New Thunderbird Won't Access My Profile

[Wiggam72]

I've enabled it, but it's very complicated. Please give me step by step instructions on how to export and import my profile. I'm at my friend's house right now and brought an external hard drive so I can export the Thunderbird info into it.

[tanstaafl]

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_folders . That's written for the previous version of the add-on but it should still be useful. The add-on is used to import/export folders, not profiles.

[Wiggam72]

I followed the directions, but I don't see an option as to where the exported files go, so I'm not sure if anything happened when I exported them. I want to export them so they can be taken to my PC to be imported.

What I did was:

Tools > Add-on Options > Import/ExportTools NG > Export Directories tab > Export folders as single files (and chose my Profile folder) and under the heading Export of all messages, I left it at the default 'create a new directory and the index of messages'

[tanstaafl]

You're configuring the add-on's options. Its useful to specify the export directory beforehand in the options if you're exporting a lot of folders but setting the options doesn't actually export anything. You export stuff using Tools -> ImportExportTools NG -> .That's typically at the very bottom of the Tools list box.

You seem to be configured to export each mail folder as *.eml files. Make certain that it uses a directory tree (separate directory for each mail folder) or you lose track of what folder a message was originally in.

[Wiggam72]

Things still not working. I haven't had the chance to go back to my friend's house. When trying to get things working, a dialog popped up to get in touch with Mozilla. I typed in my problem and hope to get a response back from them.

[Wiggam72]

Thanks tanstaafl for your help. I found the solution in another thread. I waited several days before posting here to see if it stopped working again. I had to try again a few times now and then when the password error message popped up but it went through after I clicked the Try again button. I stumbled onto the solution posted by DanRaisch in this thread. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14856696

[Wiggam72]

The problem has come back. I searched the net and found something about clearing my modem cache and deleting the logins.json file, and I also edited the line in the prefs.js file to user_pref("signon.rememberSignons" true);. It previously said something about being imported. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_not_ ... derbird%29

I also notice that the prefs.js file had entries with my old PC username and path. Could that be causing a problem? I did not mess with them.

I restarted my PC, sent a message, and it went through. I then turned on my VPN and it again would not go through. I turned off the VPN and the message went through. I thought Thunderbird is supposed to work even though a VPN is enabled. It would sometimes work with the VPN enabled right after I start from scratch and copy the info into Thunderbird as instructed earlier, but I later get the message that it can't find my password-usually hours later or the next day when I try to send a message.

[tanstaafl]

As long as Thunderbird found your profile I don't think the references to your old username etc. matter. I've used Thunderbird with a vpn (both tunnelbear and purevpn). It worked fine though the outlook.com and gmail.com accounts kept throwing security alerts and wanting me to verify I was the person logged in because they detected that I was using a vpn. The other accounts had no problem.

I suspect your problem is due to how your vpn is configured. If it is one that is supposed to effect all windows applications, consider whether you'd be better off just using a vpn add-on with your browser instead. Most vpn vendors provide that option.

[Wiggam72]

I'm using the free version of Betternet. https://www.betternet.co/ I don't think there's an option to change any configuration. Does anyone know a good free VPN? Betternet is the best out of all the free ones I've tried. Most of the others have a data limit, something I refuse to deal with.