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I deleted my Thunderbird account and created a new one on the same computer. I used a Profile saved on my external hard drive. The address book info was replicated. The hierarchy of folders and their emails were not replicated in the left hand pane. Is there a way to retrieve those folders with their content? Please, I am not super techno-savvy, so take me step by step. Thank you.

I had a problem where FF 140.0 would not update, and in trying to get FF yo update, I used a re-install tool to which I was pointed in my problem report. This caused FF to wipe out my configuration, and I lost all my windows and tabs. I have gone to

    \Appdata\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Proifiles\abnfpged.default

cleared all of the data therein, and restored that directory from a backup I made last Monday. But I cannot get FF to use that directory. "about:profiles" shows only two profiles, but the Profiles directory has five profiles:

03/10/2026 09:39 AM <DIR> qf00ka5x.default 03/10/2026 09:39 AM <DIR> v842ceue.default-release 04/11/2026 09:16 PM <DIR> .. 04/11/2026 09:16 PM <DIR> . 04/12/2026 03:08 PM <DIR> abnfpged.default 04/12/2026 06:29 PM <DIR> jdfj91sd.default-release-1775960183850 04/12/2026 06:48 PM <DIR> f1jq4mlq.default

Only the profiles beginning with "j" and "f1" are seen in the "about:profiles" screenshot I have attached. And I have attached a screenshot of my profiles.ini file. Also, in the abnfpged.default directory I restored, where is the list of all of my open windows and tabs? FF used to keep that in a sessionstore.jsonlz4 file, but that file is only written when FF closes. I tried to save a copy when I was having problems, but I stored the copy in the same directory, which FF changed during the re-install process. Here is my profiles,.ini file:

[Install308046B0AF4A39CB] Default=Profiles/jdfj91sd.default-release-1775960183850 Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/f1jq4mlq.default

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/jdfj91sd.default-release-1775960183850

[Install641D10338ABA448D] Default=Profiles/abnfpged.default Default=1 IsRelative=1 Locked=1

[General]

StartWithLastProfile=1

Version=2

[BackgroundTasksProfiles] MozillaBackgroundTask-308046B0AF4A39CB-defaultagent=lnvi5jn5.MozillaBackgroundTask-308046B0AF4A39CB-defaultagent

I have not worked with the ;profiles.ini file in many years, as my FF configuration has not had problems. Thanks.

On T-Bird start up I'm given a list of (originally) four Profiles. Currently I only use Profile Three, but on start=up today it is not there. Doing the usual searches does not list it, only 'default', 'new user' and 'profile two'. Is there any way to recover it?

I tried to start Thunderbird and it would not open. There was a message that read, "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." After trying to fix it and nothing worked, I uninstalled and reinstalled Thunderbird. Now all of my contacts and data is gone. When I tried to use the import tool I selected import from another Thunderbird installation and I can't get past the continue button.

How do I recover all of my data and contacts/addresses?

Hi,

When I opened Firefox today, it asked me which profile I'd like to use. I named one Katy and then continued. Now, I can't see any of my bookmarks, none of my passwords are saved, none of my sites recognized. I've been using Firefox for years. Everything I have is saved there. I just want my old stuff back. I'm signed in on my account, but can't see another profile that I can choose. My phone still has all the passwords and bookmarks from before but I I can't see what profile I'm signed in under. Can anyone help?

Thank you!

Katy

I have been using Firefox profiles for years, long before the announcement of the new profiles UI. The new profiles UI launhed with FF 144. I'm on the latest version, which is 149.0.2 and I still don't have the new UI. Specifically, I do not see my profiles in the new UI.

When FF launches I see the new UI but my profiles are nowhere to be see as you can see in the screenshots:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/tFXz00m

I have 2 profiles and they each have their own name.

Instead I am presented with 2 option "Original Profile" and "create new Profile". When I click on orignal profile, Firefox opens my default profiles which has its own original name. However, when go throught the new UI o switch profiles, I do not see my other profile. Moreover, if I click manage profiles, I don't see either of my profiles.

The only way I am able to launch my 2nd profile is the old fashiong via "about:profiles".

Why can't I see my profiles in the new UI?

On my 2nd profile, I don't even have the new profiles UI.

Why dont't I have the new profiles UI months after you launched it?

Please help!

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?

Yesterday I was having trouble sending emails from one of my email accounts. I had not fixed that when I shut down for the night. Today when I turned my computer on, both my email accounts and my address book was gone

после обновления в панели инструментов появилась вкладка профили и она мне даром не нужна но хуже всего что теперь файрфокс каждый раз перед запуском заставляет выбирать профиль и ни какие настройки не помогают! что только не пробовал все бесполезно -- вечно выскакиевает это окно с выбором профиля! какой [edited] мог такое придумать??? и как избавится от эт ого [edited]!!! мне нужен обычный браузер каким он был до версии 150 без [edited] вкладок и [edited] ИИ

I keep finding names in my account list with the name hakeem attached. I don't know who this hakeem is or how this name and the associated links became attached to my account. I have 3 firewalls and several antivirus/spam/etc blockers activated. Help.

I am installing Tbird on a Windows 10 instance that I am recovering from backup. There is a default profile that contains a folder for a user in an IMAP domain that no longer exists. Tbird won't start and just spins with a message about a missing IMAP user.

I copied the profile to another backup folder. And then uninstalled and re-installed TB. The "AppData > Roaming > Thunderbird > Profiles" folder(s) are still there but empty. When I start TB it says: "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible." The old email is not important now. Should I delete more folders in AppData, or what should I do next?

Starting with Firefox 141, I noticed the profile folder is locked down by Mozilla by way of folder permissions, to the extent that I (as administrator) cannot even take ownership of the folder. Even after I completely uninstalled Firefox and restarted my computer I can't take ownership of the folder, nor can I delete it - access is simply denied. I have to literally boot up with a Linux Live distro to be able to delete it. This is invasive and NOT OK!!

I work with multiple profiles that require backups and be copied. I also have a 'master profile' which is set up to co contain all my settings and addons - when I require a new profile I simply copy it over and voila. Not even this is possible anymore, as Mozilla has locked down the entire folder tree, I can no longer copy a new profile into C:\Users\*USER*\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles.

I also cannot copy existing profiles (and therefore also not able to backup) out of C:\Users\*USER*\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles - access denied. This is uncalled for by Mozilla. I have complete removed Firefox from my computer, including registry entries, and even after that I'm still denied access and cannot even delete C:\Users\*USER*\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla.

The only solution to to any of the above issues is to either reboot into Windows Safe Mode or bootable media of another OS. But this is totally impractical - Mozilla cannot expect of me to stop all my work and restart my PC every time I need to perform any of the above mentioned issues.

This is highly invasive by Mozzilla - to not even be able to delete a profile folder without any trace of Mozilla on my computer???? Come on, FIX THIS !!!

Will Mozilla please provide the solution?

As the title says, when i go to about:support, and click the open profile folder, i wanted to install a customization to allow me to edit the default tab background, but for some reason i do not have admin privileges in that folder, i can't access anything, i can't edit anything nor create a new folder, even rename it. It says that my own computer does not have admin privileges inside that folder.

I had to log in this morning, the first time as its automatic, and when i did all my folders and emails have gone. Where are they as there is important information in there which i need. The page layout is different too as i can't delete anything. HELP

Trying to solve aperformance problem I tried to move my profile from C:\Users\Peter and Carol\Profiles\sjig3laj.default to "C:\Users\Profile\." -- when that did not work, I was unable tomove back to the original location, TB telling me "Local directory path ... is not suitable for message storage". How do I get back to the config that worked before ? (was just slow)

I have my incoming IMAP emails stored on my local computer drive where the default Thunderbird installation puts it. This is fine.

My question is, can I move the local folders directory to another external drive or network attached storage? I am doing this as I have a small local SSD and combining all emails the size is massive.

Hello. Thanks in advance. I spent a couple of long evenings deleting a few thousand sent emails from Thunderbird in order to free up some memory on my notebook computer and then intended to create a new backup profile. However, when I tried to do so using the Thunderbird Export tool an "unexpected error" occurred and I discovered that there was no longer a Thunderbird profile folder in Windows/Users/[my name]/appdata/Roaming or Local. When I used the Troubleshooting Information tool to look for the folder under Application Basics/Profile Folder, clicking on 'Open Folder' did nothing. The location is seemingly 'unavailable' for no apparent reason. Thunderbird still opens and closes normally, I can send and receive emails and all my emails are still there. I have an older backup profile stored on a removable disc, but it pre-dates the mass deletion of sent emails. My question is: if I install Thunderbird on a different PC and import this older backup profile, I presume all the emails I've just painstakingly deleted off my PC will reappear, but can Thunderbird connect to the server and download my stored emails as they were most recently saved (without the thousands of unwanted sent emails) so I can create an up-to-date profile? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Can I use thunderbird with multiple accounts on multiple PC's and stay synchronised?

I have two PC's i want to set up - it seems like i have to create a new account for a second PC rather than pick up the account set up from the first PC.