No chance to bring phone an PC into the same network. How to add 2nd device?

[stbaeumer]

I have to add Deltachat for different domain-users on domain-PC, workgroup-laptop and phone.
Laptop has OpenVpn-Connection.
PC doesn’t have a camera.

Where do I set up the initial account to keep things (hopefully) simple?
How to add account to phone as 2nd device, if there is no way to add OpenVPN?

[ian]

TL;DR:

Manual Transfer - Delta Chat: FAQ

Related:

Desktop as secondary device without camera

It seems both camera and WiFi are hard requirement no, they are not hard requirements. setting up second device without a camera and without wifi is described at FAQ - Delta Chat (linked via “Troubleshooting” button) if you have wifi, but no camera, you can also try to copy+paste the QR code

Importing a profile OR adding a second device?

you mean “Restore From Backup” vs. “Add Second Device”? [IMG_0129 2] from the result, both options are the same and result in a completely independent device (in contrast to many other messengers that require the first device to exist) the difference is the convenience - in most cases “Add Second Device” is easier - “Restore from Backup” should be done only when the first is not possible for whatever reason. see FAQ - Delta Chat for further details.

Failed to add my iphone as second device

I guess there can be rare cases where same-wifi connections don’t work because of the way the WiFi is configured. You might try opening a Wifi hotspot from your iphone and let your laptop connect to it, and then do the add-second-device workflow. If this also fails then exporting a file from Desktop and importing in iOS is the last option. See here for some more details: Import backup to iOS

How do I add a second device that doesn't have a camera

You can still export a backup, copy it to the device and import it from a file. But Android indeed needs to get a way to paste the link from clipboard:

Second Device Error [Get backup failed: timed out]

there are some more tipps at https://delta.chat/help#troubleshooting - but here will be situations left, where it does not work, this is known. in this case, you can fallback to “export/import backup” or, what usually works, span a mobile hotspot on the phone, and join it with desktop. after the device is set up once, these workarounds are no longer needed, btw

"Add second device" should include the "export backup" option

ftr, we have a “Troubleshooting” item on all devices and for sending and receiving. Troubleshooting offers different solutions first, before finally going for “Manual Transfer” (aka “Export Backup”), which arguably should really be the last resort. but, it is not a “trick”, it is clearly mentioned. surely, things can be improved, but i am not sure that pointing users to “manual transfer” before they tried everything else from Troubleshooting would improve things overall. eg. offering an optio…