My desktop computer had to be repaired. So I used a backup of my pmail and restored it on my laptop. Now it asks me for Username. The Username in my POP3 profile does not work.

Pegasus Mail is by default a multi-user program. The User name you are being asked for is the name of the Pegasus Mail user it needs to start up as. This is normally transparent when there is only one user, which I suspect is your case. Something in the restore process affected that.

If I were to guess, I suspect it was restored to a different path than where it was on the desktop PC. A default installation installs the program files in C:\Pmail\Programs and the mailbox directory(directories if multiple users) in C:\Pmail\Mail. A copy of the entire C:\Pmail directory from one PC to another will work provided that copy is put in C:\Pmail on the receiving PC. If source and destination paths are different in your restore then do the restore again so that the paths are identical.

Post back if you don't know the path where Pegasus Mail was installed on the desktop. We can guide you on how to look in its configuration files to figure that out. We will need to know the path it was restored to (the path to \Mail\Admin would be most valuable if it exists).

from command prompt
assuming using C:\PMAIL\Program\PMAIL.CFG
will give something like this.

type C:\PMAIL\Programs\PMAIL.CFG
C:\PMAIL\MAIL?????????????????????????????????????????????????????C:\PMAIL\MAIL?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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or

type C:\PMAIL\Programs\PMAIL.CFG
C:\PMAIL\MAIL\~N??????????????????????????????????????????????????C:\PMAIL\MAIL\~N??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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Do not edit the file with an editor. PCONFIG32.EXE is program to edit it.
If it has C:\PMAIL\MAIL Pegasus is using C:\PMAIL\MAIL as the single user directory, and the C:\PMAIL\MAIL will have lots of Files.

If it has C:\PMAIL\MAIL~N it is setup as multi-user setup, and C:\PMAIL\MAIL will have just one file, and subdirectories for each user. In the case Admin is the Default first using so shortcut using -I Admin opens Pegasus and using C:\PMAIL\MAIL\Admin as Mail Directory.

If not in sync PCONFIG32.EXE is program to correct the file. Again, it is a binary file with Null fields so do not use a regular editor.

When I backup Pegasus I do the whole C:\PMAIL directory, so that it keeps the files in sync. If you installed Pegasus on notebook, it would have setup multi by default, and if you then copied C:\PMAIL\MAIL with a single user setup they would be out of system. If you copied the C:\PMAIL\MAIL folder, and then did an install it would have detected a single user setup, and would keep things in sync. Some lines in the PMAIL.INI file also point to directory. That is a text file, so just look for lines with C:\ on them. Usually just get the C:\PMAIL\Programs\PMAIL.CFG pointing to the correct path.

One can switch setups, but that requires a little more work. C:\PMAIL\Programs\PMAIL.USR directory C:\PMAIL\MAIL and the PMAIL.INI file have to all be in sync.

Hope that helps.

I found the answer. Pmail needs to be in a root directory. It was in a root directory on my desktop; I put in in a sub-directory on my laptop. Corrected to a root directory and all is well. Also, my batch files need to be on my local drive to avoid the permissions popup screen.

Glad you found the issue.

I am curious about what you are doing with the batch file.

In order to better manage my emails, I set up have multiple Sonic.net mail boxes and multiple instances of Pmail. For example:
pmail_professional
pmail_personal
pmail_software support
pmail_financial
pmail_other (for online purchases)

Within the above Pmail instances I have multiple folders, for example:
Each client within professional
Each software vendor within software support
Each financial institution within financial

So in order to access each email account, I set up bats that open up each account and related shortcuts on my desktop.

There is likely an easier way, but for me, having multiple uses and multiple types contacts, I decided to use my more complicated method. Many of my contacts have only one mail box and no folders. My emails get often get buried way down their list of emails and I have to text them to look for them. I suppose that is all they can handle. As we know, Pmail is a special application for us who enjoy tinkering and challenges.

Don

If there is, I don't know of it. I used to do similar at the office. I was setup as two users on the network, Me and Accounting. I used a batch file to start two Pmail instances, one as each user. I also ran a third instance which was a portable installation on a flash drive used for Pegasus Mail support as time allowed.

I'm retired now but I still run two instances. It's two installations, one installed, the other a copy from that flash drive, now on my hard drive. They each service numerous email accounts managed with Identities, filters, and separate folders.

Are you using -A or -I options.

Think with -A it opens prompt to enter user name manually.

The -I option requires an user name after the -I

Did a quick test of a script to allow one to select users taken from PMAIL.USR
This is under linux and for root user that has 2 users admin and janedoe

cat PMAIL.USR
A;Admin;Mail Administrator
A;JaneDoe;JaneDoe

Some times there is a comment at top that would need to be removed or filters out.
; PMAIL.USR Pegasus Mail user database.
A;Admin;Mail Administrator

#!/bin/bash

input_file="/root/.wine/drive_c/PMAIL/MAIL/PMAIL.USR"
menu_items=()

# Read the file line by line using ';' as the delimiter
while IFS=';' read -r flag username fullname _; do
    # Skip empty lines or lines without a username
    [[ -z "$username" ]] && continue

    # Add the tag (username) and item description (fullname) to the array
    menu_items+=("$username" "$username")
done < "$input_file"

# Display the Xdialog menu and capture the user's choice
selected_user=$(Xdialog --stdout --title "Select User" \
    --menu "Choose a mail user:" 15 50 5 \
    "${menu_items[@]}")

# Check if the user clicked OK (exit status 0)
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    /root/.wine/drive_c/PMAIL/Programs/WINPM-32.EXE -I "$selected_user"
else
    echo "Selection canceled."
fi

So, it can be done. Thou if list doesn't change, might be easier to create manually.
Not sure why Pegasus only shows a entry screen versus giving a list of users like dialog provides.

I don't know the reason for this question. The original issue was resolved with a relocation of the restored Pegasus Mail files. We were now just bantering about the use of a batch file to start multiple instance of Pegasus Mail.

The -A option tells Pegasus Mail to run in standalone mode and ignore any connected supported file servers so yes, a Pegasus Mail user will be prompted for in a multi-user installation, but this is a result of the multi-user installation, not because of the -A option.

Yup. It tells Pegasus Mail what user to startup as.

Applicable to where this discussion has gone is the -MS option which tells Pegasus Mail to allow the running of multiple sessions. Without it you must close Pegasus Mail in order to start a new session as a different user.

Method to do it manually. Just put each user name twice. In my simple setup just have the Admin and JaneDoe users.

selected_user=$(Xdialog --stdout --title "Select User" \
--menu "Choose a mail user:" 15 50 5 \
Admin Admin JaneDoe JaneDoe)

# Check if the user clicked OK (exit status 0)
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
/root/.wine/drive_c/PMAIL/Programs/WINPM-32.EXE -I "$selected_user"
else
echo "Selection canceled."
fi

I just tried the -MS option. For some reason, it did not work for my current setup. Fortunately, I do not really need to keep more than one Pmail instance open at the same time.

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I accomplished what I needed, that is to backup from my desktop and restore to my laptop when need be.

Don

I wonder why. These shortcut commands work for me:
C:\PMAIL\Programs\winpm-32.exe -ms -A -i Brian -id Gmail
C:\PMAIL\Programs\winpm-32.exe -ms -A -i Bfluet

Perhaps you already had an instance running that was started without the -ms option.

The case of the options does not make a difference. "-ms" is the same as "-MS".