Thunderbird opens more than 80 copies when you start it even after reinstall..
Sometimes more than 150 copies of the program start immediately when invoking the first copy of the program.
I have tried backing up the data, uninstalling Thunderbird, deleting the C:\Program Files\Thunderbird folder, restarting, reinstalling Thunderbird then restoring the data. I have also tried other fixes I have seen on the forums but it still does it. I've never seen it on any other computer although I recommend and install the program regularly and support computers professionally. I have ensured in Task Manager that there are no copies running before starting the program and cleared out the temp files.
The user is running Windows 10 build 1709 on a modern dual-core i5 Intel based laptop.
Any help would be gratefully receivedl
Chosen solution
I was able to close all of the additional copies of Thunderbird in the Task Bar list, then close Thunderbird and then mark the session.json file as read only.
This has fixed the problem, so thanks for all of your help.
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Sometimes more than 150 copies of the program start immediately when invoking the first copy of the program.
Are these 150 Thunderbird windows or 150 thunderbird.exe processes in Windows task manager?
Thanks for your response. I guess they are processes. When you look in Task Manager, it is shown on one line as 'Thunderbird (85)'. When you right-click on the Thunderbird icon in the Taskbar, there is a large list of identical entries.
Open File Explorer and go to the folder %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles. There you'll see a folder called [random].default. Enter that folder and with Thunderbird closed, remove the file session.json. That file holds the session data that is restored each time you restart Thunderbird.
To prevent this issue in the future, you can make this file read-only, once you have started Thunderbird normal with one window showing.
Thanks for your response. 1. The Thunderbird folder is under \AppData\Local - I assume that;s the area you mean. 2. There is no file session [anything].json within this folder or subfolders. There are several .json files inside the Roaming area, but these have old file date/times 3. There is another profile called [random].[username] in the Local\Thunderbird\Profiles folder. Some files inside this folder update the file date/time when you open Thunderbird. Can I delete this profile?
%APPDATA% is a shortcut for %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming. That's where your Thunderbird profile folder is. You can also get there from within Thunderbird, by going to Help > Troubleshooting Information and click on Open Folder next to Profile folder under Application Basics, the top section, but remember to first close Thunderbird and then remove the file session.json, otherwise Thunderbird will overwrite it upon exiting.
You'd better not remove the files under [random].[username], since Thunderbird reads/writes them and if it can't find them , it might not be able to start with that profile anymore.
Chosen Solution
I was able to close all of the additional copies of Thunderbird in the Task Bar list, then close Thunderbird and then mark the session.json file as read only.
This has fixed the problem, so thanks for all of your help.