how do i find full path name
i think thats where im having trouble
I am getting error while extracting savedate file as follows:
A utility to receover files from a windoes easy transfer or USMT archives.
Syntax:\MigRecover.exe [password]
Where:
– the full path to the MIG file you need to recover files from
– the path where the tool should unpack the recovered files
[password] – the password use to encrypt the store ,if any>
Please advise what shall I do to receove the files?
OOPS SOORY I FORGOT TO ENTER C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
BUT AFTER THAT ALSO I AM GETTING ERROR
ERROR WHILE TRYING TO OPEN THE SOURCE MIG FILE ERROR: 0×00000002
PLEASE ADVISE HOW TO SOLVE IT?
…caps down Rajan.
Did you follow the instructions above? That first message to me looks like you haven’t given MigRecover.exe any parameters (e.g. full path to the MIG file or the extraction path). Give the instructions above another try.
The MIG file error just means it could not extract some files, has MigRecover extracted any files to the extraction path you provided?
Ok Sorry and Thks for your immediate response.
No Mig file didn’t extract any file. It is showing the Error No. 0×00000002 only.
I have followed the instruction completely second time but it sill getting the error.
Michael,
Some how I able to extract the files to (with help of posted message of John in this site)Recovery Folder but I also got an error as given below:
“The database containing the file names could not be completely recovered. Becuase of the error one or more of your files will be recoved with generic names.”
When I checked the Recovery folder after extracting files, files are retrieved in “Numeric Name” with file extension. How can I change these files with their original extension?
Please let me know to solve this problem.
Thnx
Hi,
Same problem here than Rajan and Jhon.
my syntax:
MIGRECOVER.EXE C:\SaveData.MIG C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
error 0×00000002
1.Tried to put ” ” before and after the path name. did not work, still same error
2. Tried to add my password at the end of the query. did not work. still same error
3. Tried to put “” and the password. did not work either.
I do not understand the problem.
File was created under Windows 7 and I had to revert my OS to vista because of incompatibility problem.
Is anyone has an advice, I would love to ear ir
Thank you
Update: just a typo error. I had renamed the file savedata.mig.MIG
Now it’s running but won’t extract anything. even though it says it was 100% completed, no files were extracted.
Error while creating the destination file c:\File\C:Users\Joelle\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp56B8.tmp\Temp\PrivateData000000C.pdt
Extracting files. 100% completed.
The database containging the file names could not be completely recovered. Because of this error one or more of your files will be recovered with generic names.
The content of some of the recoered files was corrupt. The names of corrupt files now contain the word “corrupt” like this OriginalFileName(corrupt).ext. You should review the content of these files
Thank you
Hey Rajan, the numeric naming is normal. Normal as in I’ve just gotten used to it, if you scroll through the extraction directory MigRecover should have spat out “some” normal named files and directories (e.g. Users, Program Files, etc.). Open those up and copy the files out to your new Windows system.
Hey Joe, I recommend you raise the problem with Microsoft Support – they will charge you hourly support – who may have an updated MigRecover application, if they give it to you please send it to me to put up here!
I will
… That’s if I can get a hold on someone there, The microsoft help and support form and pages have been down for 2 days here (Canada)…. ahhhh 
Thank you!
Hi Michel,
I have checked all files and all are with Numerical No with “file” extension only and the same is not opening with any application. What I can do with these extracted file? is it will work If I copied to some windows folder? The file folder look like as given belw:
944 11/29/2009 1.37pm File 10,113KB
608 11/29/2009 1.37pm File 9,994KB
I finally got it after three trillion tries: here was my problem: I had a 27.5gb SaveData.MIG file on an external harddrive but i didn’t wan’t to transfer the SaveData.MIG to my C drive so this is what I typed in:
MIGRECOVER.EXE F:\SaveData.MIG C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
F being the drive letter for the external harddrive.
Hey Doo… (smartass),
Nice work getting it extracting, I prefer to keep the MIG and extraction path on the same drive.
As DoodleFace said SaveData should be in seperate drive to extract to C Drive.
But My problem is still not solved. I could able to extract the files 100% but files are extracted with Numeric Name and “file” extension. How can I change these files to normal file which I have made as SaveData. Can anyone help me on this?
I had to cd c:\migrecover\migrecover because the first cd instructions only got you to the first level, containing RECOVER, but the .exe file is in a second MIGRECOVER file underneath the first.
It extracted … but it is one file called cache.IMG
Now what?
I get an error that says, “Error while creating the destination file: c:\migrecover\recover\file\c:\users\…” Am I supposed to copy the “savedata.mig” and it’s counterpart to an external drive before extracting? I’m playing cath up, so please bare with me.
No matter what I try, I still get an error with the execution. It wants to put in “c:” in the file name.
Hi guys,
I got some issues with the migrecover tool as well. I used the Vista WET. Altough i am pretty sure I wasn’t asked for a password (it was 2 a.m. though) Window 7 is asking for one.
Just “enter” doesn’t work.
I found the migrecover tool here -thank you very much for that!!!
It does start to unpack the MIG file – but is not able to create the target files because it’s trying to create the files in a path that contains “file\c:\” after the target directory I named. I tried different paths like “c:\” or relative ones “..\..” and so on – nothing worked.
Anyone any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Hi,
I solved my problem easily by asking a friend who has Windows 7 on her new laptop to extract the files for me. I wasnt able to get a hold of Microsoft for helping me out.
Hi All,
I am a Microsoft employee and this issue came to my attention when a family member recently thought he lost about 100 GB of personal files using Windows Easy Transfer (WET) while upgrading from Vista to Win7. WET doesn’t give any error message–it just won’t open the file.
I can confirm the MigRecover utility posted here is an older version of the tool meant for accessing USMT3 files. The newer WET tool uses a newer (USMT4) format, which requires a newer version of MigRecover to access. I verified that I receive the same “c:\” prefix error many have mentioned above when using the old USMT3 tool (same version as is posted here). Using the newer WET tool resolves that issue and worked great for the 100 GB store I was trying to recover, although it only processes one .MIG file at a time and it marks the last file in each set as “corrupted” (even though they don’t appear to actually be corrupted–including videos that play fine).
Unfortunately for legal reasons I am prohibited from distributing the tool outside of Microsoft, and just to be clear I am not on the team who made the tool (or that supports Windows or WET). However, I would be happy to escalate this through the proper channels if any of you are still experiencing the issue. Please just comment on this post and I will keep an eye on it and follow up via additional comments as necessary.
HTH,
Scott
Yes I am still experiencing the problem. Luckily I backed up most of the files using an alternative method but I am still missing a few directories. Any help on this would be very much appreciated.
If you know of a way to get the newer MIG recovery tool (like calling support) that would be very helpful!
Jon
Hey Scott, thanks for joining us. Can you provide a direct phone number or contact enquiry form that users experiencing issues with WET can contact the Microsoft Support team who specialise in WET issues.
From your comment I understand alot of these corruption errors are resolved in the new release? This will be very helpful for others if so! Feel free to pass my details onto the developer of the MigRecover utility if there’s anything I can do to point users in the right direction.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your willingness to help. I don’t yet have a direct # or contact, but I am working on it.
Now that you and Jon have confirmed you are still experiencing the issue, I am using an internal escalation process to raise the visibility on this. From what I can tell this is affecting a lot of users.
I’ll keep you posted as soon as I know more.
-Scott
Hi Scott,
I am another ‘c:\’ sufferer. I’d be really grateful if you could cast the necessary spells to get the newer version release in to the wild.
–
Stuart
Hi Guys, Christmas is coming, so time for some presents. Here is the very latest MIGRECOVERY application without infamous “file\c:\” error. So, enjoy your recovered pictures, music and whatever you thought is lost! http://rapidshare.com/files/321120998/Migrecover.zip
Merry XMAS!
Hi Gunhed,
this is the best presents for this year! It works great.
Thank you very much. Greetings from Germany
Merry XMAS!
Rolf
GUNHED,
You are truly Santa Claus! Thank you very very very very much for the util! It’s working like a charm, I’m at 11% and see the files being created under C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER
Happy holidays!
/AD
GUNHED, you legend! In the process of updating the file hosted here. Thanks again, from all of us.
OMG!!!!!!!!! TANKS A LOT…. I WAS GETTIN CRAZY…MY WHOLE LIFE WAS IN THAT FILE….! LOL
TANKS TANKS TANKS….
Fab.
At 80% as I type.
Sir, May your boots never let in water.
–
Stuart
I am so excited to find this but I must be doing something wrong! Will some nice person please walk me through this? My migrecover file was already named savedagta.mig, so I changed nothing on the folder names. Both savedatga.mig and migrecover is in C. Thank you!
Hey Cartracey,
You’re all set to go, in previous releases of Windows Easy Transfer you would have to rename the file to match up with the included instructions. All the best.
When I type in the MIGRECOVER.EXE command it says MIGRECOVER.EXE is not recognized as as internal or external command, operable program or batch file. What does this mean?
Hi Cartracey, that error is commonly seen when you have not run the CD command to set your current directory to C:\MIGRECOVER\
Whether I try to extract the new Migrecover you kindly emailed me to C: or to my second internal hard drive D: it is blocked as being potentially dangerous. I browsed to it in Windows Firewall incoming new rule and highlighted Migrecover.exe, the button said open and I kept clicking on it, but nothing happened!
Now what?
Hey A L Hinkle, what application is blocking the file as potentially dangerous? I’m running Windows 7 and have not experienced this issue, Windows Defender or a third-party security software might be playing up.
I am running Vista Home Premium, using Windows’ Firewall. Defender is disabled. It just says that “Windows” has…. Since in the Firewall settings, I have checked that it is to notify me when it blocks something, I can only assume that it what it is, which is why I tried to make a new rule there to allow this program.
I did what you described and all my files naturally came out in that folder, unfortunately all files that could be viewed are corrupted. Does it mean that I have to contact Support?
Thanks in advance
P.S. My 22.2GB appeared in 454MB. Sorry for the double post
I got all the files extracted from savedata.mig and now I can’t read those files! They are all listed by number and have no file extension! Anybody else?
A big thanks to GUNHED and to the author of migrecover! I’m at 100% and see all my old files in perfect shape under C:\MIGRECOVER\RECOVER after loosing them about a month ago in a failed attemtp to migrate to Win 7. Yeah, as he promised, this solves the destination error or File\C:\ problem.
Note to all MS Support Staff: Please start using this program (or better yet) change WET to enable MIG recovery on the originating OS (like Win XP). Otherwise, if the new windows version (like Win 7) fails to install (as it failed for me and several MS staffers who tried to help me), then we’re left with nothing but a MIG file that we can’t open.
In case you’re wondering, the MS staffers I talked to claimed the migrecover was a “third-party tool” and that they refused to provide any help with a such a tool (despite my repeated claims that it looks like migrecover was written by someone at MS). Instead, there only suggestion was to install Windows 7 on another machine and extract the MIG file there. This didn’t work for me, because I didn’t have a 32-bit Win 7 system, and if I ever got one, I didn’t want to mess it up with files from a different machine.
Anyway, it’s all good now! Happy Holidays!
I am having same corrupt issue at oOqwertyOo’s 12/23/09 post. All files are extracting with (corrupt) after them. Also, the main file somehow “unzipped” on my external hard drive. The original mig file won’t extract, but the 9 .mig files (“original name.mig01″, “original name.mig02″, etc.) do extract, but showing corrupt. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Carol
……another recent discovery… as I continue to try to recover my .mig file, a new set of returns came up on the command prompt window when i tried running migrecover.exe, giving all the parameters of the .exe process – 1 in particular is that you need to enter your password after the destination path. I think this is why the recovery is not working. I did create the original file with a password. Does anyone know what format the password shoud be typed in as? The instructions show it as [password] so I tried entering my password with the brackets, but no luck….
Thanks, again…
Carol
…..this is what the comand is returning:
A utility to recover files from a Windows Easy Transfer or USMT archives.
Syntax:
MigRecover.exe (/i:) (/e:] (/v] [password]
Where:
/i:
- pattern for files to be extracted. Multiple include patterns are allowed. They can be combined with exclude patterns, whenever a conflict is detected the last specified pattern wins.
/e:
- pattern for files not to be extracted. Multiple exclude patterns are allowed. They can be combined with include patterns, whenever a conflict is detected the last specified pattern wins.
/v
- verify the store, don’t extract anything. A list of all the files in the store together with their status will be generated in a file called STATUS.TXT in the root of the destination path.
This will have a line for each file, followed by a TAB and either “corrupt†or “OK†depending on the status of the file. The last entry will have the name “STRUCTURE†and will be set to “OK†if all the headers in the store file are intact.
- the full path to the MIG file you need to recover files from.
- the path where the tool should unpack the recovered files.
[password]
- the password used to encrypt the store (if any).
Return codes:
0 – the tool completed successfully. the store is not corrupt (if /1 /e
were used there light still be corruption in unprocessed files)
1 – internal error
2 – invalid usage, see this help screen
3 – invalid destination directory
4.5 – error opening the store
6 – cannot create STATUS.TXT file
1392 (ERROR_FILE_CORRUPT)
- the tool completed successfully. but some of the data in the store
is corrupt
Thanks for any help!
Carol
…Snytax correction from above:
MigRecover.exe (/i:) (/e:] (/v] [password]
Thanks,
Carol
one more try…
MigRecover.exe (/i:) (/e:] (/v] [password]
For some reason the syntax is being truncated when I submit…..it is missing the source Mig file and destination path parts of this syntax..
I have the same issue as Cartracey – the files are extracted but there are only numbered files without a clue as to what they are and where in the folder structure they should be.
Can anyone provide some insight?
Thanks in advance,
Doug
I have the same issue as Cartracey and dfilteau, the files are extracted with a numeric name without an extension, all in the root of the destination folder.
There’s also a “catalog.mig” file created, but WET doesn’t recognize it and the MigRecover.exe tool extract to small files from it, but when openning it with Notepad (it’s about 6.5MB) shows original filenames and paths.
Anyone knows a way to recover the fileneames of the extracted files? maybe using this “catalog.mig” file?
Cheers,
Tai
Michael – You are awesome. Thanks SO much for providing this file that Microsoft will not make publicly available. Migrated my wife’s computer from Windows 7 back to XP and was panicking to think of all the data she could not access.
The previous migrecover I found was giving me the “file\c:\” path error so many have reported…Been searching for a solution for two days and now it is finally recovering the data, thanks to you!
Same thing happening as Tai and others above. The utility seemed to work fine and when it was done all the file types are gone. Just numbrs. Please Help. Wife is so mad it was all of her schoolwork.
Dan – I don’t know that I can help, but just looking for clues…
1) Under what OS was your .mig file created?
2) Under what OS are you recovering the .mig file?
3) What is the name of your .mig file?
4) How big is your .mig file?
Andy,
It was created using Vista Home premium. Attempted recovery using the same system. The file is named SaveData and is about 64 GB of photos word documents, video and everything else. My wife is going to kill me. I tried opening some and if you pick the right program you can get them open, interesting. As you can imagine there are thousands and it is impossible to figure out which one is which though.
Dan
Dan,
I can certainly sympathize with you; I have lost some of my wife’s data in the past and it wasn’t pretty.
In my case, I created the file in Windows 7 and then downgraded to XP and was able to recover the file properly in XP. No trouble with file names.
So the obvous differences so far are:
1) Yours was created in Vista, mine was created in Windows 7. Doesn’t seem like that should make any difference since they are very similar.
2) Your file is 64GB, mine was only 27GB. I’m not aware if there is any file size limit issue.
3) You are trying to recover in Vista, I ran migrecover in XP.
Do you happen to have an XP system where you could try the recovery process again? I don’t see that people with this issue gave many specific details, but maybe migrecover doesn’t run well under Vista?
Of course I’m grabbing at straws, but stranger things have happened.
Hi,
I must to recover data on a PC with XP, from a file generated on Vista.
I follow your instruction, and when I run the command to recover the file, I obtain an error message like
Impossible to run the program (MigRecover.exe). WDSCORE.DLL not found. Try to install again the application.
Hey all,
I am getting an error that I haven’t seen mentioned here… “Error while trying to open the source MIG file. Error: 0x000003EE
I’m not gonna lie… I’m panicking a little! All of my school stuff is in there!
I am going from XP to Vista…
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I’ve followed the above instructions but I am also receiving the save error message as Marco above.
I was trying to recover SaveData.MIG from XP to XP, same machine (used the Windows Easy Transfer as my only means to backup my data from my computer before wiping and reloading it).
Any help/suggestions would be great
Thanks
The link that GUNHED provided directs me to http://www.rapidshare.com site which I am unable to download because I do not have a paid account. The free download was unavailable. Can anyone please provide this newer MIGRecover tool to me?
laoslady@gmail.com
I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for helping me recover a Mig file created on a Vista 64bit system that wouldn’t “compute” on a Win 7 32bit system. MigRecover worked flawlessly and all my migrated data is now available. Great job and fine work!
Ash,
I got the same message as you and I realized that the mig file was actually named file.mig.mig, so if you take out one mig, it probably would work. At least it did for me.
Hope that helps.
Marco and Connnie,
Try using the USMT3 download from above and use that. I am using 32 bit win xp and it worked. The usmt4 did not work on my machine and I got the same error as you got.
Dan
Connie, you can also download both versions here. Read the above post.
I had the same problem as Marco and Connie, WDSCORE.DLL was not found, but I found the file in c: Program Files\Microsoft\MigWiz I copied this file into the migrecocer directory and followed the instructions to recover my data. This worked, but now I have the same problem as others, in that all the files are numbered with no file extensions. I guess this is one step forward??? Hopefully someone will have a full solution soon.
Michael, you are a hero. Files recovered successfully. The first time I tried to recover the files I forgot to append my password, and ended up with corrupted files. I deleted the contents of the recover directory, and tried again with the password. It worked GREAT!!
Thanks!!!!
Rob
I tried USMT4, but something not working. All data was extracted, but filenames not restored, and no error. USMT3 not workign for me. i have mig file which was created on russian languge windows, and i want to get files on english version. maybe it is not posible?
First I used some $100.00 POS that came with a fancy cable with an orange bubble on it. It didn’t work, nor did advice that they offered. Then tried WET and got three .mig files that MS couldn’t help with. I like 7. But how come the SFBs at MS can’t fix the .mig problem?
Hey Mark, that sounds like a USB transfer cable. Have you also tried the USMT4 utility as you may have better luck with the updated file.
OK… So here is my frustration for being so stupid to trust Microsoft WET software. I have used WET numerous to transfer files onto new systems at my church. So when I got my hands on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit this week, I decided to upgrade from the Beta version of 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate so I could utilize the 8 gbs of ram on my system. I usually backup my files once a week since I am a photographer and backups are crucial to my profession. This week I shot a bunch of jobs and Lightroom imports the images to my C drive. I figured I sould just run WET and I would be able save the data and transfer it to my Newly Installed Win 7 Pro 64-bit. I WAS GRAVELY WRONG… I ran the software and it keeps saying unable to open file. I have tried all the methods above and I keep getting the message “Error while trying to open source MIG file. Error: 0x000003EE”
I really need help with this. It is the weekend and I can’t get hold of anyone at Microsoft and I am supposed to deliver some portraits tomorrow on disk, but I can’t access them. PLEASE HELP…..
Hey David, if you’ve tried the above methods without success consider the laborious task of reinstalling 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate onto a blank HDD and there’s a good chance it’ll extract onto itself. Then manually transfer files, settings, etc. without WET to your 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate.
I appreciate all of the suggestions given. Thank you so much!
Update:
The last time I attempted this…I did download the MigRecover Tool (USMT3) but when I performed the steps, I received an error message along the lines of the program missing some files but do not remember whether it provided the specific missing files.
I won’t be attempting the recovery again because I had to give the user back their laptop so not sure whether USMT3 tool would’ve been successful.
Again, Thank YOU and I’m very grateful for your blog, Michael and that you have such helpful readers.
I know I will be back when I run into this issue again with the next similar issue.
Here is the solution to the :
Error while creating the destination file: c:\MigRecover\Recover\File\C:\Users\R
icky\Downloads\ilfatto20090923.pdf\ilfatto20090923.pdf
First extract the MigRecover Tool (USMT3), then extract the USMT4 to the same folder over-writing files with the same names. The reason is that the USMT4 is missing some dlls that are in the USMT3. Worked for me anyway.
Hi Michael,
Thank you very much for creating this blog, I’m sure you saved a lot of memories.
I’ve read the previus posts but I’m still in troubles. I’m sure I’m missing a big point.
I’m able to extract all the files but all of them are numbers with no files types. I also got a catalog.mig and a migstate.dat.
Could you please give me a hand?
Thanks in advance.
Al
Hi,
Using the migrecover utility I have successfully extracted loads of files from my savedata.mig to an external drive.
The utility reports ‘Extracting files. 100% completed.
Great I thought, except the extracted files are meaningless. No extensions, and just numbers for files names. Over 164,463 meaningless files to be exact!
What am I doing wrong? Please help.
Thanks
Hey Brent, does that work? If so that’s a great tip for readers!
“First extract the MigRecover Tool (USMT3), then extract the USMT4 to the same folder over-writing files with the same names”
Both versions are available in the post, best of luck recovering your files
My problem is slightly diferent than those I’ve been able to find online. My MIG file is missing. All I have is a giant folder with the .DAT files and no MIG file to tell the computer what to do with the information. The MigRecover will nto help me with this will it? Any other suggestions.
Successfully extracted all my files but they are all just numbered & called files for extensions. There are no common names for any of them & can’t open anything. What do I do with this? How do I get my files out?
Awesome. Thanks much to all, worked like a charm (mostly). It did complain about some files, mostly stuff nested deep in my AppData.
Sounds like a lot of people are having the same issue and no one has addressed it yet.
When i run mig, it extracts all the files in a numerical format. Each file is numbered from 1 to about 35000. No file types, but different file sizes. Also included in the extraction is a file called ‘catalog.mig’. Easy Transfer does not recognize this file and anything useful.
I did the easy transfer on an XP machine and am trying to recover the files to a 7 machine. The only other thing I can think to do is use the mig utility on an XP machine and try to recover the files there.
Have you heard of this numerical file structure Micheal?
Hi Dave, unfortunately I have not. Your suggestion is the best workaround, roll back to the edition of Windows that you ran WET and manually transfer the files.
Fingers crossed this post is being monitored by Microsoft Support and an update will be released to the Windows community.
That does not work. I ran the WET on vista as that is the program that the .mig file was created on and all I get is numbered files with an extension that says ‘file” and it cant be opened. This is a bunch of bull, if I had not already paid for Windows 7 I might have gone with a MAC. When we pay so much for the programing Microsoft should support you with the upgrade and the transfer at NO CHARGE. I am a little sick and tired of filling Gates pockets with my hard earned dollars.
Hi Grizz, Gates is out of the picture saving the world. Get in contact with Steve Ballmer; CEO of Microsoft
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/steve/default.aspx
[...] I just want my file back [...] I lost all my e-mail contacts about 200 -300 of them.
@GUNHED, thx man, you spend me a lot of time searche why it wwas not working with the old version of migrecover ! Thanks a lot
After running this utility a multitude of times, I am having no success. I created the SaveData file in Vista Home Premium and upgraded to Vista Ultimate. Each time I run Migrecover, all I get is numbered files with no extensions, most of which have (corrupt) after the number. I have 10 years of medical documents for my two terminally ill children that I DESPERATELY need to recover! PLEASE help!
I am so angry at the fact Microsoft advertises this utility as safe for transferring your files. I have 10GB worth stuff I need to recover. I have the same problem, WET couldn’t open file. I tried using MIG but luckily for me all my files are extracted(270MB of 10GB) with their names but has CORRUPT at the end. Please help us Microsoft or I among others will file a lawsuit.
Ramon
CNN
WOW!!!!!! Thanks a LOT! Worked for me. M$ sucks for making so buggy tool
Finaly i got this working, by using the USMT4 file, and the core.dll from the USMT3.
Thanks for all your posts, it helped me thrugh
I was able to recover my files from a MIG file I created on Windows 7 RC (I used the USMT4 package). Thanks a ton for everybody involved!
Hi there,
I used the MIG recovery utility and was first recieving the error message… Error while creating destination file… until I noticed that when I renamed my .MIG file – “SaveData.MIG” it had added the extension .MIG so it came out as SaveData.MIG.MIG once I renamed it simply SaveData using right click rename in windows the Command Prompt Dos commands worked perfectly because the Extension is added automatically in my Windows.
The other important step in Vista was the 4th step – right click command prompt and select “run as administrator”
Also as someone else noted extract the second Migrecover folder direct to C:/ so there is only the one folder path to get into the MIGRECOVER.EXE program. So long as you see C:/Migrecover and it opens directly to the four files – you’ve got it. You can check back through the windows after doing the Dos stuff to see if it worked.
It worked for me so thanks.
It took a bit of exploring to find my files but they were there.
The path to mine was Migrecover\Recover\File\C$\Users\Damien or whoever you are.
Cheers
I forgot to say thanks to everyone who blogged and special thanks to Gunhed. I thought I’d lost it all.
Today is D-Day, everyone’s migrating or has already migrated from Windows 7 Ultimate RC to Windows 7 Ultimate. How did it all go? Did anyone need to use MIGRECOVER… I’m doing my final backup as well as manual file backup and then a clean install to Windows 7 Ultimate.
I had an 8 gig .mig and try MigRecover and it has a bunch of files that say corrupt and was asking about my password. I do remember the original password.
Hey Guys, Im having some serious problems with trying to recover my .mig file. I created the file on win 7 RC. Not knowing of all the issues that people are having with WET. So now I have installed win 7 ultimate on my computer, and of course, WET will not read the file. No error, just after a couple mins, simply says, WET cannot read file… I have tried going through the process of using Mig Recover USMT 3 and USMT4, both start out fine, and then gives me an error. “error while creating the destination file”… “error oxoooooo7B the name might be corrupt, retrying with generic name.” Then it seems to exract the entire file, all of my files are back… but they are all saying corrupt. This MIG file has all of my kids photos on them, I cant even begin to desribe my frustration right now. Can anyone help? Thanks
Using version 4 of the migrecover, I too experience the problem where all files were recovered, but were recovered just as individual files numbered 1,2,…thousands without extensions or directory structure.
My SaveData.mig was created in Vista 32-bit and I was trying to extract to a 64-bit Windows 7 Machine.
Then I downloaded version 3 of migrecover from the archive link at the top of this page and ran the procedure again. I was observing the directory in which the files were being extracted and was disappointed to see them being recreated just like the first time – sequentially numbered files with no extensions or directory structure. However, at the end of the process another message appeared in the DOS box saying something like “recovering file names” and in just a moment the recover directory changed and was full of directories and the original files along with proper file names and extensions!!!
So, if version 4 doesn’t work for you, try Version 3 of migrecover.
Thanks, this tool is a lifesaver!
I too must add myself to the list.
History: Hp laptop and wanted to migrate from Vista to Windows 7 (both 32 bit).
When trying to load 7 it said my disk was bad (downloaded an image from a company that gives us free software at the college I am attending).
Put Vista back on my machine and the Easy Transfer program wouldn’t even recognize that I had a .mig file to transfer back and open.
Currently: I’ve tried USMT 3 and 4 with no luck. Tried the latest version and it looked like it was thinking (a delay before I received the following error message telling me it couldn’t open the file: 0x000003ee.
When I googled that error code, I received search results about Norton.
So, I tried turning off the firewall and autoprotect antivirus. Then, when I tried running migrecover again, it jumped quicly to the error without hesitation.
Do you think I have a corrupt .mig file and all is lost?
It pays to read the other posts!
After what looked like a failure, I remember Damien discovering the .mig.mig problem. I right clicked on my file and checked properties and there it was! I tried renaming the file and my brain in DOS mode, where I thought I would need to add the file extension, forgeting it was windows and that it adds it for you.
Renamed again and . . . . when I left for work this morning, it was at 95% complete!
Thanks to all the posts and this great thread!!
Hey roadtech, that’s a good idea for everyone; there’s all sorts of gems hidden away in those 116 comments. Start browsing
Just a heads up… I ran Migrecover [version4] the first few times with no luck. It didn’t even grab one file. On a hunch I added the trailing backslash to the end of the command line [as this it the *directory* you want to extract to] and that fixed the issue for me.
Hope this helps someone else out there.
This exact syntax worked for me… Many thanks!
migrecover.exe ..\SaveData.MIG \MigRecover\recover
You all rock!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Error: 0×000003EE” means that software cannot find SaveData.mig file.
Hello There,
I used Migrecover Utility 4 to recover my “Window Easy Transfer” file (7.6 GB). However, when I extract my entire files successfully. It tells me that all my files and folders are corrupt. All my files have (corrupt) at the end of each file. I need help desperately.
Thanks
Puneet
Im getting the next error…..Error while trying to open the source MIG file. Error: 0×00000002 ….. ???
Im getting the next error…..Error while trying to open the source MIG file. Error: 0×000000020 ….. ???
Me ha salvado la vida esta utilidad!! Excelente!
Gracias!!!!
Hi everyone,
Im just a basic comp user and thought I would update to windos 7 from vista so I used the wet tool… now I have succsessfully transfered all my data back from an external drive onto my new 7 system..or so the application tells me BUT!!!..for gods sake where do I find the transfered Data on my system??? It tells me it is in a Driver folder but its completely empty upon inspection?
Ive enjoyed all your reads and most of them are way over my head, can someone please help?? as someone else has said… all my life work was on the wet transfer…………..gratefully yours Doug
it worked thanks GUNHED
Thanks.Worked first time.
Solved the issue from a 64 bit system windows vista to downgrading to windows 32bit xp. recover all the files with proper names thanks to using version 3 of mig recover and not hte 4, that solved the wrong names issue.
I also ended up with a recovered folder with thousands of files that are just a number.
Can anyone help with this?
Still no luck here either, I really hate Microsoft and every thing associated with it at the moment.
Hi
Same as Doug. After using the correct command line, the result is that I get an empty RECOVER folder. From Vista to Vista. No errors, normal process and 100% completed.
I have already gotten used to the idea that all my work in there is lost forever.
Excellent Post – but it is NOT Working for me, either.
I have a very large SaveData.MIG file of 102GB when I used Windows Easy Transfer from Windows Vista to Windows 7 64 bit.
I tried Windows Easy Transfer to extract on Win 7, but it didn’t work – and now in Safe Mode trying MigRecover.
As in this post – tried version 3, and now am trying version 4 – so far to no Avail.
I get files extracted – but with numbers and Corrupt.
How do I extract or know which files are which ??
Any help greatly appreciated. Sounds like many others are still experiencing same problem. Next I will try and contact Micr Support.
All my files and folders are corrupt. All my files have (corrupt) at the end of each file. How do I view or know which ones are which ?
Help Please!
Thanks
Still working on this – this time, cancelled version 4 recovery – deleted all the corrupt files – then tried again.
Version 4 – MigRecovery with a Password (previous password used when did original backup via Windows Easy Transfer on my Win Vista machine)…
So far – so good
.
No corrupt files and this time produced a Catalog (Easy Transfer File) and a MIG Data File…
The only thing is I still see numbers (File numbers) with no extension – next have to figure out how to open files into the right program!
I followed the instructions as in the first post except the machine I’m using to extract is XP. So, I did not have the wdscore.dll file on the XP machine, so I copied it from the Vista files and placed it IN the Migrecover folder. Worked first time!
Just a follow-up here. Yes, it worked just fine except now I have 4000 sequentially numbered files w/o extensions. There is a catalog.mig file and and a CATALOG.IMG file but not sure what to do with them. Any Ideas?
My last comment from my iPad was submitted prematurely so I’ll try again.
I was trying to go from Windows XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. After many BSODs and a new MOBO from Dell, I was forced by Dell to return to Windows XP 32-bit. My .mig file as 266 GB in size. I downloaded and installed USMT4 MigRecover, followed the instructions and while it took 14 hours to process those 266 GB of data, everything came back. So event though I still have to complete reinstalling my software, I have all the local settings and all my documents so for me, MigRecover worked exactly as advertised.
Thanks for hosting the file, Michael!
Thanks to Michael and all the others who have added helpful comments. With the help of this site I’ve now fully recovered my files after trying to go from Vista to W7, ending up with several blue screens of death and having to reinstall Vista. I have other backups, but it’s better to have everything in one place. Many people seem to be ignoring the golden rule: Always backup your important files such as documents and photos on an external disk (at least one!) and do not depend 100% on a tool like WET to work as advertised. You can live with losing settings and even having to reinstall programs, but docs and photos MUST be backed up!
Just to add my experience and to thank Michael and all the others:
I had to deal with two files IMG00001.MIG and IMG00002.MIG.
migrecover4 didn’t work: only files with numbers name
migrecover3 worked for my IMG00001.MIG archive (thankyou CRAIG) but not for IMG00002.MIG stating catalog name corrupted.
In my attempts using migrecover4 i noticed that IMG00001.MIG contained a file named catalog.mig while it was missing in file 00002.
So i repeated the procedure with migrecover3 on file 00002 and copied the catalog.mig from the 00001 file in the RECOVER directory while extracting files. IT WORKED.
Thankyou all.
Hey all,
here´s the way the latest version as provided by GUNHED goes to work beautifully:
Download the archive from the provided link and extract
Download the archive MigRecover Tool (USMT3) as well and extract.
Copy the wdscore.dll and migisol.dll to the folder of the latest migrecover (they seem to be missing in the archive)
Then follow the perfect instructions on top of this page.
Have fun !
Hi Michael
I have been trawling around for 5 days now and just come across these comments – most of which are above my head I have to say! – but think its great that folk are prepared to help each other in this way. One thing that is not clear to me is whether anyone has experienced these same MIG file recovery problems when changing from XP to W7? Being a non-techie I diligently followed all the instructions from the MS website and used WET to transfer files to an external HD. After successful installation of W7 the first listed MIG file transferred back effortlessly, but WET created a second MIG file which could not then be recognised. I’ve tried many different suggestions – renaming the file, running MIG recover and so on; W7 now ‘recognises’ it as an Easy Transfer File but stubbornly refuses to open it – I haven’t a clue what it contains but it is 1.77 GB (much smaller than the first file that was transferred back successfully). If there is a tool and/or idiot’s guide available for us home-based geriatrics please point the way….preferably in BIG type
)
This tool is a life saver, my problem was different lenguage and this tool allowed me to extract the img file.
Thanks a bunch
Se non ricordo la password non posso fare niente?
Sorry!
If I remember the password I can not do anything?
Hi,
I managed to recover data from Vista Home Premium 64 bit to Win 7 Pro 32 bit at the second attempt. The first attempt, i used USMT4 and extracted data quiet alright but the file names were numeric and i decided to do a second attempt using USMT3 and it extracted files to two folders (C$ and D$) in the recover folder.
Thanks once again, this tool is useful.
It would be nice if we got a free tool like this one to extract emails from the OST file……………
ive tried evrythng but im geetng the error mssge
error whie trying to open the source .mig file. ERROR 0*00000002
HELP
ANYONE????????????????????????
OK, patience has been somewhat rewarded, but it’s all thanks to you guys!
This is what worked to transfer my second, troublesome MIG file from the external HD to my laptop (files from XP to W7 Home Premium):-
Followed instructions 1 & 2 as at top of this page
Then downloaded both USMT3 and USMT4 and extracted both
Copied the missing files from 4 in to 3 (as detailed by Stefan above, thank you)
Then continued with instructions from number 4 onwards
Result:-
Files and named folders now showing in the MIGRECOVER folder, but without fail at the lowest file level they are all showing as (corrupt) and with 0 KB size!
My question is to those guys who used a password at the WET stage – if you used the password again before recovering your WET file(s) at what point did you use it please? I did use a password for the initial transfer, so am assuming that this might now be my problem?
However, and this may be totally unrelated, the only other real issue I’ve encountered by changing from XP to W7 is the constant message that the “Microsoft WPD Enhanced Storage Password Driver” has failed to install. There is no hope for me on this one – after chasing around the MS sites, blogs, forums etc for weeks I ended up back with my notebook manufacturer (Gigabyte) in Taiwan. Guess what, they do not support W7 on my model of notebook – great!
So if any of you clever folk know what the above driver is/what its for/whether its necessary or not, it would be nice to know. Also, if I don’t need it, how do I get rid of the message?
Sorry – error, please read as
Copied the missing files from 3 in to 4 (as detailed by Stefan above, thank you)
and NOT 4 in to 3
Apologies!
Thank you very mouch for this very very very usefull tool, it’s the only way to get back to your data if the lang is not the same as the system where the backup was generated.
My problem was caused by different language upgrade from Vista (English) to Windows 7 (Chinese). With USMT4, I was able to recover files but only numbers as filename and no extention. As the others suggested, I then tried USMT3 and it worked. Thanks everyone and wish you luck.
Hello All!
I need to know why I keep getting the following error when I run MigRecover:
Error while trying to open the source MIG file. Error: 0×00000002
I have tried almost all of the suggestions posted and i keep getting the same error. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Having the same “numbered files” extraction problem mentioned before. Restore action completes without errors but in the “restore” folder are files numbered sequentially without file extensions. I have a 15 GB mig file and ~9700 numbered files in my restore folder. Totally useless.
FYI, did the backup on Vista Home Premium and trying to restore in Vista Ultimate.
I’m a pc tech…thought I’d try the WET tool to make my life simpler instead of manually making backups of customer pcs all the time… had my doubts when i saw WET backs up to one binary file….f**k.
WET worked as expected once and failed on the next usage; a 50% success rate isn’t good enough methinks.
Tried the v4 tool first, then the old version, then overwriting the old version with v4, all with the same result. If I figure anything out will definitely post back…thanks microsoft, I hope your monitoring his thread and issue a fix for this POS app.
Btw, a real thank you to Micheal Visser for having this here.
THANK YOU!
worked out very well!
just had some problmes openenig the source-file. So I changed to migrecover.exe “c:\savedata.mig.mig” “c:\migrecover\recover”
There was also no progress shown – just working at 0%… and jumped to100%.
Anyways, all files are accessable now. Thanks!
HEY PETER THANKS…… I ALSO DID WAT U DID AND ITS WORKING//////
oh wait,…………………… it stopped at 42percent,, i recovered some though.. wat happened???????????????????why did it stop with the error message
First many thanks for this info.
I have two .IMG files not one
what must i do for this ?