Trying to restore a lost Thunderbird profile, but can't "move profile" because filenames are too long
I'm having a problem with Thunderbird that is addressed in several postings here and on "mozillaZine," but in trying to follow the instructions given for fixing it, I have run into a new problem that I don't see addressed. The original problem is the one described in this thread, where my folders and everything have just vanished, and I'm prompted on startup to create a whole new profile:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1040003
Following the links in that thread, I get to this -- and since my address book has also apparently disappeared, I click the internal link to the section headed "Lost Profile":
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_profile_that_suddenly_disappeared
Step 1 then sends me here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird
Step 2 on that page says, "Copy the profile folder to where you want to store it." When I try to do that, though (using Windows Explorer on Windows 7), it gets partway through the copying and then hangs up because it runs into a filename that is too long to copy. And according to the prompt that tells me this, there are many more such long filenames still to come.
Do I ignore this error and just skip those files? That means the profile copy won't be complete, which I would think would be dangerous and/or would just cause further errors. Or is there some simpler way altogether to do what I originally set out to do, which is recover the profile that just mysteriously disappeared?
Again, I'm running Thunderbird on Windows 7, and had been using it for years without ever before encountering this extremely irritating glitch. I'll be grateful for any help.
Chosen solution
Here are three different approaches I suggest:
1. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles and see if you can switch to the one you want using the Profile Manager.
2. While TB is NOT running, use a command prompt with the following commands: Note: enclose the entire path in quotes.
- cd "the full path name of your current profile directory"
- xcopy "the full path name of your 'good' profile" /S /H
- now check it with Windows Explorer and switch to it as above
3. edit 'profiles.ini' (using a text editor such as Notepad) to point to the "good" profile. 'profiles.ini' looks like this:
[General] StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 *** change this to 0 *** Path=yt20rg5n.default *** change this to the full path and file name of your 'good' profile *** Default=1
Let me know how it turns out.
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (6)
Chosen Solution
Here are three different approaches I suggest:
1. see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles and see if you can switch to the one you want using the Profile Manager.
2. While TB is NOT running, use a command prompt with the following commands: Note: enclose the entire path in quotes.
- cd "the full path name of your current profile directory"
- xcopy "the full path name of your 'good' profile" /S /H
- now check it with Windows Explorer and switch to it as above
3. edit 'profiles.ini' (using a text editor such as Notepad) to point to the "good" profile. 'profiles.ini' looks like this:
[General] StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 *** change this to 0 *** Path=yt20rg5n.default *** change this to the full path and file name of your 'good' profile *** Default=1
Let me know how it turns out.
Modified by duggabe
You can simply skip step 2, because your profile is already where it's supposed to be. You just need to tell Thunderbird again where the profile is located.
I very much appreciate both these answers and will save them for future reference if needed. The problem seems to be resolved, although not for any reason I can explain. What happened was that I suddenly had three problems all in the same 24 hours or so: a very slow, almost unusable internet (I thought connected with my "IPv6 Connectivity"), then the Thunderbird crash, then Google Chrome not starting. Whether and how these are all related, I don't know. Anyway, while I was sitting here unable to get e-mail or get back into this forum, I decided to try a System Restore just for the heck of it, even though someone else had reported this not working. And it too seemed to fail, at first, giving me an error message that said the system couldn't be restored due to an "unknown error." But clearly at least part of it worked, because I am seeing some earlier settings, and Thunderbird then started -- almost normally, except for needing my passwords entered again.
So I'm running "MozBackup" now in hopes of having the profile readily available next time this problem comes up. Also, Chrome is now working again after I did something or other with the security settings, and the internet seems normal even though my IPv6 status still shows "No network access." I really don't know what's been going on, but for whatever reason everything seems fixed. For now. :-S
Again, I'm sincerely grateful for your efforts to help me. Now that I'm a member of the forum I'll try to do the same for someone else.
Modified by JSmith125
My problem is less severe than jsmith125's but apparently as strange. Yesterday I started TB and couldn't see anything in my main mail subfolder; it seemed to have disappeared. I logged in to a unix shell on my server and saw that my messages were still there. I read https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database and realized that my folder was probably too full.
I went to my old desktop WinXP system and was able to access everything using Seamonkey! I downloaded about half the folder's contents, over 600 messages, thinking that I could then rebuild the global database and read everything from TB on my newer Win7 system. I deleted the global database file, started TB, and waited patiently for the database to be rebuilt. All the mail subfolders except the big one are now fully accessible, but I see nothing in the big one, even though TB is aware of the unread messages in it.
In addition to Seamonkey I have TB 31.6.0 installed on my old XP system, and everything works fine with that. My Win7 system has TB 31.5.0. I will upgrade that to 31.6.0, but expect that some tinkering with my profile will be required. Does someone have an idea what is missing or damaged?
Paul, please create a new topic for your problem.
I wanted to create a topic but couldn't find a way to do so; so I added my comment here. I haven't found a way, and the only response I've received is a suggestion to create anew topic, although my problem seems at least closely related to the problem at the start of this thread. Everything I've tried just brings me back to the Thunderbird forum. This is extremely frustrating.
"thumbdropper is currently working on this problem" is the message I see at the top of this thread, but I'm only trying to figure out how to ask my question!
Modified by Paul Clarke