Yonke imikhiqizo Community Forum

I want to restore a previous profile which I can see on File Explorer, but no previous profiles appear on the About Profiles page. How can I access this previous profile?

With the profile system, which I just used to try and fix another problem. Deleting them doesn't work I've tried manually deleting the profiles as well but they still show up in the UI and it just recreates the folder again if you try to delete it or open it. If you use the UI to try and delete it the instance and page it opens is simply blank. And now the profile I'm trying to delete isn't open. I'm trying to delete it from "original profile" and when I do it opens the a new instance of firefox with the profile I'm trying to delete with in the address bar: about:deleteprofile but the screen is empty.

You forced me to create a profile and I lost all my Bookmarks.

Steps given do not recover them from the supposed online backup

How do I recover them?

I am not a native English speaker, so I used translation. Please excuse any awkward phrasing. I previously updated my Firefox to version 150, but my tabs kept crashing roughly every 5 minutes. To solve this, I tried installing the Firefox ESR version. However, my profile had already been upgraded to the new version format, so ESR could not read my data. I then reinstalled version 150, but now I'm having profile issues again. I can access and launch my old profile through about:profiles, but I can't seem to save it directly as the default profile. I don't want to have to repeat this process every time I restart the browser. Is there a way to transfer all my data (bookmarks, saved passwords, add-ons, settings, etc.) to a new profile that works with the current version? Or, can I downgrade my profile so that ESR can read it? I have tried copying the files from %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, but it didn't work after many attempts. Please help me. I really don't want to set everything up from scratch again. Thank you!

I have been using Firefox profiles for years, long before the announcement of the new profiles UI. The new profiles UI launhed with FF 144. I'm on the latest version, which is 149.0.2 and I still don't have the new UI. Specifically, I do not see my profiles in the new UI.

When FF launches I see the new UI but my profiles are nowhere to be see as you can see in the screenshots:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/tFXz00m

I have 2 profiles and they each have their own name.

Instead I am presented with 2 option "Original Profile" and "create new Profile". When I click on orignal profile, Firefox opens my default profiles which has its own original name. However, when go throught the new UI o switch profiles, I do not see my other profile. Moreover, if I click manage profiles, I don't see either of my profiles.

The only way I am able to launch my 2nd profile is the old fashiong via "about:profiles".

Why can't I see my profiles in the new UI?

On my 2nd profile, I don't even have the new profiles UI.

Why dont't I have the new profiles UI months after you launched it?

Please help!

I recently reinstalled Debian 13 on my workstation. This included installing Firefox-esr from the Debian repositories so the version before and after the reinstall is the same. Despite this, Firefox refused to start until I created a new profile - insisting that my profile was from an older version.

To add insult to injury, it offers a method to import data from Chromium (which I use rarely) but not from a previous Firefox profile.

Firefox Sync works so far as it goes, but not everyone wants to use it. Importing from a local profile should be easier to implement than remotely syncing - especially given that Firefox clients may not be the same on different devices.

And, of course, the initial point is that Firefox should accept a user profile when it was created by the same version. After all, when I upgrade Firefox on Debian, I'm not required to create a new profile. Why should I be forced to do it when I reinstall the same version?

Can I safely access my Profile, which is on a Windows partition, when I am using Thunderbird under Linux (Fedora) on a different partition?

My computer is set up to dual boot using Windows 10 and Fedora Linux. I use Thunderbird and access my emails using POP3.

I use Windows most of the time and therefore my Thunderbird profile is on the Windows partition. But when I'm using Linux I sometimes like to be able to access my emails using Thunderbird. I have set up access in the Linux Thunderbird profile so that it points to my profile that is on the Windows partition.

In some earlier versions of Thunderbird that were around in 2022, I found that if I used Linux to open Thunderbird I could access my profile that was on the Windows partition and read and send emails, but then when I rebooted to Windows and tried to run Thunderbird, I found that my profile was broken and Thunderbird under Windows could not get to my emails.

But, confusingly, with some versions of Thunderbird, the Linux version of Thunderbird did not break my profile on the Windows partition.

I tried asking questions about this issue on the Forum back in 2022 but I received answers saying that what I was trying to do was very "dangerous" and I should not even attempt it (even though it did work sometimes with some versions of Thunderbird).

The last time I tried this was in 2022, and I have not tried it since then.

So, my question is "Is Thunderbird robust enough to allow me to access my Windows Thunderbird profile when I am running Thunderbird using Linux (Fedora) on a different partition?

My computer suddenly started the above error message for multiple programs. The local computer shop was able to sort out what appeared to be the root cause and that recovered some things but I still needed to reinstall a number of programs.

The program I am terrified of reinstalling is Thunderbird. All my emails on five email accounts since 2011 are stored in TB and I naturally do not want to lose any of them.

The major problems are the computer is running Win7 Enterprise and I am 82 years old so I am prone to needing things spelt out in greater detail than many others.

Can anyone provide a way to reset the program permissions (preferable) or identify the best way to reinstall and still access all my historic emails?

Thank you

Suddenly when I open Thunderbird it does not appear. Instead there is something with an octopus icon asking me to set up a new account. I have had an account and have donated for a long time. What is happening? All my folders are gone!

I have been archiving my e-mails for decades. Every two years or so I archive the inbox and outbox. With my main box getting a bit old in the tooth.I followed the usual transfer protocol (copy /paste) to move the profile over. Everything went over fine except for the passwords.

Transferring all apps and programs will take some time so still using the desktop as my main box.

Today I logged on to the desktop

All passwords to the 5 accounts are gone All archived folders are gone My oldest e-mails are February 2021. The font and view has changed.

Desktop is using 115.18.0 (64-bit)

I have never set up any syncing ... Have not used Thunderbird on the new laptop

Any hope of recovery here ?

Basically the title. With TB closed when there were no tabs open, I have located the profiles on the win10 PC in c:\users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird and copied said folder onto a USB stick, then pasted it from the USB stick into the same location on the target (win11) PC (and apparently according to the progress panel everything was pasted as it should). On the target PC, Thunderbird does open, but in the default account definition tab (and creates a default-esr profile along the way), but does not find the profiles I copied onto the target PC. I really need the existing mails and folder structure. Thanks in advance!

This happened after a Win10 update and caused a PC to auto reboot overnight. User came in and tried to start Thunderbird and there was nothing there. Here is a screenshot of what it looks like when Thunderbird opens:

https://i.imgur.com/CX9QOma.png

What's weird is, if you go to the address book tab, the email addys are there and if you search for a contact or a keyword in the search bar, it shows the messages. But there's no accounts showing at all. I did some search on Google and I haven't found anything that helps so far. The closest I came to what I was hoping was going to be a solutions was this:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1402124

But it doesn't appear that the JS file is corrupt because there are none of the 2 other JS files mentioned in that solution that shows the pref.js file to be corrupted. But if I open that JS file, I get this error:

https://i.imgur.com/JAv908Y.png

So I'm not sure if it's corrupted or not? I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I've tried re-importing that profile and I get an error when I try that, so I'm not really sure what direction to go next. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This is the most current version of Thunderbird (128.9.1esr)

I just upgraded my computer with a new motherboard, CPU memory, and Windows 11. In the process of reloading all of my programs, I found I was unable to create my comcast.net account in Thunderbird. After trying several times in several days, I wondered if this was a Thunderbird problem. So, I tried it with Outlook. Same problem - it wouldn't connect to the server. Then yesterday I noticed I wasn't getting email on my phone. After doing some research, I found that there's a large number of people that can no longer access Comcast.net email, especially if you're trying to set up your account again.

Now here's where I am running into a dilemma. I saved my old Thunderbird profile before I upgraded. Since it was way over 2GB, I copied it to my backup drive. Now, though, since I have to switch to a different email provider, what will happen if I just replace this new profile with my old, saved one. Will it still work? I have a ton of email that I need to save and be able to access through Thunderbird again. If not, what files in my old profile will I have to move over so that I still have access to my address list, calendar, and email?

Can you help me out? I still plan on keeping Thunderbird as my email client.

Thank You!!!!!

Larry Steiner

Hello, Mozilla community.

I am trying to configure a Firefox ESR installation so that every new user on a computer automatically receives a visual customization (a logo change on about:home) through userChrome.css and userContent.css files.

My goal is to do this without using Group Policy (GPO) or logon scripts, by only modifying the files in the Firefox installation folder.

Environment:

Firefox Version: Firefox ESR 140.3.0esr

Operating System: Windows 11 Pro

Context: Standalone machine, managed without Active Directory.

My Question:

Is this method of deploying a default profile via installation files (defaults/profile or distribution.ini) still supported in recent versions of Firefox ESR?

Is there an additional step or configuration I am missing for Firefox to recognize and use the bundled profile when creating a user's first profile?

Is there any policy in policies.json that could be interfering or that is required to enable this behavior?

Thank you very much for your help and your time.

Why is my browser stating that it is managed by my organisation.

I have never used it fr work and it is my personal laptop. Please kindly provide steps to remove this

I've been trying to move my Thunderbird data (148.0) from a Win10 to a Win11 machine. I've meticulously followed both the methods outlined at http://mzl.la/1ApHiU3. I have copied my original profiles.ini from the ...AppData\Roaming folder to that location on the new machine, then corrected the drive locations in the file (see attached profiles.ini image). (yes, the correct "j4sqsccb.XXXXXXX" folder is copied to the new installation's root: a bulky several-GB)

In order to try to replicate my original computer's admittedly-awkward installation from long ago, I have added the suffix " -p -no-remote" to the desktop icon's Target field. And on startup, the new T-bird does properly show my original profiles in the Select panel - even though I only ever used the one that functioned correctly, identified as 1 in the profiles.ini file (see Choose User Profile image, IDs X'ed-out).

However, on selecting that profile on the Win11 machine, Thunderbird just takes me to the account setup screen, as if it's unable to locate or load the account settings for that profile.

I'm only doing this clunky method of copying-over out of ignorance; I'd be very happy to simplify the mess I'd created decades ago with my original installation. OR if you think I'm better off wiping all evidence of past installations to start from a clean install, I'll be happy to do that. Please let me know if you need additional info I've failed to provide here!

Also adding images of my ...Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles folder and Installs.ini file, just in case!

Running Thunderbird 140.0.1esr (64bit) on Windows 11 Dell desktop.

Have had two active mail profiles running for years, one for each of us in the family. Some weird things are taking place now.

This afternoon when initiating Thunderbird by selecting Thunderbird icon on the task bar as always do, Thunderbird began going directly to my profile, not bringing up the 'Thunderbird - Choose User Profile' window. This has happened previously and I got instruction on the forum how to resolve, so I did that resolution again.

I ran Thunderbird.exe -p in the RUN box .

It bought up the 'choose user profile' window so I UNCHECKED the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup.' I guess somehow it got inadvertently checked. I expected this to resolve the problem. Note: When the box came up the first time I did NOT notice the names of the profiles offered, ours or the default ones mentioned below.

Now, when I initiate Thunderbird by selecting the icon in the task bar or selecting the icon on the desktop or selecting Thunderbird in the START list of apps -- it still goes directly to my profile not bringing up the 'Choose User Profile' window. HOWEVER, when I enter in the RUN box either thunderbird.exe or thunderbird.exe -p it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' window.

BUT -- the profiles offered are default and default.esr. They are not our two profiles we have been running for years. Our two profiles are still in the Thunderbird Profiles directory as seen with File Explorer. Hovering over default and default.esr shows their respective paths to the Thunderbird Profiles directory. (Cannot edit these paths.) But using File Explorer, these two profiles (default and default.esr) are NOT seen in the Profiles directory at all.

Question: 1. How do I get Thunderbird to function correctly. That is, when selecting the Thunderbird icon it brings up the 'Choose User Profile' showing our two profiles, and when I RUN Thunderbird.exe in the RUN window it ALSO shows our two profiles in the 'Choose User Profile' window, and NOT that default and default.esr profiles which I don't even see in the Profiles directory.

One more thing -- I have been thinking of switching over and installing the Thunderbird Release Channel -- If I installed it, would these problems carryover or would they be resolved? Thank you.

Added this note: In the past when the box 'use the selected profile without asking at startup' got inadvertently check and I resolved the problem by running thunderbird.exe -p, I was not running the Thunderbird version I am running now. It was back on 9/22/24 and I forgot what version it was but I don't think it was the ESR version back then. Maybe that is why running this command worked back on 9/22/24, but getting weird results now with the current esr version running. Thank you again.

Hello. I have tried to backup my Thunderbird profile and simply cannot find it. Using Thunderbird 140.3.1esr(64bit) on mt laptop (Windows11 version 24H2 - fully updated). I have gone through all of the suggestions using T'bird help/troubleshooting and export to show profile folder. The profile file name is shown but annotated as "Unavailable". Gone through looking for hidden files and cannot find it. Even did a complete file search to no avail. Thunderbird works fine so the profile folder must be somewhere.

I hope you can help.  Steve