Profile I need won't open, can I pull individual files?

[lepiane]

I messed up 3 days ago trying to back up a profile and renaming it. Now I have the renamed one along with 4 others so old they are worthless. The renamed won't open in TBird, even after a reinstall using an older version that had worked until my screw up. I tried renaming it again with .default added, no luck.
??? Is there a way to pull individual files off the Profile that won't load? For example...( global.messages.db.sqlite 08/23/17 2:19 PM SQLITE File 506,752 kb) ...Which I believe is where the emails are because its by far the largest file and then try to install it in the present working profile???
Thanks

[DanRaisch]

global.messages.db.sqlite 08/23/17 2:19 PM SQLITE File 506,752 kb) ...Which I believe is where the emails are because its by far the largest file

That file doesn't store your messages. It's just an index file to help speed up global searches.

Make sure Thunderbird is closed. Navigate to the directory C:\Users\WINUSERID\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird and open the file profiles.ini using a plain text editor. (Don't use Word or any other word processor.)
The file will contain a few lines like the following:

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default
Default=1

Edit that text to show the correct path, that is, change what I have shown as x's to match the current name of that renamed profile then save and close the file.
Try again to launch Thunderbird.

[lepiane]

global.messages.db.sqlite 08/23/17 2:19 PM SQLITE File 506,752 kb) ...Which I believe is where the emails are because its by far the largest file

That file doesn't store your messages. It's just an index file to help speed up global searches.

Make sure Thunderbird is closed. Navigate to the directory C:\Users\WINUSERID\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird and open the file profiles.ini using a plain text editor. (Don't use Word or any other word processor.)
The file will contain a few lines like the following:
[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default
Default=1
Edit that text to show the correct path, that is, change what I have shown as x's to match the current name of that renamed profile then save and close the file.
Try again to launch Thunderbird.

Great...I believe its solved and I learned something. You must be precise with the naming and path, I was not on the re-naming. Also, I am trying to figure out why some of my Profiles (5 are saved) have tiny red circle icons on the bottom left corner of the small yellow folder icon and some have half-blue tiny circles. And I learned a quick path is the folder is WIN+R then enter %appdata% ...All is well except for the 2 days of email I retrieved on another Profile! Thanks.

[DanRaisch]

You're welcome.