On the Help/Troubleshooting Information tab, click about:profiles. Is there another profile besides the one in use, and if so, can you select it and 'Launch profile in new browser'?

Yes, I have more profiles, but I only use one. I stripped the profiles.ini in my /Users/<<username>>/Library/Thunderbird to mimimum:

• [Profile0]
• Name=NAS
• IsRelative=0
• Path=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default

Now Thunderbird start with the profile manager but does not show any profile.

I used the option to create a new profile in the profile manager and pointed to my network folder /Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default. Thunderbird edited my profiles.ini:

• [InstallFAF8D2EB62449894]
• Default=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default
• Locked=1
• [Profile0]
• Name=NAS
• IsRelative=0
• Path=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default
• [General]
• Version=2
• StartWithLastProfile=0

I don't know what the [InstallFAF8D2EB62449894] section is about. Thunderbird still shows an empty screen.

Editing profiles.ini is not as foolproof as before, with the new 'profile protection' and 'profile per install' features in TB 68. You should have an installs.ini file in the same folder as profiles.ini that looks like:

[FAF8D2EB62449894] Default=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default Locked=1

I can't say exactly what's wrong, but in the meantime I would move the Thunderbird folder out of ~/Library, then start TB and let it create a new Thunderbird folder, then use Profile Manager or about:profiles to create a profile from the one that already exists in Volumes.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

Thanks for the help.

1. I moved the Profiles folder out of ~/Library/Thunderbird to a secure place. 2. Then started Thunderbird -P to create a new profile named "NAS" with path to /Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default. Thunderbird created a new Profiles folder with new installs.ini and profiles.ini: 3. [FAF8D2EB62449894] Default=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default Locked=1 4. [InstallFAF8D2EB62449894] Default=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default Locked=1

[Profile0] Name=NAS IsRelative=0 Path=/Volumes/Mail/40k286pt.default

[General] StartWithLastProfile=0 Version=2 5. Started Thunderbird in Save mode. 6. Started Thunderbird in Normal mode.

Result: still blank Thunderbird screen. No improvement.

I searched Mozilla and the Internet, but can't find more information about this problem.

Do you know where to find more information or post my problem?

Thanks.

If TB is pointing to the correct profile location, but not reading its content, I think the prefs.js file is probably corrupted. If you don't have a clean version from a backup, you may be able to use an older version, prefs-1.js, prefs-2.js,... if they exist in the profile folder. If not, it looks like you will have to create a new, empty profile, add your accounts, and transfer the address books and local mail from the old profile to the new one.

This is all covered here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_profile_that_suddenly_disappeared

Yes, I do have several older versions of prefs.js. Copying an older version did not solve the problem. You may have noticed that my profile is stored on a NAS. Before a file change or deletion, this NAS makes a copy of the original file to a @Recycle folder. This Thunderbird profile folder contains older versions of addons.json; addonStartup.json.lz4; cookies.sqlite; folderTree.json; golbal-messages-db.sqlite; pluginreg.dat; prefs.js; session.json; sessionCheckpoints.json; Telemetry.ShutdownTime.txt; virtualFolders.dat; xulstore.json. From a 2019-07-17 backup-folder I copied these files to the TB profile folder and started TB. Again, it did not solve the problem. I'll have to create a new, empty profile, add my accounts, and transfer the address books and local mail from the old profile to the new one. Not an easy task.

With my profile on my NAS, I tried to install the ImportExportTools extention within TB, but TB did not show a new window to add the extension. This was the point I had to start with a totally clean install on my local HD. I checked there was no Profiles directory in ˜/Library/Thunderbird before I started TB. I quited the question about accounts and installed the ImportExportTools NG 4.0.4. With the extension, I imported my old profile from my NAS to my local harddisk. To my suprise, the import went well and TB showed for the first time folders and e-mails. It looks like everything is still present in TB. The next step was to copy this new profile (6kzg75lc.IETimport) from my local harddisk to my NAS. I copied it to my NAS and added it to profiles.ini: [InstallFAF8D2EB62449894] Default=Profiles/6kzg75lc.IETimport Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=local_6kzg75lc IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/6kzg75lc.IETimport

[Profile0] Name=NAS_6kzg75lc IsRelative=0 Path=/Volumes/Mail/6kzg75lc.IETimport Default=1

[General] Version=2 StartWithLastProfile=0

With /Applications/Internet/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/Thunderbird-bin -P, I started the Profile Manager. TB works great with the profile on the local HD. I still shows an empty TB-screen when I start TB with an exact copy of the profile on my NAS. I'm back to square one.

Question: do you know if there is a problem with TB itself?

Editing the profiles.ini file manually is a delicate operation. Better to use Profile Manager to create a new profile and point it to the folder on the NAS.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

I used Profile Manager to create a local and a NAS-profile by selecting /Applications/Internet/Thunderbird.app/Contents/MacOS/Thunderbird-bin -P. The profiles.ini look all right, the local profile works, but the NAS-profile results in an empty TB-window.

After starting Thunderbird -P and selecting the NAS-profile, Terminal displays the following message: "###!!! [Child][RunMessage] Error: Channel closing: too late to send/recv, messages will be lost". I searched for this error message and found it in Firefox and Thunderbird user fora. But I can't figure out what it is and how to solve.

Question: can you tell me more about this error message?

Correction: both profiles (local and NAS) displays the error message in the Terminal.

I have seen a number of what looked to be identical images since Thunderbird 68 was released. In each case rebuilding the global messages data base fixed the issue. I have no idea why though.

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database#thunderbird:mac:tb68

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your solution. I deleted the global database in my profiel on my NAS and started TB to rebuild it. The Activity Manager did not show any activity (stayed blank) and I saw no network traffic between the computer and the NAS. Next, I had TB rebuild the global database in the profile on the local machine. This worked well and the Activity Manager showed a lot of activity. After rebuilding, I copied this local profile, with the new rebuild global database, to the profile on my NAS and started TB. The TB windows stayed blank and the Activity Manager did not show any activity. No fix for my problem.

Thanks

Given that I have been seeing problems with NAS devices on Thunderbird forums for probably the last decade. There have also been plenty of bug reported. It is highly probable Thunderbird is not compatible with the file system on the NAS.

Matt,

I have been using storage of my TB-profile on my QNAP TS-459 Pro+ NAS-device since 2010 (wauw, that black box is almost 10 years old, I only had to replace one HD and QNAP still offers firmware updates).

Question: Where can I find these bug reports?

Thanks

vinarduz+fir said

Question: Where can I find these bug reports?

Bugzilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home

But locating and searching them will be difficult. I have seen a number over the years, but they are generally well hidden with explicit names like a title the uses the name of the file system.

For example I was looking for bugs yesterday that involved remote sessions. Particularly RDP, but remote desktops. I missed this one entirely https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home

There are a number of active bugs as fall out from Mozilla attempt to fix skype. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1588975 But they are all windows. (attachments with spaces in their paths or names do not open being the worst for Thunderbird)

The only thing I have found that looks like it might apply is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1555907

How apple mount the file system could also be relevant.