Little help needed: Whatsapp Backup restore problem

[bert48]

Hello fellow Zenfone 8 owners. I am trying to restore whatsapp with a local backupfile:(msgstore.db.crypt14 and msgstore-2021-05-23.db.crypt14)
I have placed them on the Zenfone internal storage folder: internalstorage/Whatsapp/Databases.
But Whatsapp does not find/locate them. It tries to use Google Drive (in which I have no backups) and after finding none only restores the contacts (and not the messages), it just skips the 'use local backup' check.
My question: Could somebody please check on their Zenfone 8 in which folder exactly a working copy of Whatsapp with a local backup enabled is storing the crypt14 files (or crypt12)/databases folder? And then I mean in /android or /storage or /data or???? And if
And if somebody had the same problem: How did you solve it?
Thx in advance!

[aichitho]

Hi,
had the same problem and have found no solution. Tried every folder and File combination. Whatsapp even blocked my number for some hours due to reactivating it so often. Just use Google-Drive once. You can copy your Media from the old Phone to Internal/Whatsapp and rename your Media Folder on your old Phone before doing the Backup to Google Drive. This to avoids uploading everything to GD. WhatsApp Backup System is and always has been a mess. I'm slowly dropping WA for Telegram and Signal as usability (and Privacy) is superior.

[bert48]

Yes it's not working. Possible a bug within their latest app version and their support is.... dramatic (only computer generated (bad/stupid) answers. I solved it by installing a much older version of whatsapp, import the local messages, and upgrade to the version before the current version.

[oli_eichler]

Could you give more details on what you did to restore the chats? Which old version did you use to import the database file in?

[ghostboy600]

Here is a more in depth explanation of the solution that worked for me with this recent issue. I found this solution on stackoverlow.
"Same issue here.
I finally solved it by installing an older version of the software (2.21.8.17, downloaded from apkmirror) and then following the "registration wizard". It found the local backup and was able to restore it. I then enabled the backup to Google Drive and updated the software to the latest version using the play store."
I installed that old version of whatsapp mentioned and the restore worked liked a charm. There seems to be a problem with the current version of whatsapp. Hope that helps.