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INSTALLATION.md

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Installation

Windows

Overview

  • You need to install Python to be able to run the Python executable "sigexport.exe"
  • The Python executable "sigexport.exe" is downloaded from the Python Package Index (an online repository). The Python executable requires Docker Desktop to function, and it will automatically download a Docker image that is used in the process of extracting the Signal chat data.
  • Docker Desktop needs the Windows feature WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) to work.

Steps

1. Installation of Windows WSL2

  • Go to the Start menu and search for "Turn Windows features on or off".
  • Select "Windows Subsystem for Linux" and click OK.
  • Open a PowerShell prompt and install WSL2 with:
wsl --install

2. Install Docker Desktop

  • Download Docker Desktop from here
  • Run the Docker setup file
  • Select the option "Use WSL 2 instead of Hyper-V (recommended)"

3. Install Python

  • Go to the Start menu and open the Microsoft Store
  • In the Microsoft Store, search for "Python"
  • Click on "Python 3.12" (or later) and then "Get"

4. Install signal-export

  • Open a PowerShell prompt
  • Download the package from the online repository with:
pip install --user signal-export

5. Run the executable to extract chat history

  • Run the command below, the target directory will be automatically created:
python -m sigexport C:\Temp\MySignalExport
  • To see all options:
python -m sigexport --help

Troubleshooting

WSL Issues

You might need to manually update WSL in some circumstances. If so, use the link below:

Running sigexport

Note: Any improvements to these instructions would be great.

If the approach above doesn't work, you might need to try locating the sigexport script manually.

You're looking for a path something like the one below, you might need to go hunting for it under \Local\Packages. Once you've found it, open PowerShell and cd to the directory:

cd C:\Users\<MyUserName>\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.XX_<random-letters>\LocalCache\local-packages\Python3XX\Scripts\

Then you can run the script like this:

.\sigexport.exe C:\Temp\MySignalExport