Yonke imikhiqizo Community Forum

I’m running into a limitation with Firefox profiles involving the original Profile Manager (about:profiles) and the new Profiles menu in the toolbar.

I previously created multiple profiles using the original Profile Manager (about:profiles), for example profiles A, B, and C. These profiles still function normally and can be launched through about:profiles, but they do not appear in the new Profiles menu in the toolbar.

I also tried using the “Copy this profile” option available from the new Profiles menu. This made it clear that the feature does not work with profiles created via about:profiles. For example, when I open profile A, I expected that I could use “Copy this profile” to copy profile A into an existing profile like profile B (which was also created using about:profiles). However, this is not possible. Profiles A, B, and C remain isolated from the new Profiles menu and cannot be accessed, copied, or managed through it.

At the moment, profiles created with the original Profile Manager (about:profiles) can only be accessed through that manager and cannot be transferred into the new Profiles menu in the toolbar.

Is there an official fix or a workaround that achieves the same result—specifically, transferring or integrating all existing profiles created with the original Profile Manager (about:profiles) into the new Profiles menu accessible from the Firefox toolbar?

I'm asking this question so I can post some helpful information for people wanting to create a backup of their profile.

If you are using Windows OS and you got your download from the official website: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/

How do you locate the correct folder to backup? The backup must contain everything, profiles, mail accounts, emails, address books, calendar, preferences - the lot. The backup can be used to transfer between computers.

Hello,

I am using Firefox in Malaysia. I updated with the latest browser, but I do not see the new profile management (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/profile-management/).

Is this feature available in certain countries?

Hello,

For a few days now, my Thunderbird has been reset. It asks me to set up an e-mail account. And all my old accounts and e-mails have disappeared. But the profile folder isn't empty. I've tried a number of solutions on the Internet, but still nothing. Please help me. Thanks

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?

I closed Thunderbird by the X in the upper corner and my Icon disappeared off the tool bar so I tried again and the Icon was no longer in the trash bin, so I re set up and none of my old emails/folders are there and it downloaded 338 emails off the web server. My address are all gone....HELP

I have followed the instruction https://support.mozilla.org/de/kb/Benutzerprofile-Thunderbird#w_ein-profil-sichern to shift my profile from one harddrive to an other on my PC

The original profile is still on the old location %APPDATA%/Thunderbird I have updatet profiles.ini pointing to the new location At first glance it seemed to work Thunderbird was starting and when I cloesd it the date of files in the new location changed. But when I renamed the old profile in the old location Thunderbird does not start correctly and I only get

   <menuitem id="folderPaneContext-getMessages" < pre>
^
If I rename the old profiles again to the original names, it starts without any issues
</menuitem>

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

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.

Hello,

I've been using the profile manager, and wanted to delete a profile that i have made. However, when i select the option to delete it, it only opens up a new tab in the profile called "about:deleteprofile', which displays an empty page and does nothing. Then, I would try to delete the profile manually, in the profiles folder, but if I opened firefox or restarted my computer, it would just come back. I have attatched the relevant images below.

Dear Agent, My computer has been updated to Windows 11 from Windows 10. The Firefox profile settings has not changed from Windows 10 to Windows 11. How can I edit or update to Windows 11 in my Firefox profile?

Regards,

Hi: I need to import my data shown here: C:\Users\DonB\AppData\Roaming\Betterbird\t70e12zz.default\Mail\pop-mail.outlook.com so I see all my email and its folder structure.

I think Outlook.com became: outlook365.com?

Where do I change this stuff so it works?

My Profile archive: https://1drv.ms/u/c/f1c69e25e0d2390a/EYrCbhynjyhGptVQ-P5ZWGUBDJFeXZno-JwoGDWXauj_9Q?e=gK0kOL

Thanks, mozillafan

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

I created a new installation, Win11 64-bit, and edited installs.ini and profiles.ini to use the profile left from a previous Win10 64-bit installation.

I get messages to the Inbox correctly, and the structure of what would be Local Folders seems intact. However, I have two problems: (1) when I try to save a message in another folder, I get a dialog saying my disk is full (there are more than 200GB available) (see image); and (2) the "Local Folders" folder looks to be in the Trash. There is also some "weirdness" in the menu when I try to move a message from Inbox (see image).

I have never tried to export from TB but if I can export the Inbox and the other folders with saved messages, I might be able to do a fresh install and then import those.

Any other ideas?

Thx -Phil

Moving from a Win 7 (v. 115.8.1) to Win 10 (v. 138.0.1) installation. I don't keep my profile in the default location in AppData but rather on a separate drive for data G:\tanguero88\mail\Thunderbird\... which on the new computer would just be H:\Thunderbird\ ... (i.e., not the same path).

No problem following the instructions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer and even editing profiles.ini if necessary. The concern that I have is that the profile location is hardcoded in several files withing the profile folder, specifically prefs.js, folderCache.json, permissions.sqlite (binary file), addonStartup.json.lz4 (binary file) and extensions.json.

E.g. especially in prefs.js there are many user_pref entries that have the foldername embedded such as this one:

user_pref("extensions.bootstrappedAddons", "{\"es-AR@dictionaries.addons.mozilla.org\":{\"version\":\"2.6.3.1\",\"type\":\"dictionary\",\"descriptor\":\"G:\\\\tanguero88\\\\Mail\\\\Thunderbird\\\\Profiles\\\\p271pzrc.default\\\\extensions\\\\es-AR@dictionaries.addons.mozilla.org\",\"multiprocessCompatible\":false,\"runInSafeMode\":false,\"dependencies\":[],\"hasEmbeddedWebExtension\":false},\"pt-PT@dictionaries.addons.mozilla.org\":{\"version\":\"18.4.18.2\",\"type\":\"dictionary\",\"descriptor\":\"G:\\\\tanguero88\\\\Mail\\\\Thunderbird\\\\Profiles\\\\p271pzrc.default\\\\extensions\\\\pt-PT@dictionaries.addons.mozilla.org\",\"multiprocessCompatible\":false,\"runInSafeMode\":false,\"dependencies\":[],\"hasEmbeddedWebExtension\":false}}");

and others with pointers to addons and some whose function is not really evident.

Obviously, just copying the folder to the new computer and pointing the new Thunderbird installation to the new folder is not going to update these hardcoded filenames in the new installation without some kind of a "smart" import feature that makes all these little changes. It seems quite tedious (though not impossible) to go in with a text editor and do all these manually, though even then the .lz4 and .sqlite are binary files so not that easy either. And if I don't update, it would seem that something, sooner or later, will break!

This does not seem to have been documented in any of the articles on the subject that I've read. So what's the deal? Will Thunderbird recreate these? Will it choke on it? Will I just silently lose whatever settings these user preferences correspond to?

Thanks!

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.

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!

In "manage profiles" I see where to delete the extra profile that was created and I don't want. Thanks to Cetaseus1. my question is does deleting a profile delete all the bookmarks? there is an info box that warns that bookmarks will be deleted including my 30,000+ bookmarks that were rolled over to this unwanted profile that just appeared. My intent is to have one remaining profile and all my bookmarks. I am hesitant to delete a profile and loose all those bookmarks. I won't delete until Mozilla assures me that I won't lose the bookmarks in the other profile. Thanks.

I have 4 yahoo accounts. Whenever emails come in to my main yahoo account inbox they also appear in one of the other yahoo inboxes. The remaining 2 yahoo accounts are not affected in this (or any other) way.

Note that I just reconfigured Tbird in (what I believe is) a non-standard way. Before I implemented this fix, every time I opened it, Tbird crashed within 15 seconds. Figuring that my profile was probably corrupt beyond repair I switched to an earlier profile which seemed to be stable and then updated that profile by copying and pasting (replacing) all the contents of the "ImapMail" and "Mail" folders from the more recent corrupt profile into the older stable profile. Not sure whether that has caused this duplication error.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.