My Windows 11 desktop, which I also used for work, was deemed ‘compromised’ by my IT director due to a certificate problem. I had to wipe everything and re-install Windows 11. I had a copy of my GRAMPS 5.2.2 database on an external hard drive, but it does not contain a back–up file. I’ve installed GRAMPS 6.0.6 to the fresh Windows 11 desktop. I found a numbered folder in my grampsdb folder on my external hard drive under a user account. That user does not exist on the fresh PC. Do I just need to copy that numbered folder back to the desktop under the new user to be up and running? Once it’s there, is there anything else I need to be aware of?
I appreciate any help. I didn’t really care if I lost anything for work since little was stored directly on my machine, but I sure do care about this!! I’ve reviewed postings related to this issue, but they all seem to be for Linus operating systems.
Thank you!!
Welcome!
Gramps 6.0.6 should have created a new user folder at C:\Users*%username%*\AppData\Local\gramps and a new databse folder grampsdb. You can copy the alphanumeric folder from the external drive to the new database folder.
The Gramps database manager should see your database. It will go through a conversion for use by 6.0.
It has been a long time since I did a fresh install on a machine. The user folders and grampsdb may not be created until Gramps is run for the first time.
First. The database does not include any of the Media files. Hopefully, you have a copy of those files too. But with a copy of the database, the data would still be preserved. Either way, you should make a copy of the database before ANY experiment. And after recovery, make a backup as the first action.
On Linux, a database folder contains files with hexadecimal names. Such as this folder containing 11 Tree databases :
You can either set the Database path in Edit → Preferences… to the folder containing the Tree database; or, copy the Tree folder to the folder in your default path. Then the trees will be listed in the Family trees → Manage Family Trees… dialog.
Thank you for your help! I waited until I could close other applications and then looked for the gramps folder in the Local folder of any user (Windows 11 created ‘extras’: Public, Default and defaultuser0). It appears my user account is the only one populated (as I’ve been re-installing everything). There is no gramps, grampsdb or any other variation, folder in Local. I did manage to find what I think is a backup folder dated a week ago (it’s .gpkg), but it’s only 130 KB which seems too small. I have opened Gramps 6.0.6. but it immediately wants me to open a Family Tree. I have an empty one named Family Tree 1 and now see a gramps folder in my AppData\Roaming folder. Inside of that folder are both a gramps60 and a grampsdb folder. The grampsdb folder has a alphanumerically named folder. I’m guessing I should just add mine to it, but since I found what could be a back-up folder, I thought I’d check to see if there is a different process to try.
Thank you for your patience!
I should clarify… I’m guessing I should put my alphanumeric gramps folder from my external hard drive next to the one in …\AppData\Roaming\grampsdb.
Yes. Put a COPY of your alphanumeric gramps folder from the external hard drive next to the one in \AppData\Roaming\grampsdb
After copying, there should be 2 trees the next time you open the Family trees → Manage Family Trees… dialog.
Thanks for all your help!
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I’d like to offer a suggestion. Whenever possible, avoid storing user‑related data inside the default Users folder structure on the C: drive. Don’t rely on “Documents” and similar profile‑bound directories. If you need to use the C: drive, create your own folder structure directly on the root of C: and keep everything there.
There are several reasons for this:
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Backup simplicity: It becomes much easier to make full, reliable backups when all relevant data lives inside a single root‑level folder that can be copied as‑is.
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File‑path length issues: Storing everything under Users consumes a lot of the available path length. This can cause problems unless you also enable long file paths (32-bit) in Windows (which requires a registry change).
Practical system considerations: Even though Microsoft recommends using the standard user‑profile structure, there are many real‑world cases where it becomes inconvenient or problematic for both users and applications.
