Re-establishing a Winlink account after it has been purged
Follow these steps to recreate a Winlink Account that has been purged after 400 days of inactivity:
Do not simply reinstall Winlink Express over an existing installation. There is a client-side trap: Winlink Express retains the user's configuration under C:\RMS Express. Simply reinstalling the program will therefore leave the old callsign/password configuration in place. The user can end up repeatedly trying to authenticate with credentials associated with the deleted account, rather than actually starting with a clean account configuration. Remove the existing C:\RMS Express folder before reinstalling so that the account setup starts clean.
For a Winlink account that has been purged due to inactivity:
- Uninstall Winlink Express.
- Delete the entire C:\RMS Express folder.
This is important because uninstalling the application alone may not remove the existing user configuration.
If there are locally stored messages or other files that need to be preserved, back them up first. - Reinstall the current version of Winlink Express.
- Start Winlink Express and perform the initial setup again.
- Enter the user's callsign and a new Winlink password.
- Connect using Telnet Winlink initially. This is particularly useful because it eliminates radio/TNC/gateway issues from the account-recreation process.
- Send a message to establish the account.
- Once CMS accepts the connection and the new account has been established, configure the desired RF session(s).
- Verify that the new password works with the newly created account.