I've been advised to re-run ZenPhoto setup. I've backed all the album folders up with the photos. Can I backup the photo descriptions to import after setup? Or will they not be lost? I can't find files with the descriptions. Where are they?

ok, found what are likely the descriptions and all relevant data in the databases. Can I just download these, re-install ZenPhoto, and replace the new database files with my saved versions?

Zenphoto has a database backup utility on the admin overview page that is intended for this. See also the troubleshooting on moving Zenphoto to another server. The principle is the same actuallly even if you are not moving.

thanks acrylian. But my problem is that my passwords aren't working so I can't get into the admin. This has happened before and I was advised the best thing to do in the long term is to rerun setup and to do it without a third party setup (Simplescripts). I can see the files and the database on my server but I don't know which ones to back up there before doing the setup.

The last time this problem (password don't work) happened, I was able to restore from a previous backup but this time I've added a bunch more work since the backup that I would rather not have to rebuild.

thanks again.

You should be able to reset the password by deleting the administrator table in the database as well.

yeah, I'm going to delete the admin table in the database. But I am also trying to reinstall ZP with a normal installation (not SimpleScripts) and want to preserve the extensive descriptions that are associated with the photos. I see the albums with the image files and assume I can drop those into the new installation. Is there a way to save the descriptions associated with each image?

Just use the existing database when you enter the mysql credentials. If you did not alter the albums Zenphoto should (re)use it all. Otherwise I again point to the troubleshooting about moving an installation.