This looks like a question for Macrium Reflex. It would help to see the 'before' image as it looks in File Explorer and also the 'after' as viewed in File Explorer. Thunderbird uses what it 'sees', so that info may help.

Do you agree please with the following:

Up2you2 wrote:

The fact that I am trying to restore an original Windows 7 version/account to a Windows 11 might in itself create issues.

And there’s your problem!

Backup S/W is not designed nor intended to be used to restore files/folders between different OS’s, especially the user files/folders!

In your case, Macrium is restoring your Thunderbird folders but to the location where they were in Win7, not the location where they need to be in Win11… which is why Thunderbird can’t see them.

The only way to properly restore files/folders from the backup of a different OS is to “manually” move them to where they need to be on the new OS after you’ve restore them.

The “easiest” way to do this is to mount the backup from the other OC (so it has a drive letter) and then simply drag & drop the files/folders to their proper locations on the new OS.

Once everything is where it needs to be and all the S/W on the new OS is working as it should, make a backup of the new OS so you’ll never again need to restore anything to it from the backup of the other OS.

Do we agree backup software is not intended to transfer data between devices. Certainly.

Do we agree the locations used may well have changed. Again certainly.

But none of the information appearing in your second posting was in the first.

Given the default storage location includes the users account name in the path on windows, changing devices is highly likely to see the path to files in the user account change.

Thunderbird stores all user data (not program files) by default using the windows system variable %appdata% to determine the path.

So if you open the windows files explorer and type %appdata% in the location bar and press enter windows will show you where that "real" location is. Thunderbird profiles, or pointers to them if they are not in default locations are stored in %appdata%\Thunderbird in the profiles.ini file among other data.

Thank you for this, I greatly appreciate your help. So for all Window users, who might have been transferring from version to version over the years, I am only now narrowing down just how difficult it is to keep using Thunderbird. I am blessed as I have only decided to go from Windows 7 to Windows 11.

This is the first time thart I am establishing the actual reality, I have spent six moths on nearly every forum that exists on this, nobody has come out with the above until recently. It's as if it is the best kept known secret.

Are their any other alternatives in trying to resolve this problem please?

Personally I have no great issue with just copying the contents of the "%appdata%\thunderbird" folder onto a USB drive and then onto the new device in the same location. (Found by typing %appdata% into the windows file manager on the new device as the %appdata% part may have changed. Especially if the user account part of the string has changed). The issue is, windows changes the location not Thunderbird, the Thunderbird part is a constant. Usually the user name changing changes the full path, but from XP to Windows 7 they changed the name of the folders as well from C:\Documents and Settings to C:\users

The only caveat is that you need to use the same or newer Thunderbird version on the new device otherwise it gets messy using command line statements to force the use of a new profile with an older version. It can be done and generally successfully. But why ask for troubles.

The other is Thunderbird must not be running while you are copying files.

Thunderbird "next" 102 due in a few of weeks has an in build profile import/export. Just how good it will be is yet to be seen. I can't use it because my profile is more than 2Gb. (like more than 52 really) but once it is released I will put it through it's paces to see if it helps those with large profiles or not.

Thank you. My profile from memory is 8Gb, so that rules me out potentially.

Thank you. My profile from memory is 8Gb, so that rules me out potentially.

If you know that much from memory a copy to USB drive and paste on the new device should not cause you any real difficulties.