Thunderbird Community Forum

I had to install Windows 11 fresh because of multiple issues with my PC (I upgraded from 10 to 11 6 months ago). I installed Thunderbird fresh, and am trying to get it to see my existing data with is on my D drive. I browsed to the folder in Account Settings, but it's not showing up. I have years of mail and don't want to lose it.

There are too many options in the help for me to know which are actually related to my situation. I thought I was ready to do this, but am surprised at how difficult it is compared to the last time I did something similar.

Any help, even just pointing me to the right place to look for help, is appreciated!

Thanks!

Hello, I have read various post saying the profiles folder is %APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ but on my side I have many folder, and it can explain why when I use a backup tool, I loose all my e-mail. I have - C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\Profiles - C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles - C:\Users\Me\Administrateur\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles

And how to have only one ? I have tried to edit setting to use only C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles but the application refuse it.

Hi,

I try to restore a profile folder (Thunderbird 141 windows).

I use Import procedure from Thunderbird (same effects with ImportExportNG plugin).

I select the folder including profile, successfull. All account and folders, emails are OK.

After restarting Thunderbird, all accounts are listed, but some are empty (IMAP) : folders and emails gone, and they where all perfectly restored before the restart.

I try to switch to "offline mode" (perhaps a sync with server needed despite ?).

(other request suppport related : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1428421 ).

Thanks.

Hi, So I used Thunderbird to create a zipped backup file of my profile. I got the warning that if the file size if more than 2 GB I may want to make a manual backup. I proceeded, and ended up with a file that was 15 GB. I then uninstalled Thunderbird, reinstalled it, and tried to import my backup file. Thunderbird gave an error, saying the file is too large, and I should manually extract it. Okay, I tried, but Windows 11 failed to extract the file. I then used a third-party app to extract the files. This gave me a c2140ucr.default folder that contained three direct subfolders and many, many files. I located my inbox.ca file, which is what I really want, but I cannot find a way to import it into Thunderbird using the Tools menu. Any ideas on how to recover my previous profile would be appreciated. Thanks.

I closed Thunderbird by the X in the upper corner and my Icon disappeared off the tool bar so I tried again and the Icon was no longer in the trash bin, so I re set up and none of my old emails/folders are there and it downloaded 338 emails off the web server. My address are all gone....HELP

My Windows 11 laptop became corrupted and the os had to be reinstalled with Microsoft's help. In the midst of all this I did not think of backups sadly. After the restore I started to put my apps back on and without thinking, I installed Thunderbird. I realized immediately my mistake when I saw only new email and no local folders.

The Windows restore created a windows.old directory and I see my profile and configuration files in it. I want to use those old files but I don't know where to copy them exactly. There is some confusion on my part about where the startup is happening for Thunderbird. I really need to have access to all my old mail and local folders.

I'd appreciate any help in this matter. Thanks, Sue

I've been trying to move my Thunderbird data (148.0) from a Win10 to a Win11 machine. I've meticulously followed both the methods outlined at http://mzl.la/1ApHiU3. I have copied my original profiles.ini from the ...AppData\Roaming folder to that location on the new machine, then corrected the drive locations in the file (see attached profiles.ini image). (yes, the correct "j4sqsccb.XXXXXXX" folder is copied to the new installation's root: a bulky several-GB)

In order to try to replicate my original computer's admittedly-awkward installation from long ago, I have added the suffix " -p -no-remote" to the desktop icon's Target field. And on startup, the new T-bird does properly show my original profiles in the Select panel - even though I only ever used the one that functioned correctly, identified as 1 in the profiles.ini file (see Choose User Profile image, IDs X'ed-out).

However, on selecting that profile on the Win11 machine, Thunderbird just takes me to the account setup screen, as if it's unable to locate or load the account settings for that profile.

I'm only doing this clunky method of copying-over out of ignorance; I'd be very happy to simplify the mess I'd created decades ago with my original installation. OR if you think I'm better off wiping all evidence of past installations to start from a clean install, I'll be happy to do that. Please let me know if you need additional info I've failed to provide here!

Also adding images of my ...Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles folder and Installs.ini file, just in case!

1. Thunderbird was not my default mail client in Windows. When I tried to select it as default it did not appear in Windows' list of applications.

2. I tried to find the my profile and it showed where it was - but that directory did not exist. I finally was able to make a new profile and the directory showed up - but then the default-esr profile disappeared and now I can't find it and neither can Thunderbird. Is there a way to find where it went? I don't believe I delete it, it just went away. This is the message I get:

Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible

Get Messages doesn't work anymore. I created another profile with the same email address and it works fine. The issue is that I lost all my info, addresses, and most importantly the Calendar. I've been messing around with this all in trying to import that info into the new profile, but failing. I copied calendar-data to the new profile, but it doesn't show up. Can someone please help! Thanks, Paul

Hello

I use Thunderbird for many years, I have a profile weighing 3,6 GB now… I already moved this profile on my old computer, from default location to a data disk. Now I needed to move it to a new computer, so I moved it to my Dropbox (with local storage on both), to conveniently access it from the new machine, and to have some kind of backup (with a real backup, more occasional, of course). I don't plan to launch Thunderbird from both computers, so there should be no conflict.

I installed a fresh new download of Thunderbird (152), which I just upgraded to 153. The new computer runs Windows 11 Professional (build 26200.8875), has 32 GB of memory and a large amount of free disk space.

My profile.ini file currently looks like: ``` [Install734AE0B000379192] Default=C:\Dropbox\Applications\Thunderbird\0q9jw2nn.default Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/ncc2rvps.default

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=0 Path=Profiles/30jrlwud.default-release

[General] StartWithLastProfile=0 Version=2

[Profile2] Name=PhiLho IsRelative=0 Path=C:\Dropbox\Applications\Thunderbird\0q9jw2nn.default Default=1 ``` Profile 0 and 1 were created at installation time. I added the Profile2 and I set StartWithLastProfile to 0 to ensure the profile manager sees the profile.

When I start Thunderbird, after choosing the PhiLho profile, I end up with an empty window: no accounts, no messages, no folders, etc. I see no relevant error in the developer console, or the logs. What I am missing?

HELP!!

I am trying to move my Thunderbird profile (containing a huge number of mail files dating back to 1995!!) from a Windows 10 computer to a new Windows 11 computer. My active profile has been kept in my Documents file (for easier automatic cloud backup). I have spent days trying everything I can to make this work. The best I can do is two profiles, one that can check mail, but contains no historic mail or files -- the other that has all my emails but won't connect with my server. "The following is a special account." "There are no identities associated with it." I was wondering if I could merge these two profiles? Or?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!

Hello !

I'm having an issue loading my Thunderbird profile and looking for help. I copied my profile from C:\Users\phili\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles to D:\Thunderbird\Profiles I updated the profiles.ini located in C:\Users\phili\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird but it didn't work. When I launched Thunderbird, it asked to create a new profile and erased my updates in the profiles.ini

My Thunderbird install is located here : D:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe I'm running 128.5.2esr

I've tried moving back the aiedx66w.default-release to C:\Users\phili\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles but to no avail.

Can someone help me ?

Thanks Philippe

Hello I'm using TB 128 esr / flatpak on Ubuntu 25.04. I'm satisfied, but I want to install Thunderbird in parallel before switching to this version. https://support.mozilla.org/fr/kb/installer-thunderbird-sous-linux#w_changing-channels I read and managed to install TB "monthly beta" by extracting the tar file. It wasn't possible to retrieve the profile via the zip file because it's 2.4 GB. It seems to work, even though it uses quite a bit of CPU power, ~20%!

1/ Anyway, my main interest would be to have a usage similar to Firefox standalone, which I can use from my computer to my laptop :-) with the same profile stored on an SSD data drive. I don't want to install the profile on my computer or laptop system drives!

2/ How do I launch this version at startup?

REgards

hi, if i sync 2 t/bird installs which one will install its personal data on the other pc?. the same question also applies to my f/fox install if anyone knows

win 10 tb145.02

thanks very much if anyone knows

I have followed the instruction https://support.mozilla.org/de/kb/Benutzerprofile-Thunderbird#w_ein-profil-sichern to shift my profile from one harddrive to an other on my PC

The original profile is still on the old location %APPDATA%/Thunderbird I have updatet profiles.ini pointing to the new location At first glance it seemed to work Thunderbird was starting and when I cloesd it the date of files in the new location changed. But when I renamed the old profile in the old location Thunderbird does not start correctly and I only get

   <menuitem id="folderPaneContext-getMessages" < pre>
^
If I rename the old profiles again to the original names, it starts without any issues
</menuitem>

I'm on a Win 10 desktop. Version 140.3.1esr worked okay yesterday but when I started it this morning it is now missing my email accounts, folders, calendar, and contacts. Unfortunately I haven't done a backup in some time. The first image shows what I see.

The 2nd image shows that there are 2 profiles in the Thunderbird folder. The rc2jk0cq.default-release profile was created today & appears to have all of my data; it's the default profile. The v9w93tjh.default profile has an extensions folder and 3 files.

How can I recover from this?

Thanks

I'm asking this question so I can post some helpful information for people wanting to create a backup of their profile.

If you are using Windows OS and you got your download from the official website: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/

How do you locate the correct folder to backup? The backup must contain everything, profiles, mail accounts, emails, address books, calendar, preferences - the lot. The backup can be used to transfer between computers.

Sorry for the long=winded message but I figured it would save time to explain the steps from the beginning.

I've been using Thunderbird as an OSB for my archived messages from Apple Mail. In that scenario I create a .mbox file of all messages I want to save from a particular year and then import that into Thunderbird into a local folder with the year as the folder name. The version of Thunderbird where I was doing that is 115.10.1

I started testing Thunderbird version 139.0.2 as an Apple Mail replacement with only 2 of my email accounts.

Now I want to convert entirely out of Apple Mail. First I made a backup copy of the entire Thunderbird folder located in the User/Library folder onto an external hard drive that I then disconnected from my computer.

Then I downloaded the latest version 145.0 (aarch64) and installed it. (I still have the other 2 versions on my system) I opened it up and got into the profile manager (troubleshooting then about profiles) and discovered that I have 4 of them. I made the one that contains my archive the primary one. It does not have any connections to a live email account. I've only ever imported an .mbox file. Everything that I've archived is there. This is profile Number 1. I renamed it Archive so I could keep track of it.

Then I opened up each of the other 3 profiles in a new browser in sequence to see what they were.

It appears as if I have one that is empty. it opens up wanting me to set up an existing email address. I closed that one down. It's called Profile number 2.

The next one appears to be the current one for the 2 test email accounts. It has them properly configured, showing messages in the inbox and with the messages that are supposed to be archived off in the local folders I had created as I expect. I am calling this one profile number 3.

The third one first had me add the passwords for the 2 test accounts and then it is pretty close to number number 3 but is missing some of the local folders. This is called profile number 4.

Want I want to end up with is 1 profile. I would prefer to start with the one that has all my archive messages in their local folders, and then add the test accounts including all their messages from profile number 3 with its local folders. Once they are safely moved and part of the Archive profile I would like to delete all three numbered profiles. Once I am down to only one active profile and no others lurking about I plan to slowly start adding the rest of my email accounts moving them one by one out of Apple Mail and into Thunderbird.

I've read the various articles on moving out of Apple Mail into Thunderbird So I believe I can add the Apple email accounts to my Archive profile successfully. I have the import tools so I can import the .mbox files from Apple mail into those accounts.

Where I'm stuck is I can't seem to find an article that gives me detailed instructions on how to combine profiles within Thunderbird. All the articles imply keeping multiple profiles active and I would prefer not to do that.

I am sure I am just not searching properly but I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I do not want to delete any profiles or start adding more accounts until the profiles are cleaned up.

Thanks for reading this long explanation and I appreciate any help anyone can provide.

I just installed a new router and all of a sudden nothing is working properly on my PC. Among other things, I need to fix Thunderbird, and for that I need to find where my thunderbird profile is. The instructions I've seen say to go to troubleshooting information, find profile folder, and click on "open folder." When I do that, nothing happens. (I told you installing the router appears to have broken everything--I don't know how that happened, especially since I was on the phone with tech support for the router for install), and I'm no closer to finding the profile file. I can enter %appdata%\roaming\thunderbird\profiles but that shows me two different profile directories and I don't know which one is the right one. How can I find the correct file and why doesn't troubleshooting information just show me that?

Running Thunderbird 140.0.1esr (64bit) on Windows 11 Dell desktop.

Have had two active mail profiles running for years, one for each of us in the family. Some weird things are taking place now.

This afternoon when initiating Thunderbird by selecting Thunderbird icon on the task bar as always do, Thunderbird began going directly to my profile, not bringing up the 'Thunderbird - Choose User Profile' window. This has happened previously and I got instruction on the forum how to resolve, so I did that resolution again.

I ran Thunderbird.exe -p in the RUN box .

It bought up the 'choose user profile' window so I UNCHECKED the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup.' I guess somehow it got inadvertently checked. I expected this to resolve the problem. Note: When the box came up the first time I did NOT notice the names of the profiles offered, ours or the default ones mentioned below.

Now, when I initiate Thunderbird by selecting the icon in the task bar or selecting the icon on the desktop or selecting Thunderbird in the START list of apps -- it still goes directly to my profile not bringing up the 'Choose User Profile' window. HOWEVER, when I enter in the RUN box either thunderbird.exe or thunderbird.exe -p it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' window.

BUT -- the profiles offered are default and default.esr. They are not our two profiles we have been running for years. Our two profiles are still in the Thunderbird Profiles directory as seen with File Explorer. Hovering over default and default.esr shows their respective paths to the Thunderbird Profiles directory. (Cannot edit these paths.) But using File Explorer, these two profiles (default and default.esr) are NOT seen in the Profiles directory at all.

Question: 1. How do I get Thunderbird to function correctly. That is, when selecting the Thunderbird icon it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' showing our two profiles, and when I RUN Thunderbird.exe in the RUN window it ALSO shows our two profiles in the 'Choose User Profile' window, and NOT that default and default.esr profiles which I don't even see in the Profiles directory.

One more thing -- I have been thinking of switching over and installing the Thunderbird Release Channel -- If I installed it, would these problems carryover or would they be resolved? Thank you.

Added this note: In the past when the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup' got inadvertently check and I resolved the problem by running thunderbird.exe -p, I was not running the Thunderbird version I am running now. It was back on 9/22/24 and I forgot what version it was but I don't think it was the ESR version back then. Maybe that is why running this command worked back on 9/22/24, but getting weird results now with the current esr version running. Thank you again.