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Help! Moving Thunderbird data to new computer failed!

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  • Last reply by david

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Migrating my Thunderbird emails from my source computer to a destination computer failed. Both are Windows machines. Here's what I did: 1. I backed up my TB profile on my source computer. I did not copy the entire TB folder; I only copied the profile folder named a1kie4bp.default. 2. On my destination computer, I installed TB version 102.12.0. I launched the TB application and then closed it. This created the profile folder AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\2uvjpn58.default on my destination computer. (It also created \q971efhp.default-release there too.) 3. I then copied the contents of my backed up profile folder a1kie4bp.default into the new profile folder 2uvjpn58.default. But when I launched TB, it did not see my email data and went straight to the new account wizard.

BTW, the contents of AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\profiles.ini file is:

[InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2] Default=Profiles/q971efhp.default-release Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/2uvjpn58.default Default=1

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/q971efhp.default-release

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2

What am I doing wrong? How can I restore my emails in the destination computer? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Maz

Migrating my Thunderbird emails from my source computer to a destination computer failed. Both are Windows machines. Here's what I did: 1. I backed up my TB profile on my source computer. I did not copy the entire TB folder; I only copied the profile folder named a1kie4bp.default. 2. On my destination computer, I installed TB version 102.12.0. I launched the TB application and then closed it. This created the profile folder AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\2uvjpn58.default on my destination computer. (It also created \q971efhp.default-release there too.) 3. I then copied the contents of my backed up profile folder a1kie4bp.default into the new profile folder 2uvjpn58.default. But when I launched TB, it did not see my email data and went straight to the new account wizard. BTW, the contents of AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\profiles.ini file is: [InstallD78BF5DD33499EC2] Default=Profiles/q971efhp.default-release Locked=1 [Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/2uvjpn58.default Default=1 [Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/q971efhp.default-release [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 What am I doing wrong? How can I restore my emails in the destination computer? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Maz

Chosen solution

First, I hope you backed up the profile when Thunderbird was not running. That is important. Otherwise, the profile will likely be corrupt. Second, try letting Thunderbird do the work. Try tools>import>import from another installation.

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Chosen Solution

First, I hope you backed up the profile when Thunderbird was not running. That is important. Otherwise, the profile will likely be corrupt. Second, try letting Thunderbird do the work. Try tools>import>import from another installation.

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Hello David, I tried your suggestion and imported from another installation. It worked !!! Thank you so much for your help. I'm back up and running, thanks to you :)

The process had me a little worried because while it was running, the progress bar was stuck at zero percent and the title bar said that Thunderbird was not responding. But I saw that the hard disk light was going strong so I left it alone, and it worked out great.

Thanks again, David, Maz

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You're very welcome.