Thunderbird keeps trying to install a new helper tool and never opens.

Thunderbird does not do this. There is something else involved here. Check your anti-virus and see if other apps may be running at the same time. Can you recreate this scenario and post a screenshot? And, I am not one who can fully answer this, but a screenshot would then let a more technically-astute volunteer respond. Thank you

I've attached a screenshot but I don't think it will be very helpful. I have turned off my anti-virus software although nothing has changed. This is soooo frustrating.

Thank you. I will see if I can locate a super tech who can assess this.

Thank you. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

Is that a Mac? It sounds like you are seeing a macOS system prompt

i think you need to provide the Mac computer's administrator password

looks like Firefox is trying to update its "Updater" service (the helper tool) so it can install the latest browser update.

try with a user with Administrator privileges or Log out and log into the Administrator account of your computer and try again

That's the OS asking for permission to update the helper for Thunderbird. It suggests there is a problem as it should be auto. Sometimes this can be due to the user not having permissions to allow the update, hence the prompt. There should not be issues when logged in using the Admin account.

Someone did report an issue that sounds similar: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2001390

They were using a MAC and the thunderbird.app installation was in this location: 'Applications'/'Added Apps'

I would have expected it to be in 'Applications' folder, one level up at the main hard drive level.

If it's in Users > username >Applications then it's installed within your user account and not the main hard drive level making them available to all user accounts on the Mac.

Where is the 'thunderbird.app' on your computer ? eg: C://Applications or C://Applications/Added Apps OR C://Users/username/Applications etc

please tell us the full location.

Thank you for your help. I was all set to follow your recommendations when, one morning, it fixed itself. It has been working well since. I will let y'all know if it reoccurs. Again, thank you for your help.