Hmm, last time I tried I had no trouble doing this with an ICQ 2000-something version. I’ll try again and report back.

Well, I also failed at first 😉. But I still have a partition image around, where ICQ was installed, and I extracted the registry branch that seems to be relevant (see attached file, a Windows XP export). Now I can access it again. I used version 2002a.

Thank you for doing that for me! I will edit the branch to match my directory structure fingers crossed

Another way could be to install Miranda NG and import the database afterwards.

kind regards
soggi

Unfortunately both didn't work, I tried the registry key and added in my own uin and didn't work, owners I assume is your username? I changed that also. Still asking to create a new uin or restore a old one from the server.

I installed miranda ing but as expected it didn't import my old icq98a dat files, just said 0 imported

Argh, sorry for that...this was the only idea I had. 😒

I started with ICQ99 or ICQ2000 back then and later converted to Miranda IM (deprecated for some years, followed by Miranda NG [w/o Win9x support]) when ICQ no longer ran on Win98SE...but this all was soooo long ago, didn't use this stuff for some years (maybe over a decade).

kind regards
soggi

Thank you for the idea anyway , it was worth a try! Think my problem is icq98 had some older version of databases because every database viewer I find is icq99+

But while searching I found this document: https://github.com/miranda-ng/miranda-ng/blob … CQ_Db_Specs.txt - ICQ98 is mentioned there and should be not a problem to import!? Maybe your DB is defective!?

kind regards
soggi

at the start of the document it says this

This document describes parts of the fileformat used by the databases in
= ICQ 99a - 2002a and is based on the 99a & 99b database specifications as
= described in "ICQNEWDB.TXT" by Derek Soeder.

I couldn't find any mention of icq98 except for a entry near the end showing different exe file versions

i've found these:

seems to be ICQ99 and above but i would contact the authors over github
https://github.com/patric-r/ICQExport (ask for filling an issue if it doesn't work)
https://github.com/pp3345/ICQDump
https://github.com/yuvadm/icqdump

what about this one?
https://zalbee.intricus.net/immerge/
"converting ICQ Pro (98-2003b) logs into Trillian LOG and XML, automatically during merging"

not all downloads are working on the immerge page but maybe it works for you

treeman wrote on 2021-10-05, 04:53:

at the start of the document it says this […]
Show full quote

at the start of the document it says this

This document describes parts of the fileformat used by the databases in
= ICQ 99a - 2002a and is based on the 99a & 99b database specifications as
= described in "ICQNEWDB.TXT" by Derek Soeder.

I couldn't find any mention of icq98 except for a entry near the end showing different exe file versions

Ah, uh...thought this "Separator value" is something to be used to extract the DB.

llm wrote on 2021-10-05, 05:00:

what about this one? https://zalbee.intricus.net/immerge/ "converting ICQ Pro (98-2003b) logs into Trillian LOG and XML, automat […]
Show full quote

what about this one?
https://zalbee.intricus.net/immerge/
"converting ICQ Pro (98-2003b) logs into Trillian LOG and XML, automatically during merging"

not all downloads are working on the immerge page but maybe it works for you

Ha, I also had Trillian in mind, but didn't mention it...

Hopefully there's some way to restore the DB!?

kind regards
soggi

treeman wrote on 2021-10-05, 03:25:

Unfortunately both didn't work, I tried the registry key and added in my own uin and didn't work, owners I assume is your username?

No, "owners" is supposed to be as it is. My user number is 75556260, the user name "Ringding", and also the first entry in the file ("LastOwner") contains the uin in numeric form. So you need to replace this (LastOwner) and all occurrences of 75556260 with your own uin, and likely the user name as well. The database files for version 2002a live under a directory called "2002a".

I gave a second attempt to your registry file but still not working, however for some reason I started googling some of the registry keys and after googling dword:000000ad I found a site back from 99 on how to hack uins 🤣

Anyway there is a more detailed and full registry branch there, which I saved as a reg file and filled with my own info.

I installed icq99b which has a db converter tool from the old 98 format.

After I installed 99b I tried your reg file and unfortunately didn't work, then I tried then one from the site and yess my db got converted to icq99a and its there including my old contacts!

Thanks alot for getting my on the right track, you pretty much did it.

I will prob use one or the converters now to export it to a easy format to store now.

This is where I got the other registry branch from

https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/12020/i … er.exploits.txt

Great that you found a solution for this problem!

kind regards
soggi

I know the topic is old but couldn't help to attach this little program that is so useful, it converts icq db to html!
works with all versions. The URL of the dev is dead. So here it is for your delight and further reference, its nowhere to be found anymore.

Icq History Reader v1.8f
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The program reads out ICQ information stored in ICQ database (DAT) files
Extracts password & user info. ( >=99db )
Works with: 98/99/2000/2001/2002 databases.