v3/4 - Move the message store to a new folder/drive

This guide assumes you want to just move the VPOP3 message store/database to a new folder on the same PC, and leave the VPOP3 installation directory where it is.

1. Stop VPOP3
2. Stop PostgreSQL
3. Remove the PostgreSQL service
4. Move database to the new folder
5. Reassign permissions for PostgreSQL
6. Reinstall the PostgreSQL service
7. Restart PostgreSQL
8. Restart VPOP3

Note that we can do this for you remotely if you wish, there is a small charge for this (currently £50 + VAT). Contact us on 01484 855800 if you wish us to do it for you.

Please note that we do not recommend or support moving the message store to a networked or external (eg USB/Firewire) drive.

Go to Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services, and stop the 'VPOP3 Email Server' service

Go to Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services, and stop the 'PostgreSQL-VPOP3' service

At a command prompt, navigate to your VPOP3 directory, then the pgsql\bin directory under that

Run

pg_ctl unregister -N "PostgreSQL-VPOP3"

If that comes back with pg_ctl: service “PostgreSQL-VPOP3” not registered then try running this instead:

pg_ctl unregister -N "pgsql-8.3"

Move the VPOP3 'pgsql\data' folder and ALL sub-folders to the new location (eg 'd:\vpop3data')

You need to assign permission for the postgres user to the new folder (eg 'd:\vpop3data')

To do this, go to the parent folder in Windows Explorer (eg if the database has been moved to 'd:\vpop3data', go to the 'd:\' folder) . Right-click the new data folder and choose Properties, then Security. Add permission for the postgres user to have full permission to access this folder. (On an Active Directory Controller, the postgres user is a domain user, on all other types of PC, the postgres user is a local user).

At a command prompt, navigate to the VPOP3 directory, then the pgsql\bin directory under that

Run

pg_ctl register -N "PostgreSQL-VPOP3" -D "<new data folder>" -U postgres -P vla8Pi4cluwrouDiERiU

e.g. Run

pg_ctl register -N "PostgreSQL-VPOP3" -D "D:\vpop3data" -U postgres -P vla8Pi4cluwrouDiERiU

The 'new data folder' is whatever the new name of the 'pgsql\data' folder is. It is not the name of the folder containing the new data folder, but the name of the new data folder itself. A simple way to tell this is that the “new data folder” is the path of the folder where the postgresql.conf file now resides. So, if your 'postgresql.conf' file is in the 'd:\vpop3data\data' folder, you should specify -D “d:\vpop3data\data” in the above command.

For more information on the pg_ctl command, see the PostgreSQL documentation

Go to Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services, and start the 'PostgreSQL-VPOP3' service

In VPOP3 versions 3 and 4, large messages are not stored in the database, so, if you wish to move those as well, there is a further couple of steps before you restart VPOP3:

1. move the VPOP3\_messages folder tree to the new location
2. In the Windows registry, find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\PaulSmith\VPOP3 and set the MessageStore value to point to the new location

Go to Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services, and start the 'VPOP3 Email Server' service