Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

I have a new Windows 11 PC.
I have an old Windows 10 PC.
I have updated to most recent Mozilla Thunderbird 91.11.0 (64-bit) running on the old one.
I downloaded the latest installer, and am running 102.0.2 (64-bit) on the new one. The new one is with a "blank" profile (nothing there).

I want to move my Thunderbird from the old PC to the new PC.
I used to use a utility called MozBackup 1.5.1_EN to do this. I think this is way outdated, and no longer useful.
What is the best way to do this now? How do I find my profile locations? It has changed since I have last done this.
Should I try to "upgrade" the old installation with the newer installer first?
Thank you.
User avatar
DanRaisch
Moderator
Posts: 127188
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DanRaisch »

Moving to Thunderbird as this relates to release version 102.0.2.

See this article but ignore the references to MozBackup -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by tanstaafl »

102 added support for backing up a profile as a .zip file (tools -> export) or importing it (tools-> export). You could install 102.0.2 over 91.11.0 on your old PC and then use the built-in support to export the profile as a .zip file.

Or just copy the profile from your old PC to a flash drive, move the flash drive to the new PC and copy the contents (but not the actual profile directory) over the contents of the current (empty) profile on the new PC. Clicking on the Open Folder (profile folder) button in help -> more troubleshooting information will launch windows explorer at your current profile if there is any doubt about where your default profile is stored.
tomdkat
Posts: 1410
Joined: October 14th, 2003, 7:53 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by tomdkat »

tanstaafl wrote:102 added support for backing up a profile as a .zip file (tools -> export) or importing it (tools-> export). You could install 102.0.2 over 91.11.0 on your old PC and then use the built-in support to export the profile as a .zip file.

Or just copy the profile from your old PC to a flash drive, move the flash drive to the new PC and copy the contents (but not the actual profile directory) over the contents of the current (empty) profile on the new PC. Clicking on the Open Folder (profile folder) button in help -> more troubleshooting information will launch windows explorer at your current profile if there is any doubt about where your default profile is stored.
Awesome! Thanks for the info!

Peace...
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

tanstaafl wrote:102 added support for backing up a profile as a .zip file (tools -> export) or importing it (tools-> export). You could install 102.0.2 over 91.11.0 on your old PC and then use the built-in support to export the profile as a .zip file.

Or just copy the profile from your old PC to a flash drive, move the flash drive to the new PC and copy the contents (but not the actual profile directory) over the contents of the current (empty) profile on the new PC. Clicking on the Open Folder (profile folder) button in help -> more troubleshooting information will launch windows explorer at your current profile if there is any doubt about where your default profile is stored.
Good to know about the new tool in 102.0.2. Sounds like doing that upgrade on old PC first makes sense. How come it doesn't ask to upgrade when I do Help/About Thunderbird; but it downloaded that as the available new version from the web?

Copy profile to a flash drive could be an issue, as this account has a lot of emails, many of they older but important. Not sure what you mean by "copy the contents (but not the actual profile directory) over the contents of the current (empty) profile on the new PC". I mean, I understand how to copy. I need to know where to find them; and what are the contents, if not the "actual profile directory"?

The .zip file thing sounds good. Is it as simple as "save as .zip", and then "import from .zip"? That is pretty much how the old Mozbackup worked.

Thank you.
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by tanstaafl »

What I am trying to say is if your old profile is at xyz.something only copy the files within that directory, don't also copy xyz.something.
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

tanstaafl wrote:What I am trying to say is if your old profile is at xyz.something only copy the files within that directory, don't also copy xyz.something.
Ah, I think I understand you now. Grab the contents of the container, but not the container itself.

Can someone confirm profile locations on Windows 10 versus Windows 11 please.

Thanks.
User avatar
DanRaisch
Moderator
Posts: 127188
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DanRaisch »

Should be in the same location under both Win 10 and 11:

Open the Windows Start menu
In the the "Start Search" box, type in %APPDATA% [1]
Click the "Roaming" item that appears on the menu.
In the Windows Explorer window that opens, choose Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your profile folder at the following path:

C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\

...or by using Thunderbird menu path Help->Troubleshooting information->click on the "Show Folder" button.

The AppData folder is folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open a Windows Explorer window and choose "Organize → Folder and Search Options → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

Just tried the export.

Got this (in a red box!):
"Export failed unexpectedly, more information may be available in the Error Console."
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by tanstaafl »

tools -> developer tools -> error console . Enable just the errors listing.
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

tanstaafl wrote:tools -> developer tools -> error console . Enable just the errors listing.
There's a boatload!
Can you copy/paste a picture into this forum?
User avatar
DanRaisch
Moderator
Posts: 127188
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DanRaisch »

See this for information on posting screenshots - https://web.archive.org/web/20190929163 ... _the_forum
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

tanstaafl wrote:102 added support for backing up a profile as a .zip file (tools -> export) or importing it (tools-> export). You could install 102.0.2 over 91.11.0 on your old PC and then use the built-in support to export the profile as a .zip file.

Or just copy the profile from your old PC to a flash drive, move the flash drive to the new PC and copy the contents (but not the actual profile directory) over the contents of the current (empty) profile on the new PC. Clicking on the Open Folder (profile folder) button in help -> more troubleshooting information will launch windows explorer at your current profile if there is any doubt about where your default profile is stored.
This failed miserably for me. I think it had to do with path length or something with paths. So, this is not an option.
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

DanRaisch wrote:Should be in the same location under both Win 10 and 11:

Open the Windows Start menu
In the the "Start Search" box, type in %APPDATA% [1]
Click the "Roaming" item that appears on the menu.
In the Windows Explorer window that opens, choose Thunderbird → Profiles. Each folder in this folder is a profile on your computer.

You can also navigate directly to your profile folder at the following path:

C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\

...or by using Thunderbird menu path Help->Troubleshooting information->click on the "Show Folder" button.

The AppData folder is folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open a Windows Explorer window and choose "Organize → Folder and Search Options → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".
I'm there. There are 2 folders there:
1: default (20KB)
2: 5s4r507x.default (10.0GB, 98,012 Files, 489 Folders)

Guessing #2 is the one. Is there anything that #1 does, or is that inert?
Do I just zip up that entire thing and unzip in the corresponding place on new PC?
DN123ABC
Posts: 695
Joined: January 9th, 2017, 10:10 am

Re: Thunderbird Profile Move PC to PC

Post by DN123ABC »

OK. Now, after compressing the file for 34+ minutes, moving it, and decompressing for 8 minutes, I get an error:

File: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\from old PC\<Profile name>\Mail\Local Folders\872ea836.mozmsgs\000601c7ba79%24b1bb9be0%24af21d29d%40brsys.bups.wdseml

was quarantined by HP "Wolf Security".

Should I just continue without this, or is this an integral part of the software? This is a new PC, and this Wolf stuff is new to me.

Thanks.
Locked