"No items match your search." OE > Vista problems

I have an HP Pavilion dv5-1004nr laptop with Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64 bit. Before my Dell XP desktop crashed I backed up all email stuff on an external hard drive. I have not been able to import the address book or emails into Windows Mail on the laptop.

Address book (most important!)

1. In Windows Mail, I assume I go to File > Import > Windows Contacts > Windows Address Book File (Outlook Express contacts) > Import. When I locate the folder where the address book is, the folder is empty and I get "No items match your search." I know the folder is not empty, Properties tells me that.

2. Tried moving the folders to the Vista machine first, hoping Vista might convert them and recognize, but same thing - "No items match your search."

Email messages

1. In Windows Mail, File > Import > Messages > Microsoft Outlook Express 6 > Next. Then I get the Specify Location box and the bottom button is selected. The box is empty and I am not able to enter anything. So, Next > Location of Messages box. Nothing shows for the location, so I Browse to find the folder on the external hard drive. Again, get the "No items match your search." Copying the files to the Vista machine, I get the same result.

Is it even possible, or have I wasted 2 days with this?

thanks for any help for this computer dummy