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Windows 10 died. Had to use HP Recovery to create backup and reinstall Windows 10. Lost all Tbird "Address Books" and "contact".

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Hello All,

Windows 10 died after a Windows update and I had to use HP Recovery to backup all my files and reinstall Windows 10. Now I'm downloading and reinstalling all the applications I lost. Got Thuderbird working for my gmail and cox emails just fine. If I try to "import" address books, etc. Thunderbird says it cannot find anything to import.

I'm hoping that somewhere in the backup to find the Thunderbird "Address Books" and just move that file from the "restore" location to the new installation of Thunderbird - or at least somewhere Thunderbird could find it to "import" it.

Any suggestions?

Hello All, Windows 10 died after a Windows update and I had to use HP Recovery to backup all my files and reinstall Windows 10. Now I'm downloading and reinstalling all the applications I lost. Got Thuderbird working for my gmail and cox emails just fine. If I try to "import" address books, etc. Thunderbird says it cannot find anything to import. I'm hoping that somewhere in the backup to find the Thunderbird "Address Books" and just move that file from the "restore" location to the new installation of Thunderbird - or at least somewhere Thunderbird could find it to "import" it. Any suggestions?

All Replies (3)

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is there a windows.old folder in the root of the C: drive?

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Hi Matt,

Yes, there is. But no ".mab" files to be found under any profile in the "users" file under the "windows.old" folder. In "folder" options I've turned off "hiding" any folders or files on the entire drive - even the operating system files - to no avail.

I'm wondering if, at the time the HP Recovery program backed everything (11 DVDs worth) up the .mab files were "hidden" files and it failed to back them up?

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your TB profile is stored under Users\matt\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird folder did you look there? I do not believe the Windows.old folder contains that. I think it is just a copy of the previous Windows folder.