I've followed the steps many times, and none of my tries has worked.

Which steps from the article did you follow? Please be specific.

Without going into detail,

Please provide the detailed steps you did.

Which steps from the article did you follow? Please be specific.

1. copied profie folder to a safe location 2. (re-installed windows) 3. install thunderbird 4. close thunderbird 5. copy previous profile folder to c:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird\profiles 6. open a command prompt and type "thunderbird.exe -profilemanager" 7. create a new thunderbird profile, selecting the copied folder and providing a profile name 8. select the created profile 9. check the "use the selected profile..." 10. click the exit button 11. start thunderbird 12. thunderbird loads as when first installed, asking regarding creating an email account 13. no accounts setup from previous profile, no local folders from previous profile

What exactly are you copying at step 1? Does it include the profiles.ini file?

Zenos said

What exactly are you copying at step 1? Does it include the profiles.ini file?

I copied the ".../Thunderbird/Profiles/y11556hq.default" folder, and no the profiles.ini was not included.

From what I can see in the file browser, the "profiles.ini" file is located in the ".../Thunderbird" folder.

So, to be clear, you copied the folder "y11556hq.default" into the Profiles folder on the new computer?

How confident are you that the copy is a complete copy of the original? I am sceptical about Windows' copy utility. I had trouble copying nested folders when I first copied a profile from Windows 7 for an upgrade to Windows 10. I now use its robocopy command line tool for larger copying jobs.

BTW, it's not relevant here, but you can change the profile folder's name to something meaningful. Given a bundle of defunct profiles, resulting from testing out profile issues, it's very helpful if the actual working folder has a distinctive name.

Zenos said

So, to be clear, you copied the folder "y11556hq.default" into the Profiles folder on the new computer?

Yes.

How confident are you that the copy is a complete copy of the original?

I'm fairly confident.

I am sceptical about Windows' copy utility. I had trouble copying nested folders when I first copied a profile from Windows 7 for an upgrade to Windows 10. I now use its robocopy command line tool for larger copying jobs.

Is there a particular file, or are there particular files, that are 100% necessary to copy in order for an import from one PC to another to work?

BTW, it's not relevant here, but you can change the profile folder's name to something meaningful. Given a bundle of defunct profiles, resulting from testing out profile issues, it's very helpful if the actual working folder has a distinctive name.

Thanks. My primary concern is to get my previous thunderbird data up and running again. Then I might try some nifty naming. :)

Please continue to provide information... I will be investigating and making more attempts this weekend.

With Thunderbird running, verify the current profile: At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Folder. Click the 'Open Folder' button. This will open the profile folder in Windows Explorer. What's the exact path including the profile folder name?

Please post the contents of your profiles.ini file.

christ1 said

With Thunderbird running, verify the current profile: At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Folder. Click the 'Open Folder' button. This will open the profile folder in Windows Explorer.

What's the exact path including the profile folder name?

C:\Users\crich\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\y11556hq.crich

Please post the contents of your profiles.ini file.

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/y11556hq.crich Default=1

C:\Users\crich\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\y11556hq.crich

There is a mismatch between your currently used profile, and the one you copied over:

I copied the ".../Thunderbird/Profiles/y11556hq.default" folder

christ1 said

There is a mismatch between your currently used profile, and the one you copied over

okay. I just now tried the following steps: 1. I uninstalled Thunderbird. 2. I copied my backup profile folder to the app data roaming folder location for thunderbird. 3. I installed Thunderbird. 4. I ran the command "thunderbird.exe -p" (profile manager) 5. I selected the profile that I had copied to the correct location. 6. I provided a reasonable name. 7. I started Thunderbird. 8. Thunderbird started as if no profile had been selected, asking if I wanted to create an email address, use an existing email address, or skip setting up an email account. 9. Seems to be no different than if I hadn't attempted to restore my backed up Thunderbird email profile.

Path and name of profile: C:\Users\crich\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jrafltll.User

Contents of profile.ini file: [General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=Default User IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/y11556hq.crich

[Profile1] Name=User IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/jrafltll.User Default=1

Any ideas?

Make sure your do start Thunderbird with the jrafltll.User profile. You can do that by creating a desktop shortcut using the -P option, or simply use the profile manager.

Sorry, your suggestion hasn't solved my problem with Thunderbird.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -profile "C:\Users\crich\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jrafltll.User"

If you want to start Thunderbird from the command line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -P User

Or use that command with a desktop shortcut.

christ1 said

If you want to start Thunderbird from the command line: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -P User Or use that command with a desktop shortcut.

that didn't solve the problem either.

i'm currently attempting to use an extension to import my profile into thunderbird. not much luck currently, but I'm emailing the extension author.

With Thunderbird closed....

Backup Copy: Copy the 'Thunderbird' folder: ....\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\

Access this: C:\Users\crich\AppData\Roaming\ Paste that copied backup 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Roaming' folder overwriting the current 'Thunderbird' folder.

Start Thunderbird. Please report back on results.

I followed the steps that you wrote exactly. After starting thunderbird, thunderbird reacts similar to a fresh install of thunderbird: no settings, thunderbird asks if I want to setup an email account.

omg. next I tried the thunderbird profile manager (thunderbird.exe -p) and setting my default account to the copy of the backed up thunderbird folder. and the situation works!

thanks.