Signal Desktop for Windows: Will resetting Windows lose chat history?

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Jeff S

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  • #1
    So, it's been a few years since I last reset Windows on my PC. Want to do that because Windows seems to be getting a bit glitchy and slow, and well, it's just seemingly necessary to occaionally reset Windows to keep it running well (at least I no longer have to do it every 6 months like in the Win9x days lol - Windows is much better now, but still).

    I am wondering if resetting the PC will cause me to lose the chat history in Signal Desktop (I think the Windows Reset might delete and recreate all windows registry hives, including user hive files under c;\Users\username\NTUSER.DAT, as well as deleting stuff under users\username\AppData?

    So, before I do that, I wonder if there is some way to backup the signal registry and appdata and any other places Signal might keep stuff related to the user profile, so that I can restore them manually after I reset Windows, to continue to have my chat history?

    I mean, this must be possible, right? At the end of the day, even if Signal doesn't provide an in-app means to backup the profile, it must just be some combination of files and registry keys, and if you can restore them to the right place Signal should find and use them just like if you rebooted your PC, yes?

    I did some searching on my own, and so far the only thing I've found other than some generic registry keys related to the software installation (not user-specific), is:

    Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Signal

    Is it sufficient to just backup that directory, and then restore it after the PC reset if it's been deleted? Is there anything else I'm missing (I've had the experience in the past where I backed up a directory for an app, but missed something else in another location, and it wasn't sufficient just to have that dir backup because that something else was required to use the directory backup, like a crypto key or something)?
     
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    Lord Evermore

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  • #2
    I don't use Signal but it was very easy to find a process for backing up and moving the install, which would work here if needed. A reset of Windows where you use the "keep my files" option should keep the user profile, which should keep Signal assuming the actual application installs there Might break the installation so that it would need to be reinstalled, but that might just pick up the existing files and work without a problem. It might be safer to clean it out after the reset without running it and act like it's a new PC and restore the folder using this process.


    View: https://new.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/13ijubm/howto_back_up_and_restore_signal_desktop_on_pc/


    I'm kind of gobsmacked that such a "secure" application would be so easy to transfer to a different computer. Yes there are limitations such as not being able to open it on both machines, but still.

    Since Signal depends on a mobile phone, if you link a new Desktop install to it, does that desktop not have access to the history? Do all linked devices not have access to the history, pulled from the mobile phone as the primary device? It seems like the only reason you'd need to save the Desktop history is if the mobile phone died, so Desktop was the only place it was retained. Or does Signal not work that way?
     
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    Jeff S

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  • #3
    Lord Evermore said:
    I don't use Signal but it was very easy to find a process for backing up and moving the install, which would work here if needed. A reset of Windows where you use the "keep my files" option should keep the user profile, which should keep Signal assuming the actual application installs there Might break the installation so that it would need to be reinstalled, but that might just pick up the existing files and work without a problem. It might be safer to clean it out after the reset without running it and act like it's a new PC and restore the folder using this process.


    View: https://new.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/13ijubm/howto_back_up_and_restore_signal_desktop_on_pc/


    I'm kind of gobsmacked that such a "secure" application would be so easy to transfer to a different computer. Yes there are limitations such as not being able to open it on both machines, but still.

    Since Signal depends on a mobile phone, if you link a new Desktop install to it, does that desktop not have access to the history? Do all linked devices not have access to the history, pulled from the mobile phone as the primary device? It seems like the only reason you'd need to save the Desktop history is if the mobile phone died, so Desktop was the only place it was retained. Or does Signal not work that way?
    Click to expand...

    Thanks.

    So, no, Signal does NOT transfer history from your phone to a newly linked Signal Desktop. The official Signal position is that they do not have a secure way to transfer history from one device to another running Signal Desktop. They also don't officially support backup for Signal Desktop - even though they do support backup on Signal Android and iOS devices. Note however that you can only restore from Android to Android and from iOS to iOS - if you switch platforms, you lose history.

    It's all a big ball of crap, and it's been far too long that Signal hasn't solved this problem.
     
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    Lord Evermore

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  • #4
    Jeff S said:
    Note however that you can only restore from Android to Android and from iOS to iOS - if you switch platforms, you lose history.
    Click to expand...
    Well, WhatsApp also didn't support transferring data from one platform to another for a very long time (in tech years). They still don't actually support backing up and restoring between them, it's just a live transfer, but it's something. There might be some sort of licensing issues inherent in having an Android app capable of accessing iCloud, or iOS app accessing Google Drive. I'm not a developer.

    As far as "transferring history" between devices, it seems like that should be easy enough, since the linked device HAS to talk to the mobile device to be authorized and join the encrypted chat session, and your contacts and everything, doesn't it? If you have linked devices, don't they all see the same chats and messages? When someone sends you a message, does it not appear on all your linked devices? When you link a device, you can't scroll back through the history which is pulled from the mobile device? WhatsApp supports this, and while I know Signal is supposed to be super secure, it's still encrypted data that isn't stored on their servers. (WhatsApp Desktop doesn't necessarily retain a complete copy of the history in a database. And I don't mean automatically copying the full history database, I just mean having the messages available to scroll back through on-demand. There should be little need to have a full copy.)
     
    moosemaimer

    moosemaimer

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  • #5
    I've started using a tool to move people's profiles when I can't get a full clone of the local drive, and it seems to work pretty well... you could give it a try if you have a spare machine to move it to (or a VM if you don't).

    ForensiT Move Computer

    ForensiT is a developer of windows System solutions. Our advanced software technology delivers a range of Windows data migration and management solutions.
    www.forensit.com
     
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    Lord Evermore

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  • #6
    moosemaimer said:
    I've started using a tool to move people's profiles when I can't get a full clone of the local drive, and it seems to work pretty well... you could give it a try if you have a spare machine to move it to (or a VM if you don't).

    ForensiT Move Computer

    ForensiT is a developer of windows System solutions. Our advanced software technology delivers a range of Windows data migration and management solutions.
    www.forensit.com
    Click to expand...
    In the case of Signal or other apps like it, if you copy the profile and then run the application on the other device or virtual machine, you break the installation on the existing device. That same "instance" can't be activated on two devices, and once it's activated on the "test" machine, the existing copy on the first device can't just be reactivated with all the existing data. So the original installation will be lost, and the copied version won't be working. It's a big risk.
     
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    Jeff S

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  • #7
    Lord Evermore said:
    I don't use Signal but it was very easy to find a process for backing up and moving the install, which would work here if needed. A reset of Windows where you use the "keep my files" option should keep the user profile, which should keep Signal assuming the actual application installs there Might break the installation so that it would need to be reinstalled, but that might just pick up the existing files and work without a problem. It might be safer to clean it out after the reset without running it and act like it's a new PC and restore the folder using this process.


    View: https://new.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/13ijubm/howto_back_up_and_restore_signal_desktop_on_pc/


    I'm kind of gobsmacked that such a "secure" application would be so easy to transfer to a different computer. Yes there are limitations such as not being able to open it on both machines, but still.

    Since Signal depends on a mobile phone, if you link a new Desktop install to it, does that desktop not have access to the history? Do all linked devices not have access to the history, pulled from the mobile phone as the primary device? It seems like the only reason you'd need to save the Desktop history is if the mobile phone died, so Desktop was the only place it was retained. Or does Signal not work that way?
    Click to expand...

    When you link a new Desktop, it starts from a clean slate and only has history going forward from that point in time. Hence my concern about making sure I had the history backed up.

    Just an update that I did successfully retain my Signal Desktop chat history.
     
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