Thunderbird Community Forum

Default profile lost / hidden.

For the last few days, I have been getting certificate errors. I decided to move from Pop to Imap which fixed the problem. Somewhere in creating the new IMAP account, it asked me if I want to have messages moved to another account, to which I said yes, which would keep me from having to move all of those folders and re-create the inbox structure. Well, that somehow removed that default profile. I backup regularly, but just found out that the appdata branch is a hidden folder and did not get picked up. Okay, fine. However, my email folders are on a data drive and are fully backed up. I have all of the data, i just need to re-establish the profile. If I go to appdata .... profiles ... , that account is in there. I can't import it. I can't even import the messages. Can you guide me to getting my default account visible again. I'm sure there are already articles and answers, and I browsed but could not find the right one in the many, many answers provided. I'm very tech savvy, so I'm sure I can follow the guidance given.

Hello,

I need to purchase a new PC because my old PC was not compliant with Windows 11. I've installed Thunderbird and copied over my data, profiles, etc.

I've noticed that there is folder added to my offline Documents folder called "Thunderbird" and in this is another folder and a file.

Is this normal?

Thank you,

Gordon

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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!

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

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 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

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

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 do not understand how profiles work, and hence don't know how to fix my problem. I had a problem with my printer connection, and tried to solve it by rolling back my Linux O/S, (using Timeshift) to a date prior to the printer not connecting. (It didn't help.) But what it *did* do was to screw up my TB, which when I tried to open it, after the roll-back, complained that the TB profile was "newer", and I needed to create a new one. I did this, but then found that all my old emails had disappeared and it had started a complete new collection of emails, and all the mail folders had disappeared . I went back to the data backups from prior to the rollback, (using Cronopete), and was able to find the TB profile (and 5 years' worth of old emails) in the .Thunderbird folder in the Home directory. And I have pursued the profile manager in TB, and located the profile from before my roll-back. But I can't figure out how to recover this old one. I have a button "Set as Default", (I hesitated to commit to this - should I?), and another for "Launch Profile". But when I click on this last, it drops right back into the requirement to create a new profile. I already have one new profile, (which was created when I tried to sign on to TB after the roll-back.) I can't see much point in making yet another one. And I don't really understand how the data are stored in the profile in any case. (emails seem to be in a Mail folder, but are scattered about in a whole series of sub-folders and files within the Mail folder). And some of the numbered "profiles" seem to refer to things other than Thuderbird, (they lack any folder named "Mail".)

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.

I created a user profile for IMAP and all was OK....Until I deleted the profile for POP and I lost all e-mail folders that I didn't move to IMAP. My PC is running Linux Mint. How do I get my lost e-mails?

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?