Struggling to transfer text messages to 950XL, can I get some help?

[indylux]

Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

I'm struggling to transfer my SMS/MMS messages from my Lumia 1020 to my Lumia 950XL. I had the Lumia 1020 set to backup all of my text messages. When I first booted the 950XL, I didn't have a SIM installed yet (wrong size, Micro in the 1020, Nano in the 950XL) so I didn't restore from a backup at first boot.

When I installed the SIM, I got a couple dozen messages from 2-3 years ago, but then it stopped syncing messages (others in the forums have had a similar stop in progress). It's been over 48 hours and still no progress.

Tried the Transfer My Data app: It connects to the 1020, but only lets me transfer contacts, messages aren't listed.
Tried the Contacts+Messages app to backup from the 1020, copy the file to the 950XL and try a restore, but 'restore' is greyed out.
I would like to avoid a full phone restore just to get the messages to come over since I've already set up the new phone.

I'm running out of ideas. Can you guys help?

 

[occamsmonkey]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Same. I got stuck at messages from 2/4/2013 with no movement in days. I'm trying toggling the 'sync messages' setting in System > Messaging off and on to see if that jumpstarts it.

 

[indylux]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Figured it out. Using the Contact+Messages app, I had to transfer both the large data file as well as the .hsh file with the same name. This let the program on the 950XL see the restore point. Note that the .hsh file for MMS messages was 0 bytes so wouldn't upload to onedrive. I had to get a file explorer app on my 1020 to share it by bluetooth (which worked for some unknown reason).

Bottom line, everything is transferred now, but it was a pain. Hope this helps someone else if they have the same problem.

 

[indylux]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Sync Messages did NOT do it for me. I had copy the files directly as described. Good luck!

 

[jmajid]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Figured it out. Using the Contact+Messages app, I had to transfer both the large data file as well as the .hsh file with the same name. This let the program on the 950XL see the restore point. Note that the .hsh file for MMS messages was 0 bytes so wouldn't upload to onedrive. I had to get a file explorer app on my 1020 to share it to onedrive (which worked for some unknown reason).

Bottom line, everything is transferred now, but it was a pain. Hope this helps someone else if they have the same problem.

will def need step by step instructions if you have the time and the patience?Thanks in advance!

 

[ashram]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Experience from transferring from my 830 to 950...

Day 1, I had only texts from early 2013 synced on my 950.

Day 2, most of 2013 was synced.

Day 3, throughout the day texts restored up to Nov 2014.

Day 4, nothing. Was considering using the app to manually transfer.

Day 5, between 7:30 and 8pm, the rest of my text messages appeared.

Not sure why, but txt messages seem to take forever to restore.

 

[James Maliki]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Figured it out. Using the Contact+Messages app, I had to transfer both the large data file as well as the .hsh file with the same name. This let the program on the 950XL see the restore point. Note that the .hsh file for MMS messages was 0 bytes so wouldn't upload to onedrive. I had to get a file explorer app on my 1020 to share it by bluetooth (which worked for some unknown reason).


That's great for people who have phones that allow MicroSD cards. My Lumia 925 does not so I'm hard pressed to find a way to transfer it without.... Well. Hang on, what if I transfer the data over to an android device and then just transfer from the android to Windows. That should allow me to get the messages... I hope.
Bottom line, everything is transferred now, but it was a pain. Hope this helps someone else if they have the same problem.

 

[indylux]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

will def need step by step instructions if you have the time and the patience?Thanks in advance!

1) Download contacts+messages on old phone
2) Run backups on old phone in contacts+messages - it's hidden in settings. If you don't have an SD card, specify a folder (I used 'downloads')
3) Copy EVERYTHING IN THE BACKUP FOLDER to your new phone. If you have an SD card, use that. If not, upload to OneDrive. This is where the 0byte .hsh file wouldn't upload. To fix that, I downloaded the 'Files' app from microsoft, found the file and shared it to the lumia 950XL via bluetooth.
4) On the Lumia 950XL, download the files from onedrive to a folder (I used 'downloads' again). Be sure the .hsh file(s) are there too. You can use File Explorer to see if you have two files in the specified folders. Of Note, I think you need to retain the folder structure (/backup+restore/mmsbackup, etc).
5) Install the Backup+Restore app on the Lumia 950XL, launch it, change the folder to the backup folder you made and run restore.

Worked for me.

 

[indylux]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

Experience from transferring from my 830 to 950...

Day 1, I had only texts from early 2013 synced on my 950.

Day 2, most of 2013 was synced.

Day 3, throughout the day texts restored up to Nov 2014.

Day 4, nothing. Was considering using the app to manually transfer.

Day 5, between 7:30 and 8pm, the rest of my text messages appeared.

Not sure why, but txt messages seem to take forever to restore.

In other words, be patient. Go have a snack or something... :grin:

 

[randyoaks187]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

1) Download contacts+messages on old phone
2) Run backups on old phone in contacts+messages - it's hidden in settings. If you don't have an SD card, specify a folder (I used 'downloads')
3) Copy EVERYTHING IN THE BACKUP FOLDER to your new phone. If you have an SD card, use that. If not, upload to OneDrive. This is where the 0byte .hsh file wouldn't upload. To fix that, I downloaded the 'Files' app from microsoft, found the file and shared it to the lumia 950XL via bluetooth.
4) On the Lumia 950XL, download the files from onedrive to a folder (I used 'downloads' again). Be sure the .hsh file(s) are there too. You can use File Explorer to see if you have two files in the specified folders. Of Note, I think you need to retain the folder structure (/backup+restore/mmsbackup, etc).
5) Install the Backup+Restore app on the Lumia 950XL, launch it, change the folder to the backup folder you made and run restore.

Worked for me.

Were you able to get MMS backup to work? Everything I have read about it indicates that the feature never worked, only SMS backup. I am hoping that my msgs come back like Asrams did just after waiting a days.

 

[HarleyBigDog]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

1) Download contacts+messages on old phone
2) Run backups on old phone in contacts+messages - it's hidden in settings. If you don't have an SD card, specify a folder (I used 'downloads')
3) Copy EVERYTHING IN THE BACKUP FOLDER to your new phone. If you have an SD card, use that. If not, upload to OneDrive. This is where the 0byte .hsh file wouldn't upload. To fix that, I downloaded the 'Files' app from microsoft, found the file and shared it to the lumia 950XL via bluetooth.
4) On the Lumia 950XL, download the files from onedrive to a folder (I used 'downloads' again). Be sure the .hsh file(s) are there too. You can use File Explorer to see if you have two files in the specified folders. Of Note, I think you need to retain the folder structure (/backup+restore/mmsbackup, etc).
5) Install the Backup+Restore app on the Lumia 950XL, launch it, change the folder to the backup folder you made and run restore.

Worked for me.

I have tried this. On the 925, I have to continually make touches to the screen, as it takes over 5 min to get to all the screens it needs. I was able to backup the SMS, and have both the hsh and msg files. It kept breaking on MMS backup, I'd get about 1/2 the files it listed to go, and then it just dumped the app all together and went back to Settings. So, I brought the files over to the phone, placed in exactly the same directory, and then launched the contacts+messages, selected the root folder where things were, and it won't allow me to Restore, that option is greyed out. I have even tried to select the individual files themselves, and a variety of places for the folder, and nothing seems to work.

UPDATE: I was seeking too far for the folder. It had to be from Downloads, not the Downloads/backup+restore folder, in order to see the restore point. Also, it is only doing the SMS, the MMS did not seem to back up, as stated, there was an issue about 1/2 way through. I am going to soldier on, and see if I can't get it to work, but for now, I at least have my SMS, and those are the important things, really. Thank you for the post and the help on this!

 

[HarleyBigDog]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

I wish there was a way to find the errant message or image or whatever it is, and delete it, so that the rest could be backed up. I suppose I could go back and get rid of everything I don't want, but that would pretty much be a waste of time trying to chase down images in almost 7k messages. Yikes! There just needs to be a better, more reliable way to get these, but at least we have this.

 

[ajj3085]

Re: Struggling to Transfer Text Messages to 950XL

I have tried this. On the 925, I have to continually make touches to the screen, as it takes over 5 min to get to all the screens it needs. I was able to backup the SMS, and have both the hsh and msg files. It kept breaking on MMS backup, I'd get about 1/2 the files it listed to go, and then it just dumped the app all together and went back to Settings. So, I brought the files over to the phone, placed in exactly the same directory, and then launched the contacts+messages, selected the root folder where things were, and it won't allow me to Restore, that option is greyed out. I have even tried to select the individual files themselves, and a variety of places for the folder, and nothing seems to work.

UPDATE: I was seeking too far for the folder. It had to be from Downloads, not the Downloads/backup+restore folder, in order to see the restore point. Also, it is only doing the SMS, the MMS did not seem to back up, as stated, there was an issue about 1/2 way through. I am going to soldier on, and see if I can't get it to work, but for now, I at least have my SMS, and those are the important things, really. Thank you for the post and the help on this!

Trying this now; backup went quick and smooth for me (8200 SMS, 174 MMS), going to try the restore. Thanks!

I did wait a few days and the messages never automatically returned to my Lumia 950 XL, and I've had the phone for a few days now. I think something is just broken with the restore process; on Win 8.1 on a 640 LTE, I had to turn the backup text setting off and on as the restore would chock, but doing that kept it going. I could actually see the texts appearing in a contacts thread. That never happened on the 950, a few new texts restored, some from 2013, but most never came back.

The Transfer my Data app didn't work either; it only copied 143 texts, which obviously isn't most of them.

EDIT: The texts restored ok, but it said the MMS failed the integrity check, so none of those restored. That's not a big deal though i think i can access all of them online at outlook.com. I do have some dupicates now though, but I can clear those out over time if it bothers me. I'll run the backup from time to time. Wish I knew about this earlier.

 

[peashooter14]

Just be patient, it takes forever, and there is probably an update in the background downloading and killing your battery.