Cannot "Set Up an Existing Email Account" After Being Forced to Create a Second Profile
As the result of the most recent, beta, automatic upgrade, I couldn't load Thunderbird at all, so I downloaded and installed a new copy of what turned out to be an older version. It became immediately apparent that it had been ordained that older and newer versions of Thunderbird would henceforth require different profiles and that I would have to absolutely start from scratch re-installing my six email accounts in the new profile. For which accounts I have no central record of all necessary installation data and passwords and so truly would have to start from the very, very beginning.
And then, when I got to actually trying to set up a new email account in the new profile Thunderbird would let me set up anything EXCEPT an email account. A chat account (of which I have none), yes. A Newsgroup account (of which I have none), yes. Feeds (of which I have none), yes. And a new calendar, yes. But whenever I hit the "Set up an account: "Email"" choice, nothing happened. Nothing happened over and over again.
So the first question here is "What do I have to do to get Thunderbird to permit me to set up a new email account in a new profile?
And the second question here is "Is there any way to rescue any of the account data in the old profile to copy and paste into the new profile so as not to be forced to rebuild the pyramid of Cheops all over again?"
And the third, obvious, question is "What genius at headquarters thought up this particular Donald Duck solution to what sounds awfully like a non-existent (or very much minority) problem in the first place and then in the second place decided to spring it on the world of Thunderbird users as a fun surprise?"
Sign me "Disgusted"
P.S. Since Thunderbird is down for the count I will not be able to read any emailed replies to this set of questions in the ordinary way. Which means that at the end of every day I'll have to log on to each of my six separate email accounts at their individual websites and scroll through looking for possible responses. I accordingly apologize in advance for any resulting delay in my acknowledgment of each answer.
All Replies (4)
First things first, why would you use a beta version instead of the stable release version as your daily driver?
You're right. It was a dumb move. I probably misunderstood some time back and checked a box I shouldn't have. However, it appears that other people have had problems with this changeover too.
To answer your first question, I truly do not know why the existing email account setup dialog doesn't open, but a cleanup and fresh installation of Thunderbird might help. So, Quit Thunderbird, open Control Panel and uninstall ALL instances of Thunderbird that are listed there.
Next, go to C:\Program Files (x86) and C:\Program Files and delete the Thunderbird folder from both locations. If it doesn't exist in both locations, just go on with the rest of the instructions. The idea is to get rid of Thunderbird's application files to achieve a clean reinstallation. If there are more than one Thunderbird folders in those locations (e.g an extra one created by the beta installation), delete them all so that you have no Thunderbird folders there.
Go to www.thunderbird.net, download and install Tbird from there. The latest stable release version will be offered automatically. That is the recommended version that you should be using as your daily driver. It is version 68.9.0 as at today. Once you launch the fresh clean install, it should automatically start the existing account setup dialog that wasn't opening before. Plese confirm that that is the case.
And the second question here is "Is there any way to rescue any of the account data in the old profile to copy and paste into the new profile so as not to be forced to rebuild the pyramid of Cheops all over again?"
As a matter of fact, you can reuse the entire profile that you were using with Tbird beta, with the fresh clean install of Tbird stable. When you launch the fresh stable install, it will create a new default profile. The new profile is stored in a profile folder which you can open via the Help menu > Troubleshooting Information > Open Folder. Let's call it the destination profile folder and it will open using File Explorer. Take note of its name (e.g xxxxxxxx.default-release) so that you don't get confused performing the actions that follow. Inside you will see a bunch of files and folders.
Quit Thunderbird, this is very important, then delete everything that is inside the destination profile folder. In the File Explorer window, move up one level and you will be taken to the Profiles folder. Here you will find other profile folders used by Tbird installations. The one which contains your account data, and was used with Tbird beta will also be in this location and will have a name like xxxxxxxx.default-beta. Open it and inside you will see a file called compatibility. Delete this file. Next, select everything and copy them, move up one level, open the destination profile folder (which is now empty) and paste them there. When you launch Tbird, it will load the default profile, which now contains everything from your old profile and you'll be back in business.
More information about profiles is available here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data It will do you good to know that about Tbird.
And the third, obvious, question is "What genius at headquarters thought up this particular Donald Duck solution to what sounds awfully like a non-existent (or very much minority) problem in the first place and then in the second place decided to spring it on the world of Thunderbird users as a fun surprise?"
What solution are you talking about?
Your attachment has no relation whatsoever to your question, so please attach something relevant next time if you want to be taken seriously.
I would strongly suggest using the About :profile to try and simply change the default profile. See https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2019/09/i-lost-my-profilemail-on-update-to.html
Note the command line option to use a profile that has been updated to a latter version. Note however I would not recommend returning to a release version from a 78 beta as the address book format has changed and the content will be lost on the downgrade. Which is why the downgrade protections were dreamed up for V68.
While V78 has some rough edges at the moment it is only a matter of weeks from release, mostly around addon support (some authors only release new versions after the program releases it's update) and incorporation of enigmail. So I am thinking the issues it might have in the short term are over ridden by the loss of your contacts.