[Q] WhatsApp history restore does not restore images - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
Hi guys,
I've just re-installed WhatsApp. I manually backed up my chat history before uninstalling using the built-in backup feature. When I re-installed it, the installation successfully found the backup and automatically restored it. I can see all my messages but the problem is the thumbnails of previous pictures do not open the full image. When I click on the thumbnail it says "Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your SD card."
However when I check the folder, WhatsApp/Media/Images on my internal SD card, they are all still in there. It seems like the links are broken. Any new pictures that I receive after the re-installation work fine. And these new pictures are also in the said folder along with the previous pictures.
I have tried forcing a rescan of the media; moving all the pictures into another folder, rescanning, moving them back in then rescanning. I am on CM10. The WhatsApp folder is on the internal SD partition as it's always been (even in CM7).
Does anyone have any ideas?
CVonV said:
Hi guys,
I've just re-installed WhatsApp. I manually backed up my chat history before uninstalling using the built-in backup feature. When I re-installed it, the installation successfully found the backup and automatically restored it. I can see all my messages but the problem is the thumbnails of previous pictures do not open the full image. When I click on the thumbnail it says "Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your SD card."
However when I check the folder, WhatsApp/Media/Images on my internal SD card, they are all still in there. It seems like the links are broken. Any new pictures that I receive after the re-installation work fine. And these new pictures are also in the said folder along with the previous pictures.
I have tried forcing a rescan of the media; moving all the pictures into another folder, rescanning, moving them back in then rescanning. I am on CM10. The WhatsApp folder is on the internal SD partition as it's always been (even in CM7).
Does anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try wipng data in settings >>applicatiin>>manage apps >>whatsapp >>clear data
and sign in again
or try to send an error report to whats app about this matter
Soul reaper said:
try wipng data in settings >>applicatiin>>manage apps >>whatsapp >>clear data
and sign in again
or try to send an error report to whats app about this matter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's pretty much the same as uninstalling and reinstalling. but yeah gave that a try anyway and still the same result
and yeah i did email whatsapp support.. not sure if i'll get a reply though
Just don't think that's possible as of now. Maybe they'll enable it later. If they respond to your email, can you post their response here for all of us to see?
I think/ am quite sure that Whatsapp for now does not re-allow images to be put on their backup servers because of the space it uses. (for millions of users)
Guess that will be a feature will not get for the moment.
it's not restored (uploaded) back onto their servers..
i've restored many times before on CM7 with the thumbnail links (well pointers to be exact) to the full-sized images on the sd card being correct
but i've never experienced this breakage of the "pointers" =\
i will post their reply if they ever do
Loveleen Kaur (WhatsApp Support)
Jan 09 09:07 (PST)
Hi there,
Thanks for your response. Apparently, this issue is relative to switching from CM7 to CM10. We apologize for the inconvenience. We hope to resolve these types of issues in the future. Unfortunately, we cannot comment on the timeline of when a fix will be available.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to help!
--
Loveleen Kaur
[email protected]
WhatsApp Support Team
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:/
interestingly enough.. the CM10.1 09/01 2nd build for the LG P990 fixed this whole problem!
Hi
After reading that email response and not seeing no update tells me this has not been resolved?
I just downgraded my phone back to my old one, which in the past I successfully transferred whatsapp (Xperia Mini Pro > Xperia Z)
Now for a temporary reason I need to transfer back from the Z to the Xperia mini pro.
Even though I have factory reset the Xperia mini pro and firmware updated it, when I go to restore the whatsapp, but I am missing the images between the time I got the Xperia Z.
There is like a 6 Month gap, all the Xperia Z media is not linked although they are all in the same folder?
There is a linking issue since the old ones load?
Any thoughts on this.
The only think i noticed that has changed was that the Xperia Z had the files on the Internal SD, where as the Xperia Mini Pro had them on the External SD... Which would explain it, but I cant actually put files on the internal space (it has none for user use)
I would like to resolve this at some point soon.
Many Thanks
i am facing a similar issue as well.
i had to send my xperia z for repair, so i did a backup of the whatsapp folder and did a restore to my old HTC desire s.
whatsapp on the HTC phone was saying that the media is not found (only for old media files), but new media received on HTC phone was ok.
after i got my xperia z back, i did a backup of the whatsapp folder on the htc phone and restored on my xperia z.
now xperia z is able to view all my old media files that were originally received on the xperia phone. but when i try to view any media that i received on the HTC phone, whatsapp is giving the "media not found error". but all the media files are inside the whatsapp directory.
Yeah I just got a note 3 a few weeks ago and transferred my WhatsApp folder from my LG 2X. Got the same problem again. They were both stored on internal SD. I don't think I can be bothered anymore.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
I also encountered this problem "sorry this media file doesn't exist on your SD card" and the images are blurred, and after playing it for a while on my ace 2, I finally solved it. Its Whatsapp folder pointer problem.
Basically you need to use a file explorer, and there should be 2 folders, sdcard0 (internal phone memory) and extsdcard (external sd card), your backup (conversations, images, videos) are in extsdcard, and you need to copy the media folder in extsdcard/whatsapp folder and then paste it to sdcard0/whatsapp folder (overwrite), and that's it. If your sdcard0/whatsapp/media contains some images already, then you got to copy the images from extsdcard to sdcard0 (not by folder overwrite).
Hope this helps
I'm having a similar problem.
I downgraded my Samsung Galaxy S from CM11 (which I used for about 6 months) to a custom ICS mod. Even though al my media files are located in the correct folder on my internal SD card and Whatsapp properly reloaded my chat database, Whatsapp doesn't seem to be able to locate the pictures I received or took in the last 6 months. However, pictures from before CM11 are detected properly.
Did something changes in the filesystem setup between ICS and CM11? If so, is there a way to correct this for Whatsapp??
right now the offical last version is 2.11.378 which i downloaded from play store after a clean new rom and i got the "unable to restore" message. then i had downloaded whatsapp+ because of the more options. so i said lets try nothing to loose and voilaaa succesfully restored even with the pictures and everything. i checked the + version. right now it is 2.11.301
thewalekk said:
right now the offical last version is 2.11.378 which i downloaded from play store after a clean new rom and i got the "unable to restore" message. then i had downloaded whatsapp+ because of the more options. so i said lets try nothing to loose and voilaaa succesfully restored even with the pictures and everything. i checked the + version. right now it is 2.11.301
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried now with Whatsapp+ but still nothing...
Those who cant get their history back, here is the %100 working answer.
First rename your whatsapp folder something else just incase.
Then download whatsapp+ 6.15D and install
Rename your folder back again as whatsapp
Open the app and register your phone just like original version
(If you had a plus backup before the app will ask to restore the plus backup. Pass it and register as normal)
Now restore your messages (you will see it will be restored)
Now go to the plus options and take a full plus backup (not normal whatsapp backup! Plus backup!)
Now rename whatsapp folder again just incase and uninstall whatsapp+ and install the latest plus version
Rename the folder back
This time use plus restore option when you first open the app
And there you go... latest version and your all messages are back )
P.S : Sometimes you can get an error when you register your phone like "your client's base has chaned" if you get the error install the latest original from play store and uninstall it and do the steps from the begenning...
b1inarical said:
i am facing a similar issue as well.
i had to send my xperia z for repair, so i did a backup of the whatsapp folder and did a restore to my old HTC desire s.
whatsapp on the HTC phone was saying that the media is not found (only for old media files), but new media received on HTC phone was ok.
after i got my xperia z back, i did a backup of the whatsapp folder on the htc phone and restored on my xperia z.
now xperia z is able to view all my old media files that were originally received on the xperia phone. but when i try to view any media that i received on the HTC phone, whatsapp is giving the "media not found error". but all the media files are inside the whatsapp directory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
A friend just experienced the same "Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your SD card." problem when he moved his WhatsApp chats between two phones, like b1inarical did with his Xperia Z and HTC Desire S.
Has anyone found a technical workaround to this perennial WhatsApp account transfer problem, or is it innate and cannot be solved?
Thanks in advance.
This worked for me - backup the entire WhatsApp directory from the old phone from the SDCARD (or wherever it is on your phone), then copy it to the new phone BEFORE you install WhatsApp. When you install it on your new phone choose to RESTORE THE MESSAGE backup and the images should be linked to the correct directory on your phone
sam10000 said:
Hi
A friend just experienced the same "Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your SD card." problem when he moved his WhatsApp chats between two phones, like b1inarical did with his Xperia Z and HTC Desire S.
Has anyone found a technical workaround to this perennial WhatsApp account transfer problem, or is it innate and cannot be solved?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sam10000 said:
Hi
A friend just experienced the same "Sorry, this media file doesn't exist on your SD card." problem when he moved his WhatsApp chats between two phones, like b1inarical did with his Xperia Z and HTC Desire S.
Has anyone found a technical workaround to this perennial WhatsApp account transfer problem, or is it innate and cannot be solved?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found the root cause, but not a way to fix this issue.
By switching WhatsApp from a Nexus 5 to a Galaxy S2 (have to send N5 in RMA) I restored conversations but media link is broken, although the folder has been placed correctly.
By opening your WhatsApp DB (/data/data/com.whatsapp/msgstore.db) with a text editor like Notepad++, look for
Code:
/storage/emulated/0/Whatsapp
This is the WhatsApp folder on my Nexus 5. However, the internal SD card on the Galaxy S2 is /storage/sdcard0. Since WhatsApp is quite stupid, it saves the FULL path in the DB, instead of pointing straight to /sdcard/.
If I open this DB with ANY SQLite browser, I can find only few of these paths, contained in the media_refs table. Only 51 results are shown, while I have thousands of audio clips and pictures. Messages table does contain many information, including the Whatsapp server where the media has been downloaded, but not the path on the device.
Does anybody know how to pull this information? It is displayed when opened in Notepad++ (and I can see thousands of results searching for /storage/emulated/0/) but the DB table does not show all of them...
Sorry to bump an old thread but is the only thread I can find with a similar issue to mine. HTC M8 (lolipop) is in for repair and managed to back up my chat history to a loan phone from a friend HTC desire 610 (kitkat). Chat history has been restored with no issues. But the media images are "not on SD card" however if I manually browse they are there. Did anyone find a solution or a way to change the path as per Oliver's post?
Strange part is that videos have moved over with no issues. Just images.
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Hey everyone, I don't know if it's since the new WhatsApp update or related to SuperSU, but, Im not able to share / import anything to WhatsApp that's stored in the Internal storage. One solution I found was to copy the needed media to extSd. Ye, it worked, but it's really annoying to move everytime the item over to some storage on external. Update from now: Noticed it is not only related to WhatsApp. Any help will be thankful. Using ArchiDroid 1.7.18 with ArchiKernel 1.5.2
bobik666 said: Hey everyone, I don't know if it's since the new WhatsApp update or related to SuperSU, but, Im not able to share / import anything to WhatsApp that's stored in the Internal storage. One solution I found was to copy the needed media to extSd. Ye, it worked, but it's really annoying to move everytime the item over to some storage on external. Update from now: Noticed it is not only related to WhatsApp. Any help will be thankful. Using ArchiDroid 1.7.18 with ArchiKernel 1.5.2 Click to expand... Click to collapse I had the same issue follow these steps just copy the contents of the folder some place else delete and recreate the folder put back all the content Profit!
and it doesn't work then hold the file and then u will see the sending options like Bluetooth,wifi-direct,etc. at the end of that option there is whatsapp like these u can share only images and videos !!!! thank you
Problems when restoring mmssms.db in nougat
Greetings. I'm having a problem restoring my messages using adb method in Nougat. I have done it before in CM12 and CM13 with no problems but since I flashed LineageOS 7.1.1, I had problems with it. First was the location. Before it was located in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/database. After googling around, I found a this thread. Turns out it was now located in /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony. So I go ahead and pushed my mmssms.db backup to that location but still my messages did not appear. Worse is my SMS app crashes every time I open it. Did a reboot, wiped cache/dalvik cache, tried to delete the *.db-journal files as mentioned in the thread but still no luck. I had to wipe the data again to regain my SMS app. I hope someone can help me. TIA
Bump
I have the same problem...
Yep same problem here. The /data/user_de location doesn't really seem to work either
Same problem here with latest Lineage on a rooted serranoltexx (Samsung Galaxy S4 mini LTE). I think something changed in the last update, but I don't understand whether it's Android's or Lineage's fault. I give you more information, as it seems like a recent issue which troubles a lot of users - I found many similar threads, but no solution so far. On my old Samsung S2 I was using the app SlightBackup (free, from F-Droid) to backup SMSs. However, copying the SlightBackup database (.xml format) on my new phone and reinstalling it there doesn't seem to work, so I decided to copy manually the mmssms.db file. Also in my case, the new directory seems to be /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases (however, there is also a file called telephony.db which has a symbolic link in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases ) Still, my SMSs do not show up, and moreover the "contacts" app crashes. I tried deleting all the content of the folder and then the messaging app crashes (a full reboot restored the content, however, and the functionality of both apps with it). Interesting to notice that all the *.db and *.db-journal files in the folder do not change size even if I send/receive SMSs, so I guess they are there just for compatibility, and do not actually store the messages. The "real" database is probably somewhere else, but I have no idea where to look for. Help would be really appreciated. I'm willing to send 0.01 BTC to the first person who finds a working solution P.S.: yes, I have also taken care of the filesystem permissions of the .db file, which is something not mentioned in any other thread I found, but important I think. In my case the .db file is 660 with owner radio:radio, same for the .db-journal but permissions 600. P.P.S.: installing third-party apps to restore my SMSs is not an option in my case. I know about working apps in the Play Store but I don't want to use them. P.P.P.S.: yes, my phone is rooted, and I am not using third-party messaging apps, just the default one.
Failed to Restore Whatsapp Database after migrating from STOCK to LineageOS 14.1
I'm struggling with something that never happened to me, I'm unable to restore my database to my recently upgraded Samsung J3 2016 - is running LineageOS 14.1 now The phone was running stock Android 5.1.1, version J320FXXU0AQI1, nothing fancy here. Made some research about what ROM to use and decided to upgrade to LineageOS 14.1, I'm really sick and tired of Google spying my steps, my contacts and the number of times i take a piss every day, and so on. Right now I don't have any Google account associated with the mobile (could this be the problem, since this is a custom ROM?) Everything ran smoothly, backed up my contacts, call logs, SMS, pictures and the ENTIRE Whataspp folder. This method always worked fine on several phones I've upgraded or simple swapped equipment to a more up-to-date hardware. Everytime worked like a charm, restored logs, contacts and so on, in what it concerns to Whatsapp i simply moved the ENTIRE folder to the new phone (or upgraded phone), installed the Whatsapp app and is just straight forward for the app to ask me for a SMS code to activate the software and then asked me to restore my backed up database. It has been very simple so far, but not this time: When it reachs the point to detect and restore my database Whatsapp states that can find one Database from 1970 (???? WTF) with 0 bytes, and after that it fails to restore my data (not strange, 0 bytes is no data). I've already tried earlier versions of Whataspp, tried different databases (there are 7 in my folder, i don't believe all of them are corrupted). I'm reaching 0 ways to explore. BTW, i dont use Google drive to store my backups because its enough for Google to know how many times i take a piss everyday, i rather have the backups with me, on my phone (thanks any way Google), but the files are safe in my desktop and on my phone for now, inaccessible so far but their're there. Can any one point me some way to try to revive my database? Just a note, i have an older phone that still have Whatsapp there, i didn't erased it, maybe it's there something of interest for this situation? Thanks so much in advance for everyone that can help, any hint can be helpful.
Update! I've managed to get another phone, exactly the same, Samsung J3 201 J320F. I've sent my whatsapp folder to the phone, signed in to my google account, installed whatasapp and, like 98% of the times my backup is ok and is restored. Now I have two phones: 1- one with Whataspp working fine (the one with Stock ROM 5.1.1 J320FXXU0AQI1 2- another one, the main phone, where i want to put my whataspp backup working but it simply doesnt work (previous post). Everything elese is settled and working just fine. Maybe whatasapp doesnt like Custom ROMs?? So, I'm sure that my backups are fine, right now I have access to anything that i may need i guess. I don't believe that Im the first person not beeing able to restore whataspp backups in LineageOS. Please help
New developments.: I've installed Ressurection 5.8.5, the latest available for this phone. It runs ok, but Whataspp problem is still there, the backup is marked to have 0Kb, somehow Whataspp simple doesn't want to recover my backup if I'm using a custom firmware (I receive a warning about no support from them if I have problems at the beginning of the startup process). So far this method didn't work (Whatsapp shows my Backup with 0Kb): 1) Copy your latest crypt 12 file to /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases/ 2) Install / Activate WhatsApp 3) WhatsApp will retrieve the key from their server and restore your backup. I've tried this method that appeared to have some success in same cases. Followed everything but no luck, Whataspp detects a 0Kb backup also. Meanwhile I still don't believe that I'm the very 1st person that this happens, I'm still very impressed with this. If the OP thinks I'm in the wrong Topic please feel free to move it to the right place, maybe there I'll have better luck.
Not that I have much knowledge in that direction, but the issue sounds more like it is about the file than Whatsapp itself. Maybe some permission issue? If you use a filemanager app like total commander, can it read the file fully? I found a topic that had 0 byte filesize issue and a simple reboot apparently fixed it.
musschrott said: Not that I have much knowledge in that direction, but the issue sounds more like it is about the file than Whatsapp itself. Maybe some permission issue? If you use a filemanager app like total commander, can it read the file fully? I found a topic that had 0 byte filesize issue and a simple reboot apparently fixed it. Click to expand... Click to collapse Hello musschrott, and thanks for replying. I've tried moving the database file, erase it, changing it's name and the android system allows me to do it, i think the file itself is free to be read by Whataspp, but your other tip, the permissions in system made me google around (even more..) about it and I found here on XDA this. : "The privacy protection in the drop down menu and the permission in the app settings." (credits to LegoTechniker). On the privacy protection is all ON but in the Permission is all OFF and Whataspp nor the System ask me to turn it ON and it can result on whatasapp reading files with 0Kb from 1970. I'll give a try but only tomorrow because the code/phonecall from Whataspp have a 48h delay and keeps increasing everytime I try a different method to solve this issue. musschrott, thanks again!
tomalamix said: Hello musschrott, and thanks for replying. I've tried moving the database file, erase it, changing it's name and the android system allows me to do it, i think the file itself is free to be read by Whataspp, but your other tip, the permissions in system made me google around (even more..) about it and I found here on XDA this. : "The privacy protection in the drop down menu and the permission in the app settings." (credits to LegoTechniker). On the privacy protection is all ON but in the Permission is all OFF and Whataspp nor the System ask me to turn it ON and it can result on whatasapp reading files with 0Kb from 1970. I'll give a try but only tomorrow because the code/phonecall from Whataspp have a 48h delay and keeps increasing everytime I try a different method to solve this issue. musschrott, thanks again! Click to expand... Click to collapse For everyone and specially those who helped (musschrott). This has worked for me: giving full permissions to Whataspp in "Settings - Privacy" and in "Settings - Applications" worked like a charm, you have to do it BEFORE you start Whatsapp. Best regards to everyone and thanks once more!
Make sure the WhatsApp backup file is in internal storage, and rename the backup file to msgstore.db.crypt. After upgrading to LineageOS 14.1,install WhatsApp.When asked to restore from backup,choose the "msgstore.db.crypt" file.
mango9 said: Make sure the WhatsApp backup file is in internal storage, and rename the backup file to msgstore.db.crypt. After upgrading to LineageOS 14.1,install WhatsApp.When asked to restore from backup,choose the "msgstore.db.crypt" file. Click to expand... Click to collapse Yes, Those are the basic steps, but BEFORE running Whatasapp for the 1st time you have to give permissions in the system to Whatsapp because these are all OFF and the system doesn't ask to turn them ON when the permission is needed, simply presents you a file with 0Kb from 1970 and that's it. Again, you have to do this BEFORE the 1st Whatsapp startup and everything should run well. Best regards
My issue is I gave full write permissions but then it goes straight to the Google Drive restore and does not show my local backup. When I followed this by Rahil: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsapp/comments/np2zjp "So today I finally fixed the issue myself Click to expand... Click to collapse Steps: 1)make sure you rename the database as it should be. 2)Install whatsapp 3)Insert your number when asked 4)Use Otp/code 5)Then the app will ask you for google drive permission ,click allow/ok 6)Then the app will ask for contact permission ,simply deny this permission (very important) 7)Then the app will ask for storage permission ,hit allow (very important) 8)Then you will see your local storage behind the popup saying allow google drive and crap You will need to press add account and have your fingers ready for instant tapping between add account and instant tapping restore button ,and out of 10-30 times doing this practice, you will luckily hit restore button, I know this sounds confusing, And I can make a tutorial video if you want ,this works 100% 9)once it is restored ,you will still see app asking google drive option, don't click skip (this will reset the app ,leading to nothing restored) , So when the app is asking to restore from google drive, close the app right away (very important) 10)open the app ,and the app will ask you to set name ,set your name ,and you'll see all your backup" Click to expand... Click to collapse It works but then it shows my local backup as 0k and from 12/31/1969 This is Driving me wild and now I have to wait 12 hrs to try again. Has anyone solved this ridiculous error?
dpoverlord said: My issue is I gave full write permissions but then it goes straight to the Google Drive restore and does not show my local backup. When I followed this by Rahil: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsapp/comments/np2zjp It works but then it shows my local backup as 0k and from 12/31/1969 This is Driving me wild and now I have to wait 12 hrs to try again. Has anyone solved this ridiculous error? Click to expand... Click to collapse Did you find a solution to this? I have the exact same problem
[APP] WhatsApp - Duplicated folders
Hi guys, I bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G and sent all data via direct usb cable and SmartSwitch app, from my old LG V30+. The SmartSwitch gave an alert, that WhatsApp data cannot be sent, and I have to use the builtin WhatsApp restore feature from the Google backup. So I did, and everything seems perfect. But now, I see that the WhatsApp media folders on the new device, are duplicated. They are not only on the root of internal memory, but also on the Android/media/com.whatsapp subfolder, for example the "WhatsApp Images" folder for images is both on: /storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images/ and /storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images/ If I compare them, the numbers of files is not the same, and I can't understand if I have to mantain both, or if I can delete one without losing files. Thanks a lot!
whatsapp unable to back up chat on device
Hi, Logging into xda after 3 years seeking your help. I am using a xiaomi poco f1 on lineage 16 without gapps/ no google flashed. Boot loader is unlocked but not rooted. My Whatsapp version is 2.21.22.26 I am looking to transfer my whatsapp to another phone and was trying to back up my my whatsapp chat to the device. But once i click chat backup and click back up, the chat gets backed up, but not sure where to find it. Its not there Files>whatsapp>searched all folders here. Really hope there is a simple solution. Kindly guide.
Open File Manager on your phone. Go to Internal Storage or SD Card. Find the WhatsApp folder and tap "Databases". In the Databases folder, you should see all the WhatsApp local backup files which are encrypted by WhatsApp.
Btw, the latest version of Whatsapp is v2.22.9.73. Update your WhatsApp Messenger.