This assumes you do have a backup of your old Thunderbird profile. Simply copy the contents of the old profile over the current one. Check the article below and start with step 4. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird#Create_a_new_profile_and_copy_the_old_one_over_it

Yes, thanks, I found that article but I feel a little stupid about it all! Second step says "Copy the profile folder to where you want to store it. Where do I go to look for it and how do I find it? I do have a backup drive and as well, my original profile name is still in Windows 7, I believe.

Second step says ...

Start with step 4. You already did create a new profile by starting Thunderbird. Step 4 also has a link you can follow to locate your profile.

Copy the profile folder to where you want to store it.

That is step 2 of the next section, which is a completely different thing. I'm talking about the section 'Create a new profile and copy the old one over it'. The link posted above did point exactly to that section.

I am so confused! I am sorry. When you say start with step 4, are you referring to "Click on the "Create Profile..." button???" If so, I do not see this anywhere. Wondering if maybe I should start all over but not even sure the best way to do that.

When you say start with step 4, are you referring to "Click on the "Create Profile..." button???"

No, I was referring to the support article linked above. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1044252#answer-684724

As said before, you already created a profile by simply starting Thunderbird.

I am so confused!

Not sure why it's so difficult to follow a link.

I am a neophyte! What can I say! Sooo, you are referring to step 4 as" Delete the contents of the new profile folder that you just created."? If so, how do I do that?

Locate the profile of your new Thunderbird installation, i.e. the one which came up 'as if I have never used it before'.

That is a new clean profile without your account information you've created by starting the new Thunderbird installation (how many times did I say that before now?).

Step 4 also has a link you can follow if you need help to locate your profile.

Delete the contents of the new profile folder that you just created.

I'd assume you'll be able to delete files and subfolders within a folder. If that's too difficult, just skip step 4 and move on to step 5.

I know you are trying to help me and I know you think I should know by simply reading what you write but it isn't at all crystal clear to me. When it says locate the profile that you created, do you do this by going to START and then searching for profile.ini? The profile manager referred to, is confusing to me as I have never found that. Where can I find that? Is there someone I might be able to call to help walk me through this? Wondering if I should just delete Thunderbird program completely off the system and get a new installation but sure that won't find my old emails and addresses (though it would be nice if it did).

Ok, when talking about the profile folder, this is a folder in the file system. You'd use Windows Explorer to navigate to a certain path, and then can delete files or whatever is required.

An alternative method to get to the profile folder is via Thunderbird Troubleshooting Information.

Help (Alt-H) - Troubleshooting Information - Profile Folder - Show Folder

Pressing the 'Show Folder' button will open the profile folder within Windows Explorer. Make sure Thunderbird is closed, then delete everything in that folder. That's essentially step 4 in the instructions.

When I do a search in windows explorer for Profile Folder, I find nothing. When I just search for Profiles, I see 2 different "Profiles.ini file-Mozillazine Knowledge Base" Above those 2 files is listed: Profiles C:\users\john\appdata\roaming\thunderbird 111 bytes 12/21/09 Profiles C:\users\john.john-pc\appdata\roaming\thunderbird 1/30/15 111 bytes

There are a couple of others but don't appear to be related to thunderbird.

Also, when I go to Thunderbird itself, HELP, I see no troubleshooting information or profile folder. Maybe my Thunderbird isn't up to date?

Which version of Thunderbird are you running? Can you post a screenshot of your Help menu? http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

help screen menu Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.16) Gecko/20101125 Thunderbird/3.0.11

OK, I think I may be gaining!! I found the old profile, I think by going here:

and then clicked on Thunderbird to Profiles:

And then to the following file:

Now, can you tell me which one of those I need to copy over and where EXACTLY I need to copy it over to??? THanks for your continued patience.

Thunderbird/3.0.11

That appears to be an old version of Thunderbird, which apparently doesn't know about Troubleshooting Information. The latest and greatest is Thunderbird 31.4.0.

From the Windows Explorer screenshots, is C:\Users\John your old Windows user account? If so, what is the new one?

I think it got changed to john-john (not sure how I did that) but when I sign in it still just says john Also, before we go further, I wonder if I should delete my current thunderbird or get an update for it? If so, what would be the best way to do that?

have to change my user profile in Windows 7

I have no idea what you did, and it seems you don't know anymore either.

Any of the instructions I gave so far were based on the assumption that the old Thunderbird profile still exists (possibly underneath the old Windows account or as a backup you may have created), and that you created a new Windows account, and re-installed Thunderbird.

If this isn't what happened, you'd need to exactly explain what you did. If this isn't possible, I'd suggest you hire a professional to fix your computer.

I won't give anymore suggestions as long as the status of your installation isn't clear to me. For the time being, I'd not delete anything.

I understand your frustration The screen shots I posted above were from my old account. In order to try to tell you what I did to correct the user profile problem I had in Windows 7, this is what I did: I booted up into safemode with networking. When in safemode I ran as administrator. In registry I went to: Local Machine

Software
  Microsoft
    Windows NT
      Current Version
        profile list

I then changed the .bak to .ba and then renamed first one to .bak then, renamed the second one to exclude the .ba Then right clicked on state modify and reset to 0 Refcount was reset to 0 I then X out and restarted Not sure this helps but that is what I did.

I just hope you know what you're doing. How those registry manipulations would eliminate a virus infection is a miracle to me. Having said that, viruses are rare today, being infected with some sort of malware is much more likely.

In any case, this is what we have so far: The old Windows account is underneath 'C:\users\john'. The new Windows account is underneath 'C:\users\john.john-pc'.

There is an 'appdata\roaming\thunderbird folder in both Windows accounts. Please confirm.

Also, in the 'john' Windows account there is a Thunderbird profile 'C:\users\john\appdata\roaming\thunderbird\wmekpsyz.default'. It has a date of /1/29/2015. This would indicate it's a rather new profile. Can you confirm this is your old Thunderbird profile? If so, it should contain all your mail.

What Thunderbird profile do you see underneath 'C:\users\john.john-pc\appdata\roaming\thunderbird?

Can you post the contents of the file profiles.ini for both Windows accounts?

I wish I knew what I was doing. I think I may have a little dyslexia or something. I have actually had a computer since the Commodore 64 days. I usually can figure things out with other peoples help but for some reason, I am not doing well on this one! At any rate, I am going to try to post up the results of the profiles for john first and john-john second. I can confirm there is an appdata\roaming\thunderbird folder in both accounts. I can confirm the old account is john.

Can you post the contents of the file profiles.ini for both Windows accounts?