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Cannot reinstall Thunderbird

I have run Thunderbird for many years. My PC is Windows 11. A couple of days ago the computer did not boot up. I took it to the Geek Squad. They reported that the OS was … (read more)

I have run Thunderbird for many years. My PC is Windows 11. A couple of days ago the computer did not boot up. I took it to the Geek Squad. They reported that the OS was corrupted, so they reinstalled the operating system. The computer now boots up, but a casualty is that several applications or other items have to be reinstalled or modified. Many apps worked fine even after the OS reinstallation.

When I tried to run T-bird, I got an error of “Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. The old Thunderbird process must be closed to open a new window.”

I closed Thunderbird and removed T-bird from the task manager and tried to run T-bird again. Same error.

I read that this is because there is a parent.lock file in the appdata\roaming\Thunderbird\profiles folder, and it should be deleted. I closed Thunderbird and removed T-bird from the task manager. I then renamed the parent.lock files as parent.lockold.

I tried running T-bird again, but got the same error.

I uninstalled T-bird. I then reinstalled T-bird.

I tried running T-bird and got the same error. I closed Thunderbird and removed T-bird from the task manager. I then searched for all parent.lock files on my c: drive, and renamed them parent.lockold. I ran T-bird and got to the initial login screen I went through creating a new account and signed out. I then edited the profiles.ini file to use a default profile on the NAS. I ran T-bird and got to the screen asking which profile I wanted to run. I selected the one on the NAS. T-bird opened. It looked OK. I closed it. I then tried to open it again, and got the same error.

I just tried again. I made sure T-bird was not shown as running in task manager. I renamed all parent.lock files as parent.lockold. I get the same message.

There must be some way to get a clear restart of T-bird. How can I absolutely start with a clean slate with T-bird, so that I can reinstall it and then specify using the default profile on the NAS? Is there better solution?

I have the version of T-bird that is downloaded from the website today. Since I can't open T-bird, I can't firm which version it is. I think I recall it was 140.xxxx.

Thanks.

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Thunderbird 159.0 manual backup throwing filename too long messages

I am attempting to migrate my Win-10 Thunderbird v159.0 to a new Win-11 installation. The current profile folder size is too large for the automatic backup process (6.2 … (read more)

I am attempting to migrate my Win-10 Thunderbird v159.0 to a new Win-11 installation. The current profile folder size is too large for the automatic backup process (6.2 GB), so I am creating a copy of the profile folder structure. When I copy the profile folder structure into the copy buffer, no errors are shown. But, when I attempt to paste into a new folder, I am getting 13 messages regarding the filenames are too long for both sbd and mozmsgs filenames. Is there a maximum local folder name and/or local filenames limit. I can see where I can control the local folder name length, but not the local filename (email) name length.

There are 5 profile folders listed under the Profiles folder, their contents as follows: Profile Name Folder Count File Count Storage k1fx5scw.default 1,211 folders 24,946 files 3.78 GB (appears to be current default) 5zo1yxiu.default-release-1 17 folders 87 files 14.8 MB k1fx5scw.default.old 937 folders 21,555 files 2.29 GB (previous incarnation of default) rpsz3c78.default-release 14 folders 45 files 14.2 MB lhqhc5hj.default 0 folders 1 file 47 bytes

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How to start Firefox in a pre-selected profile

On Linux, how do I start firefox in a specified profile? The commandline options `--profile` is used for the "legacy" profile manager, but don't seem to allow to pick a … (read more)

On Linux, how do I start firefox in a specified profile?

The commandline options `--profile` is used for the "legacy" profile manager, but don't seem to allow to pick a profile with the new profile manager.

Background:

I make use of the new profile manager to seperate work from personal things.

I have enabled the toggle "Select profile when firefox is started" so that I can choose which profile to choose everytime I open firefox.

This is only has an effect when starting a completly new instance of firefox. It does not help when I click a link in another application when I already have firefox running in any profile.

I could easily "fix" this by using a simple script as my default browser and let the script decide that for example `https://*.mycompanysdomain.com` should always be opened in `firefox --profile work` etc, but the commandline does not seem to support

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Why my email have disappear?

I have saved my emails in the local folders, which is in my second drive (D Drive), I added extra folders named them as per year and in those folders per month. It shows … (read more)

I have saved my emails in the local folders, which is in my second drive (D Drive), I added extra folders named them as per year and in those folders per month. It shows the size of each folder amount of data but, nothing is there. I notice this when my C drive got corrupted and I had to reinstall windows 10 again. I did not reformat the D: Drive because there was nothing wrong with the drive. It used to be so easy in the pass to save emails. What is happening?

Thank you for any assistants in the future.

Victor Nassar

Open 2

Firefox 159.0.1 (Mozilla .deb) now uses ~/.mozilla instead of ~/.config/mozilla – only me?

I am using Firefox (.deb from mozilla, not snap) in ubuntu budgie 26.04. It used ~/.config/mozilla/firefox as its profile root but after I updated to 159.0.1~build1 and c… (read more)

I am using Firefox (.deb from mozilla, not snap) in ubuntu budgie 26.04. It used ~/.config/mozilla/firefox as its profile root but after I updated to 159.0.1~build1 and clicked on a link in Thunderbird it began to use ~/.mozilla. I closed firefox, renamed that .mozilla directory, and it recreated it. MOZ_LEGACY_HOME is not set, and XDG_CONFIG_HOME is unset.

Is it only me? Thanks for your time.

$ aptitude show firefox Paquete: firefox Versión: 159.0.1~build1 Desarrollador: Mozilla <release@mozilla.com>

$ aptitude show thunderbird Paquete: thunderbird Versión: 2:1snap1-0ubuntu5

~$ stat .mozilla/

File: .mozilla/
Birth: 2026-11-04 14:43:08.656418113 -0300

~$ stat .config/mozilla

File: .config/mozilla
Birth: 2026-05-01 00:15:51.579973605 -0400

about:support: Firefox 159.0.1 (build 20261102144711), distributionID mozilla-deb, Linux 7.0.0-42-generic, Wayland (MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1). The crash reporter’s data and ping directories point to ~/.mozilla/firefox, even though the profile is in ~/.config/mozilla/firefox.

Solved 4

Profile Transfer Between Devices

I am trying to export my firefox profiles between two firefox instances on the same PC. The windows ones, which were the originals, work fine. When I boot into ubuntu tho… (read more)

I am trying to export my firefox profiles between two firefox instances on the same PC. The windows ones, which were the originals, work fine. When I boot into ubuntu though, When I put the files into the profiles section of firefox it is unable to recognize the files, even when I rename them to the default profile. Is there a fix for this?

Open 1

Is there a way to get firefox profiles on the desktop like chrome allows you to?

Rn it's the only thing stopping me from completely switching over to firefox. I would like to have desktop icons for each of my firefox profiles that let me sign in and c… (read more)

Rn it's the only thing stopping me from completely switching over to firefox. I would like to have desktop icons for each of my firefox profiles that let me sign in and continue with the selected profile. Chrome currently has a straight forward way to do this, I was wondering if firefox had the same support. I've attached a screenshot for context. TIA!

Open 10

Profiles MOVED and BROKEN???

I have been a happy Firefox user for decades but I am about to junk it. Why? I keep my profiles on a separate external drive. That way I can just go from my laptop to my … (read more)

I have been a happy Firefox user for decades but I am about to junk it. Why? I keep my profiles on a separate external drive. That way I can just go from my laptop to my desktop and leave off where I was. I also don't take up GGGBytes on my default hard drive. However, Firefox knows better. Use "Profiles - Manage Profiles" or restore a profile from a backup, and all of my precious profile is lost and put in a random folder on my hard drive, exactly what I DO NOT WANT. Then there is the "Can’t delete a profile that is linked to other profiles" nonsense ... Please let ME decide how to run my profiles. I don't want to dig into Firefox code, I don't want to become the world's expert on how and where it keeps my passwords. I just want it to work.

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I entered an address, but it isn’t recognized as valid.

what is the url for profiles, because about:profiles page says Invalid Address The provided address is not in a recognized format. Please check the location bar for mis… (read more)

what is the url for profiles, because about:profiles page says Invalid Address The provided address is not in a recognized format. Please check the location bar for mistakes and try again.

Open 1 10

I need to talk to or chat with someone!! I find nothing that is helping me restore my profile. I can't find my profile and no article is clarifying how to do that!!! I've lost everything!!

11/1 I had dozens of folders, thousands of e-mail, and probably two dozen rules. It was all gone. I restored connection with my vendor's IMAP server and after a day of do… (read more)

11/1 I had dozens of folders, thousands of e-mail, and probably two dozen rules. It was all gone. I restored connection with my vendor's IMAP server and after a day of downloading everything. It took so long I never was able to work. 11/2 I brought up Thunderbird to see what looked like a full Inbox, but no folders. I also had my rules restored. Again, several thousand e-mail had to be downloaded, since only their subjects displayed but no content when any message was clicked. 11/3 I was unable to work, so today 11/4 I opened Thunderbird to see my account with profile details (server info, etc), but no folders, e-mail, nor rules, but no response when I try to download e-mail. Testing the server link succeeds. I do not understand some of these articles on profile, since I have nothing they seem to refer to. I think I see a profile (original???), but Thunderbird doesn't seem to. Account is complete...

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Can't integrate old profile in Thunderbird (Linux)

I am a bit of a noob, and probably out of my depth, so please bear with me. It also is a bit of a confusing situation so I hope that I can explain it clearly. A while ago… (read more)

I am a bit of a noob, and probably out of my depth, so please bear with me. It also is a bit of a confusing situation so I hope that I can explain it clearly.

A while ago, Thunderbird stopped working. Whenever I tried starting it up, I got an error message saying that Thunderbird wasn't responding. I thought there might be a problem with some update so I decided that I would reinstall the program. As I went to back up my profile, I found out that there were actually two profile folders where in the past I would only find one. I chose to back up both, and procede with de- and re-installing Thunderbird. After doing so I tried to integrate the old profiles back into the new installation. At first, I chose the largest of the to profile maps and copied it where I found it before the re-installation. I created a new profile using the old profile folder through the User Profile menu. This seemed to work! However, I noticed something. I have two e-mail accounts running in this profile. One IMAP and one POP. I noticed that the POP account was missing about a years worth of old e-mails. As if it stopped saving them at some point. I figured they must be in the other profile folder I found before the re-installation. I tried creating a new profile with this profile but when starting up Thunderbird afterwards I once again got the 'Thunderbird isn't responding' message. So I reverted back to the first profile I made, the one with the missing e-mails. Appart from those e-mails, it seemed to be working well. To get back what was missing, I tried copying the files in the "inbox.sbd" of the back up that wasn't responding into the back up that was responding, thinking that if it messed something up, I could just CTRL + Z my way out of trouble. It seemed that there were three locations in the functioning back up that I could copy the files into, each having the server name of the e-mail account that I was missing e-mails from. I tried copying the files in each of them, each time removing the files through 'undo' before trying the next location. As this seemed unsuccesfull I tried restarting Thunderbird again (having removed the copied files from all locations) which resulted in the following error message:

In a pink screen that I have never seen before. After this I tried removing all profiles and starting again with a fresh copy of the backed up profile folder as I figured I might have accidentally changed something in the profile folder I was using. This however keeps giving the same error message.

Clearly, I messed something up. But I don't know what. Can anybody help? One last thing I noticed that in the 'Mail' folder within the profile folder, there where three folders with the server name before, now there is only one. I guess this is a clue?

All help is welcome!

Open 5 10

Thunderbird resets and redownloads all my emails everytime I open the program

I am still running Windows 10, but as of yesterday every time I open Thunderbird it resets my settings and spends hours re-downloading every email that I have. It consta… (read more)

I am still running Windows 10, but as of yesterday every time I open Thunderbird it resets my settings and spends hours re-downloading every email that I have. It constantly tells me that the connection to the server has failed and that all my passwords are wrong. Nothing is wrong with the server and none of my passwords are incorrect. After about 2 hrs, it completely re-downloads every email (I have multiple accounts) and I can continue to work like nothing was ever wrong in the first place. However, if I close out the program, it starts all over again. It randomly picks an email account and requires that I start from scratch and reset them up. Other times they are there like nothing happened. I have restarted my computer multiple times, it continues to do this.

Open 1

I want to export my Thunderbird "account" (the whole shooting match) and it seems to work and produce a zip file that is 15gb - will I be able to successfully import this on a new computer, please?

Essentially, I want to back up my Thunderbird. The standard way seems to be via Export / Import, but there is an implied limit of 2GB. The export function has successfu… (read more)

Essentially, I want to back up my Thunderbird. The standard way seems to be via Export / Import, but there is an implied limit of 2GB. The export function has successfully ended and produced a file of 15GB. Can I rely on this? (In the sense of being able to Import it should I need to?

Thanks in advance for any help / advice you can give.

Open 6

losting every thing after edit profile

(I am a Chinese and English is not my native language, so please forgive my grammar or vocabulary errors) I was doing my programing test in class and the Tab Edit profile… (read more)

(I am a Chinese and English is not my native language, so please forgive my grammar or vocabulary errors) I was doing my programing test in class and the Tab Edit profile pop up, at the same time the theme of my browser changed. I didn`t want that changing so I clicked the Delete button. In the following few seconds nothing happened so I just put it aside and continued my examination (it was on a website and I need to sign in). And then suddenly, my browser was closed. When I opened it again, it didn`t recover any of my tabs. I tried to open my previous tabs and found that my history was empty, and when I returned to my examination and try to login, I found that even my passwords were all deleted. What was happened? how to recover my tabs and my passwords? I just don`t want to change my Theme why every thing was deleted? (and also, why Support service in Chinese is not available?)

Open 1

What happened to Thunderbird email client?

I was not able to boot up my Thunderbird email client and had to reload it. But after I got it going, I realized there are many missing folders, and there is a lot of mis… (read more)

I was not able to boot up my Thunderbird email client and had to reload it. But after I got it going, I realized there are many missing folders, and there is a lot of missing messages in my "sent" folder. Why?

Open 8 1

How to remove this annoying profile button?

I was trying to figure out how to remove a totally different feature, and I guess I accidentally created a profile or something. After I fixed my original issue, I looked… (read more)

I was trying to figure out how to remove a totally different feature, and I guess I accidentally created a profile or something. After I fixed my original issue, I looked up regarding this issue, and I found a way to get rid of the 'profile' I created. Now I have this annoying button on application menu, and it is messing up how I interact with it. Please tell me there is a way to remove it.

Solved 4 30

Thunderbirdを最新バージョンに更新したらアドレス帳のすべて及び発信メールのすべてが消えた。

最近、リリース版Thunderbird 157.0.1にアップデートしたら、今までの①アドレス帳、及び②送信メールデータが全部消えてしまった。その後、リリース版を削除して従来の通常版をバージョンを再インスト―ルしたが、今までの①アドレス帳、及び②送信メールデータは出てこない。ついては、この2つのデータを復元する方法を教えてください。 よろ… (read more)

最近、リリース版Thunderbird 157.0.1にアップデートしたら、今までの①アドレス帳、及び②送信メールデータが全部消えてしまった。その後、リリース版を削除して従来の通常版をバージョンを再インスト―ルしたが、今までの①アドレス帳、及び②送信メールデータは出てこない。ついては、この2つのデータを復元する方法を教えてください。 よろしくお願いします。

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