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Cannot open Thunderbird (multiple processes running?)

  • 5 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 194 views
  • Last reply by Ken

Ken
Ken

On 2023 December 29 Friday, as part of a general upgrade of my desktop computer, Thunderbird was upgraded to version 115-5-5.0-1~deb12u1amd54.deb. Since then however whenever I try to open Thun­derbird I always receive the following message: Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. To use Thunderbird, you must first close the existing Thunderbird process, restart your device, or use a different profile. Furthermore, on the label of the desktop I use for Thunderbird label lists two windows open on it which are quoted in the box below. Password required Mozilla Thunderbird - Close Thunderbird In spite of the foregoing on the screen there is no window to enter a password nor Thunderbird to be closed. As for the one window that does appear, the first box above, I find its first assertion inordinately obfuscating under the circumstances. Thunderbird not only had not been installed but was obviously but also was incapable of responding to anything. I consequently doubt strongly that the text in the top box has anything to do the the problem I am having with the inability of Thunderbird to open. However, every time I try to open Thunderbird these three lock files are created: .parent lock cookies.sqlite-wal Telemetry.FailedProfileLocks.txt The first two I delete before every attempt to open Thunderbird. The third I leave alone, not under­standing what it means or what purpose it serves. It is updated every time I try. I also tried without success to open Thunderbird in safe mode. The location and name of thunderbird in my laptop is directory ~/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default. The profiles.ini file is located in directory ~/.thunderbird and reads as follows: [InstallFDC34C9F024745EB] Default=/home/ken/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default [Profile0] Name=ken IsRelative=0 Path=/home/ken/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default Default=1 [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 This current arrangement dates from 2021, but 9vgk89rr.default directory for Thunderbird dates from about 2006. It contains three of my most used email addresses, and all sorts of essential and valuable information. I need badly to have access to my Thunderbird as soon as possible and would appreciate greatly receiving information as to how to do so. Regards, Ken Heard

On 2023 December 29 Friday, as part of a general upgrade of my desktop computer, Thunderbird was upgraded to version 115-5-5.0-1~deb12u1amd54.deb. Since then however whenever I try to open Thun­derbird I always receive the following message: Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. To use Thunderbird, you must first close the existing Thunderbird process, restart your device, or use a different profile. Furthermore, on the label of the desktop I use for Thunderbird label lists two windows open on it which are quoted in the box below. Password required Mozilla Thunderbird - Close Thunderbird In spite of the foregoing on the screen there is no window to enter a password nor Thunderbird to be closed. As for the one window that does appear, the first box above, I find its first assertion inordinately obfuscating under the circumstances. Thunderbird not only had not been installed but was obviously but also was incapable of responding to anything. I consequently doubt strongly that the text in the top box has anything to do the the problem I am having with the inability of Thunderbird to open. However, every time I try to open Thunderbird these three lock files are created: .parent lock cookies.sqlite-wal Telemetry.FailedProfileLocks.txt The first two I delete before every attempt to open Thunderbird. The third I leave alone, not under­standing what it means or what purpose it serves. It is updated every time I try. I also tried without success to open Thunderbird in safe mode. The location and name of thunderbird in my laptop is directory ~/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default. The profiles.ini file is located in directory ~/.thunderbird and reads as follows: [InstallFDC34C9F024745EB] Default=/home/ken/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default [Profile0] Name=ken IsRelative=0 Path=/home/ken/mozilla/thunderbird/9vgk89rr.default Default=1 [General] StartWithLastProfile=1 Version=2 This current arrangement dates from 2021, but 9vgk89rr.default directory for Thunderbird dates from about 2006. It contains three of my most used email addresses, and all sorts of essential and valuable information. I need badly to have access to my Thunderbird as soon as possible and would appreciate greatly receiving information as to how to do so. Regards, Ken Heard

Modified by Wayne Mery

Chosen solution

Kill the remaining two thunderbird processes. Then go to your profile folder, and delete the file .parentlock. Start Thunderbird.

Also see https://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (5)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor

Close Thunderbird. Then verify whether there are any other Thunderbird processes still running. In a terminal window run 

ps aux | grep thunderbird


Please post the output of the above command.

Modified by christ1

Ken
Ken Question owner

ken@Morcom:~$ ps aux | grep thunderbird ken 1954 0.0 1.6 2860392 234696 ? Sl 09:29 0:01 /usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird --sm-client-id 10bcdc7263000170341770500000019740068 ken 1981 0.0 1.5 2850404 224700 ? Sl 09:29 0:00 /usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird --sm-client-id 10bcdc7263000170669353100000018890034 ken 3628 0.0 0.0 6332 2228 pts/1 S+ 11:58 0:00 grep thunderbird ken@Morcom:~$

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor

Chosen Solution

Kill the remaining two thunderbird processes. Then go to your profile folder, and delete the file .parentlock. Start Thunderbird.

Also see https://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor

Better now? If so, please mark christ1's advice as "Solves the problem".

Ken
Ken Question owner

After reading your latest message and since I knew very little about killing, my first reaction was to write back and ask how to kill these two processes. On reflection however I decided to see what I could find on line about killing; perhaps I could learn something. I found out that I could and did. I found the following reference: ‘https:// www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/blog/classic-sysadmin-how-to-kill-a-process-from-the-command-line’. I learned what a process is in this context, what a PID is and how to be a killer, also in this context. Before starting the killing I discovered that the PIDs for the same process change from time to time; so I had to run command ‘ps aux|grep thunderbird’ again. That step taken I was able successfully to run the following two commands: ‘kill -p 4872’ and ‘kill -p 4897’. After testing by running the ‘ps’ command again: those two processes did not appear. “Thanks to you “christ1”; now at my command Thunderbird flies open: problem solved!