Copying backup Thunderbird Profile doesn't work when trying to migrate from Win 7 to 8.1 OR Win 10
Copying my profile always worked flawless whenever I needed to uninstall and reinstall Thunderbird. I have done this as recently as a few weeks ago. But when I went to try to copy my profile with over 15 email accounts into Win 8.1 or Win 10 PC, I wasn't successful. Even the Win 8.1/10 Thunderbird folders are natively different. TB just ignores my profiles.
Are there any tips or tricks that can be suggested?
All Replies (5)
anyone?
Confused_is_me said
anyone?
Apparently not. But the whole concept of reinstalling Thunderbird is foreign to I guess everyone that pops in here, including me. I have never uninstalled Thunderbird. Ever. I see no point at all to do so. I have reinstalled over the existing installation a few times.
I would guess you are running foul of the version protections, but as you make no mention at all of your data location or any errors you leave anyone trying to assist guessing. The possibilities are myriad really.
See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dedicated-profile-thunderbird-installation
Hey Matt,
Thanks for taking a moment to reply. I think using Thunderbird is quite foreign to most people. Even Firefox is struggling to keep it's user base from reading many comments online and on reddit.
There really isn't any error message to quote in my case. Copying or transferring your existing TB profiles from one hard drive or location just doesn't work between different OS versions, not even with a "minor" upgrade as with Win7>8.1. Perhaps it might from 8.1>10. Who knows if you performed an OS upgrade versus a fresh install of the OS would the new [modified] version of TB work and convert your existing TB profiles to the latest version without any problems. The copying and pasting your profiles worked almost flawlessly within the same OS. Although TB would crash on occasion, so I can assume it's still buggy if you don't leave it alone (like you do).
I think you cemented my mind. I have decided against using TB. I have Microsoft Outlook (Office) on an old laptop which I can use although it's slow as molasses and I don't like Outlook. I miss the old days of Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail.
Modified by Confused_is_me
If you have Thunderbird on Win8.1 then make sure it is running in the most up to date version of Thunderbird. Exit Thunderbird Access the 'Roaming' folder and Copy the 'Thunderbird' folder.
- C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
On Win10, If Thunderbird already installed and running - Exit Thunderbird. Access the 'Roaming' folder and Delete the 'Thunderbird' folder.
- C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
Then Paste the copied 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Roaming' folder. If you have not installed same version of Thunderbird as used on Win8.1, then uninstall Thunderbird program. Download and install same version of Thunderbird as used on Win8.1 computer. Start Thunderbird.
Toad-Hall said
If you have Thunderbird on Win8.1 then make sure it is running in the most up to date version of Thunderbird. Exit Thunderbird Access the 'Roaming' folder and Copy the 'Thunderbird' folder.On Win10, If Thunderbird already installed and running - Exit Thunderbird. Access the 'Roaming' folder and Delete the 'Thunderbird' folder.
- C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
Then Paste the copied 'Thunderbird' folder into the 'Roaming' folder. If you have not installed same version of Thunderbird as used on Win8.1, then uninstall Thunderbird program. Download and install same version of Thunderbird as used on Win8.1 computer. Start Thunderbird.
- C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird
This works fine within the same OS versions. It doesn't work between different versions as I mentioned in my previous post. I am using eM Client and so far, I am very happy with it. I think I might just buy the Pro version.