Thunderbird won't load profile

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
Post Reply
arlener
Posts: 12
Joined: May 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm
Contact:

Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by arlener »

I have to move my Thunderbird (and everything else) from my XP computer to my Windows 7 computer.
I copied all the profile files from the old computer to the new profile folder on the new computer. The profiles.ini file points to the correct folder.
But Thunderbird does not load the profile.
Do I have to try to transfer individually such as bookmarks, mail, etc?
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by tanstaafl »

No. I suspect there is something wrong with your profiles.ini file. Thunderbird won't ignore any mistakes in it, even for a profile that you are not using. A common error is to provide a relative path in Path= while indicating that its a full path using IsRelative=0 (or vice versa).

If that doesn't help see the "Check that the profile you want to move works" and "Nothing you do works" sections in http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_p ... hunderbird
arlener
Posts: 12
Joined: May 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by arlener »

Following is my profiles.ini file and the .default file is where I copied my old profile files to. My old profiles works on my XP computer. Thunderbird created this new profiles.ini when I installed on new computer.

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=Profiles/os7zoe37.default
Default=1

And this is where the Profiles.ini file and the Profiles folder is:
C:/Users/new/AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird

Do you think it would work if I entered each email account. Would it see my emails when I restart?

I already did everything you referred me to but the profile does not load.
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by tanstaafl »

"I already did everything you referred me to but the profile does not load"

If you used the command line arguments to specify the profiles location (rather than relying upon profiles.ini) and it silently failed that usually means the problem is in your profile. See if there is a parent.lock file in the profile. If so delete that temporary file. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Also check that all of the files in your profile are not marked read-only. That could occur if you used a CD/DVD (rather than a flash drive) to move the profile to a different PC.
arlener
Posts: 12
Joined: May 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by arlener »

Well, one thing I didn't try is using the command line.
I did find the parent.lock file and will delete it and I will retry and let you know.
I copied everything with external disk.
arlener
Posts: 12
Joined: May 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by arlener »

Success.
Apparently, it was the Parent.lock file.
Too bad that wasn't mentioned on the directions for copying the files over.
Thank-you very much for solving this for me.
User avatar
tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by tanstaafl »

Glad to help.

I added a paragraph about that file in the "Check that the profile you want to move works" section instead.
arlener
Posts: 12
Joined: May 17th, 2013, 1:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Thunderbird won't load profile

Post by arlener »

Yes. And I also solved my Firefox wouldn't load longins/passwords the same way.
I deleted parents.locked.
Post Reply