Windows to Linux Migration

Problem reported by Tan - 3/3/2026 at 10:28 PM

Being Fixed

Hi,

Does anyone have experience with this? There isn’t much information available on the forums.

I have no issues with the inbound gateway on Linux (Docker), as it has been smooth sailing, easy to maintain, and serves its purpose well.

Because of that, I decided to migrate one small SmarterMail build from Windows to Linux. However, so far the experience has not been smooth. I followed the documentation as closely as possible to perform the migration. I am using the Docker method, as it will make future upgrades easier.

The system detected the format conversion, and during the first login attempt, I was unable to log in due to the following error:

{

"message": "'SmarterMail.Web.Api.ConversionStatusController' does not contain a definition for 'Authenticate_Private'"

}

I have had a support ticket open for a few days, and they are still working on it.

One concern I have regarding their recent update is that, based on company policy, performing data migration via SSH/RDP is out of scope. This means that if production data encounters conversion issues, they would not be able to directly assist and can only provide guidance through the ticket.

===

Unfortunately per company policy, preforming data migration via SSH/RDP is out of scope but I can provide information and guidance.

===

5 Replies

Reply to Thread

Zach Sylvester Replied

3/4/2026 at 7:21 AM

Employee Post

Hey Tan,

Thank you for reaching out and for providing the error details. I’ve discussed this with our team, and we’ve created an internal task to further investigate the issue you’re experiencing.

We will post an update here once the issue is resolved.

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Tan Replied

3/4/2026 at 8:47 PM

Thanks ! You are always helpful

Tan Replied

3/6/2026 at 8:26 AM

@Zach Sylvester, possible for you to take over my ticket? New build fixed the first issue but 2nd issue surface.

Zach Sylvester Replied

3/6/2026 at 6:41 PM

Employee Post

Hey Tan,

Thank you for the update and for the additional information.

Based on what we are seeing, this appears to be related to the Windows to Linux upgrade and migration process. To properly investigate the behavior you are encountering, we will need to reproduce the issue internally.

The best way for us to do that would be for you to provide a config only copy of your domains, along with the domains.xml file from your SmarterMail installation directory. On Windows installations, this file is typically located in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\SmarterTools\SmarterMail\

Once collected, please zip everything together and attach it to your support ticket so our team can review it.

Below are instructions for creating a config-only copy.

robocopy "__SOURCE__" "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\__USER_OR_DOMAIN__-ConfigOnlyBackUp" /E /R:1 /W:1 /XF *.stat* *.grp /XD FileStore IndexV2 /NP /LOG+:"%TEMP%\RoboCopy.log"

__SOURCE__ should be replaced with the path to the user or domain. For example, using the default location:

C:\SmarterMail\Domains\EXAMPLE.COM\Users\USER_NAME

__USER_OR_DOMAIN__ should be replaced with the username or domain name you are copying.

This will create a folder on the Desktop containing the configuration data. Please zip that folder and attach it to your support ticket along with the domains.xml file mentioned above.

Since this appears to be a separate issue from the one previously reported, support will need to create a new task once we have the configuration and replication steps so our team can investigate it further.

While I’m happy to help review the issue, I’m not able to take ownership of the support ticket directly as I’m part of the development team. The support team will continue managing the ticket and coordinating with us as needed.

Kind regards,

Zach Sylvester Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Tan Replied

3/7/2026 at 1:21 AM

Thanks, I have uploaded the files as instructed.

I think once my problem are all solved, it is good to update this article for docker migration too.

https://portal.smartertools.com/kb/a3691/migrating-smartermail-to-linux.aspx

Back to Community Threads

Please leave this box unchecked

Reply to Thread

Enter the verification text