Converting List Collection & String

[kshadow22]

I am trying to configure a export settings option in my program. I have everything completed except for the my.settings that are list collections. I converted them to a string prior to exporting them and when a user imports it, it needs to go back to a list collection to be added to the app.config. Here is my code:

Export Option

Private Sub Button7_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button7.Click
        Dim M_Count As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_Count)
        Dim M_IPs As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_IPs)
        Dim M_Hostnames As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_Hostnames)
        Dim M_Descriptions As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_Descriptions)
        Dim M_Results As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_Results)
        Dim M_Exclusions As String = String.Join("*", My.Settings.M_Exclusions)
 
        Dim SaveFile As New SaveFileDialog
        SaveFile.FileName = ""
        SaveFile.Filter = "Client Watch Settings (*.k22cw)|*.k22cw"
        SaveFile.Title = "Save"
        SaveFile.ShowDialog()
        Try
            File.WriteAllText(SaveFile.FileName, String.Join("|", New String() {My.Settings.S_Email, My.Settings.S_Password, My.Settings.S_Port,
                                                             My.Settings.S_SendTo, My.Settings.S_Hostname, M_IPs, M_Hostnames, M_Descriptions, M_Results,
                                                             M_Exclusions, My.Settings.S_PingEveryM, My.Settings.Stats_Count, My.Settings.M_FailedIPs,
                                                             My.Settings.M_SentCount, My.Settings.S_Tolerence, My.Settings.Logs, My.Settings.Stats_RunTime,
                                                             My.Settings.Stats_SentAlerts, My.Settings.Stats_YTDfail, My.Settings.Stats_YTDsuccess}))
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.Message)
        End Try
 
 
    End Sub

Import Option *This is where I am having the issue of converting back to a list collection

Private Sub Button8_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button8.Click
        Dim OpenFile As New OpenFileDialog
        OpenFile.FileName = ""
        OpenFile.Filter = "Client Watch Settings (*.k22cw)|*.k22cw"
        OpenFile.Title = "Open"
        OpenFile.ShowDialog()
        Try
            Dim values() As String = File.ReadAllText(OpenFile.FileName).Split("|"c)
            My.Settings.S_Email = values(0)
            My.Settings.S_Password = values(1)
            My.Settings.S_Port = values(2)
            My.Settings.S_SendTo = values(3)
            My.Settings.S_Hostname = values(4)
            Dim M_IPs As String = String.Join(",", values(5).ToArray())
            Dim M_Hostnames As String = values(6)
            Dim M_Descriptions As String = values(7)
            Dim M_Results As String = values(8)
            Dim M_Exclusions As String = values(9)
            My.Settings.S_PingEveryM = values(10)
            My.Settings.Stats_Count = values(11)
            My.Settings.M_FailedIPs = values(12)
            My.Settings.M_SentCount = values(13)
            My.Settings.S_Tolerence = values(14)
            My.Settings.Logs = values(15)
            My.Settings.Stats_RunTime = values(16)
            My.Settings.Stats_SentAlerts = values(17)
            My.Settings.Stats_YTDfail = values(18)
            My.Settings.Stats_YTDsuccess = values(19)
 
 
            Dim M_Ips2 As String() = M_IPs.Split("*")
            My.Settings.M_IPs = M_Ips2.ToList   'This is where the error is happening. I haven't added the other settings yet...
 
        Catch ex As Exception
 
        End Try
    End Sub

The goal is to export the app.config and be able to import it. I tried following this article: http://vbcity.com/forums/t/163200.aspx however, it became more of a mess than what it was worth and figured I could accomplish the same result... but with more leg work of course. So that's where converting a list collection to a string came into play because some of my settings are list collections. I followed the instructions here: https://www.dotnetperls.com/convert-list-string-vbnet and the options for converting it back throws me a message saying I cannot convert array to list collection.

Any help or criticism would be awesome.