How to recover data to a different machine

[tgm]

What I’m trying to do

Windows 11
Had a crash on a Windows machine and I need to recover Obsidian to a new machine environment (also Windows). Some time has passed, so I’m not sure which version of the software was in my backup. The backup consists of both \appdata\local\Obsidian and \appdata\roaming\Obsidian file structures. There is also a \appdata\local\obsidian-updater file structure that appears to be involved.

Things I have tried

I tried a complete recovery to a new machine, but this failed with Obsidian hanging during startup with an empty square box on the screen. I read somewhere that just recovering the vault directories should work after Obsidian is installed, but it didn’t.

So, is there a procedure somewhere that lists exactly what needs to be done to recover the Obsidian environment? If not, I propose that there should be one (that is easily found).

[DieterRock]

Try installing Obsidian and using copy/paste to return all files

[ariehen]

The files & folders in %appdata% are the app and index/support files for the app. I wouldn’t worry about these.

You want to retrieve your vault(s) folder(s). That is where all your notes/images/PDFs/etc., in your vault are. If you can remember the name of the vault, great. Copy and paste that folder to the new machine.

If not, you can search for a collection of .md files. Your vault will be a regular folder with a .obsidian/ settings folder inside it.

Once this folder is copied to the new machine, install Obsidian normally and in the vault switcher, use Open folder as vault and select that folder.