Transferring Email Account From a File?

vatra

• March 05, 2026 18:42
• Edited

One client has a cpmove-username.tar file from its previous host containing an entire cPanel account. He only wants to restore a few email accounts from it, and he wants to do it himself.

Could you please recommend the safest procedure for this?

• Is it sufficient to manually copy the mail directory (/home/USER/mail/example.com/account/) and then recreate the email account in cPanel?
• Are there additional configuration files (passwords, quotas, shadow files, etc.) that must be migrated?

• 

  cPRex Jurassic Moderator

  • March 05, 2026 20:51

  Hey hey!  Actually, you should create the email account first - that will build the file structure so you can move the files over.  I'd recommend using rsync to move the content so you don't overwrite any of the new structure.

  If you have data from /home/username/etc and want to try moving those, just ensure the ownership is the same.

  After the copy is complete run:

  /scripts/mailperm username

  to ensure the system has reset everything related to that email account.

  You might find some more helpful data in this recent thread: https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/community/posts/38494899250711

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  vatra

  • March 05, 2026 21:39

  Hey! Thank you! The thing is, the client doesn't want my interference at all. What can he do on his own from his cPanel?

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  cPRex Jurassic Moderator

  • March 05, 2026 22:24

  If the user has shell access he should be able to do everything except the mailperm script.  That updates data in /var/cpanel, but you could always run that for him once the work is complete.

  It's not absolutely critical that script gets run to restore the mail data, but I like to do it just in case to keep everything in sync.

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